Welcome to this week’s 166th Carnival of Personal Finance! It’s my first opportunity to host this carnival and I appreciate and thank Flexo from Consumerism Commentary for giving me the opportunity.


What's Everyday Finance all about?


I'm an Everyday Investor, Saver, Consumer, Employee, Father, Husband and more, that has a keen interest in these topics and I utilize this blog as an outlet to share my personal perspectives on a broad range of topics. I try to focus on topics that aren't widely covered in the mainstream press such as career/savings tips, alternative investment strategies and stocks with little to no Wall Street coverage. My background is in Chemical Engineering and I recently completed an MBA.

This headline hit home this weekend (especially since I love chocolate):

"Hershey to raise prices on candy
11%...Immediately, due to rising commodities prices"

Cocoa Weekly Price Chart:

Can you blame them?

Given all the press commodity prices have been getting of late, and the impact they're having on the global economy, I thought I'd model this week's carnival on a commodity theme with some pictures, facts and figures. I hope you enjoy and learn something in the process.

Editor's Choice Articles:

The Digerati Life presents Lost Money: How Money Drains Add Up To $175,000 In 10 Years

Dividend Growth Investor presents Dow 370,000, and provides some interesting historical perspective to back up his assertion.

Tough Money Love presents Ten Warning Signs of a Normal Financial Life. You know anyone like this?

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents If You Want To Be Wealthy, You Need To Know This


One Caveman's Financial Journey presents What Michael Phelps and the US 4×100 Freestyle Relay Team Taught Me About Debt - How could you ignore a Phelps analogy like this after going 8/8? Go U.S.!

Debt and Credit - Prepare for some CORNy themes here. Hey, I had to tie commodities to these themes. So, get ready to roll your eyes, give a hardy har har and perhaps learn and enjoy while you're at it!

Accumulating Money presents How To Secure Your Credit Card – An Overview Of Credit Card Security Features

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents 0% Balance Transfer Card Guide: 2008 Edition.

FIRE Finance presents Top 10 Sneaky Credit Card Tricks.

Taking Charge presents "Wardriving" in the era of overpriced gasoline, and says, "With 40 million credit card and debit card account numbers stolen via "wardriving" hack attacks, consumers need to be aware of this technique. "

Can I Get Rich On A Salary presents The Lady Who Wouldn’t Pay Her Mortgage.

Real Estate -

So, you've got a house. Can you afford to heat it? Tough topic for a lot of people on a fixed income this year, but the trend is breaking:

HEATING OIL/NATURAL GAS

FiveCentNickel presents Qualifying for an FHA Home Loan.

No Debt Plan presents Where to Store Your House Inventory Documentation.
Searchlight Crusade presents Why Lenders Don't and Won't Tell Borrowers Their Loan Was Turned Down (Games Lenders Play, Part 9).

The Blue Jeans Millionaire presents Bet The House.

The Wisdom Journal presents 10 Home Maintenance Tasks You Typically Put Off or Ignore.

Money Management - Have you amassed enough "dough" to be considered "upper crust"? OK, terrible...

WHEAT: Since the start of 2006, the average world price for rice has risen by 217%, wheat by 136%, maize by 125% and soybeans by 107%.[5] In late April 2008, rice prices hit 24 cents a pound, twice the price that it was seven months earlier.[6]

Budgets are Sexy presents I Did It! I Sold The Elusive SUV In Today's Market

Our Fourpence Worth presents The Financial Woes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This post focuses on the financial aspects of the famous composer Mozart's life.

The Family Wallet presents How Your Finances Change When You Have Children.

Think Your Way To Wealth presents The ABC's of Personal Finance, Saving Money, and Investing on the Internet.

Investing - Remember what Cramer Says, "Pigs get slaughtered": HOGS

Christian Financial Help presents 5 great quotes from Warren Buffett, and follows with true life analogies that make you think.

Everyday Finance presents Financial Model: Principal Preservation with Upside Market Potential, (My Submission!), #1 in a series of Financial Models for various investment objectives.

No Credit Needed presents Setting Up Automatic Contributions To Retirement And Education Savings Accounts.

Passive Family Income presents New Income Stream - Virtual Stock Portfolio.

Thornton Wealth Management presents Your Financial Escape.

Saving - This didn't cost me BEANS:

• Chinese long beans may be up to 18 inches long
• Chickpeas have the most calories; however, beans for the most part are low in calories and contain hardly any fat. The only exception is soybeans which are high in polyunsaturated fat.
• To eliminate gas in beans, try using Beano. It really works! It neutralizes the sugar in the beans that cause gas production in your body.

Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents Spend less eating healthy food, and asks, "Who says healthy food has to be more expensive?"

Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Seven of my favorite ways to save money on driving expenses — and one I don’t use.

Money Under 30 presents Emergency Fund Calculator: How Much Cash Do You Need?

Not the Jet Set presents The HDTV Challenge: Update 4, and says, "8 months ago, we challenged ourselves to pay for a really expensive want by selling things that we had but didn't need. See how we did it and what we learned."

Personal Finance Analyst presents 529 Plans: Helping To Ease The Burden of College Expenses.

Single Guy Money presents Personal Finance - Back to Basics (Part 2).

Squawkfox presents Calculator: Should You Buy a More Gas Efficient Car? .

Frugality - Pinching Pennies: COPPER :

There's great debate as to whether to eliminate the penny in the US!

BrokeFamily.com presents How To Make Your Own Affordable Baby Wipes Video! Now, that's something you don't see everyday!

FruGal presents Town Mouse, Country House.

Frugal Fu presents 5 Money Saving Skills Every Woman (and Man) Should Know.

InterestingMoney presents Save Money on Security Software - 5 Free Anti-Virus Programs Worth Using.

Money Answer Guy presents Should I Consider Buying a Motor Scooter to Save Money?.

Not cheap, Fiscally Concerned presents Reading - Improving Myself, for Cheap .

Paradigm Shifted presents how to keep grocery costs down without clipping coupons.

Queercents presents Stretch Your Food Dollar: Eat Your Broccoli.

Career - Are you sick of those TPS reports? And What is "PC Load Letter?!" PAPER

• Papermaking is considered to be one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, since the first papermaking process was developed in China during the early 2nd century.
• Toilet paper was used in China by at least the 6th century AD
• The first paper mill in Europe was in Spain, at Xátiva (modern Valencia) in 1120.
  

Free Money Finance presents The Best Way to Get a Raise.

Harvesting Dollars presents Be More Productive At Work.

Smart Easy Money presents How To Be An Entrepreneur.

Taxes and Reviews - DIAMONDS are Forever, as well as Death and Taxes

• Today, most commercially viable diamond deposits are in Russia, Botswana, Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[31]
• In some of the more politically unstable central African and west African countries, revolutionary groups have taken control of diamond mines, using proceeds from diamond sales to finance their operations. Diamonds sold through this process are known as conflict diamonds or blood diamonds.
• The Crater of Diamonds State Park is an Arkansas State Park located near Murfreesboro in Pike County, Arkansas, USA containing the only diamond bearing site in the world that is open to the public.

Ask Mr Credit Card presents Book Review : Your Credit Score By Liz Pulliam Weston.

Money Smart Life presents Best Checking Accounts For College Students.

Budgeting - Let's not SUGAR-coat this, You Need a Budget

Counting My Pennies presents Budgeting too Strictly.

Living Well on Less presents Basic budgeting skills can help you lose weight (without costing you money).

Sallie's Niece presents Do I need to get married to get a food mixer?

Finance - This section's Solid GOLD:


Since April 2001 the gold price has more than tripled in value against the US dollar (as seen here), prompting speculation that this long secular bear market (or the Great Commodities Depression) has ended and a bull market has returned [21] [22]. In March 2008, the gold price increased above $1000 [23], which in real terms is still well below the $850/oz. peak on 21 January 1980.

Quest to be Free presents The Financial Aid Process.
Not Made Of Money presents Stop Buying Stuff with the Payments Mentality .
Realm of Prosperity presents The Miser Story: Magic of Compounding.
Sound Money Matters presents When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Pull Money from a Bank.


Economy - These OIL prices are killing me!

Funny about Money presents The National Debt: The Mortgage Meltdown x 10?.

The Personal Financier presents How Many Olympic Medals Will Each Country Win in Beijing 2008? An Economic Approach.


Other -

Well, for a portfolio of commodities, consider a commodity ETF, like: iShares GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust GSG, PowerShares DB Commodity Index Fund DBC, Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN DJP, or Green Haven Continuous Commodity Index Fund GCC.

Living Almost Large presents Giving to the Homeless?.
Money and Such presents Do Not Mail Registry - an Idea Whose Time Has Come.
My Dollar Plan presents 12 Ways the Olympics Can Impact Your Finances.
One Frugal Girl presents The Compulsion to Alleviate Stress by Shopping.
One Snarky Chica with Issues presents Are small towns really cheaper than cities?.
Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning presents Confessions of a Dollar Bill.
The Financial Blogger presents Common Mistakes On A Will.
Uncommon Cents presents Does Equating Time and Money Help Your Time Management?.

Sources:

Wikipedia.org
TradingCharts.com