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Average Joe’s Money Blog

Our resident blogger, AverageJoe, posts his idea of informative and interesting posts every weekday.

On Monday, for people who can’t be bothered to read, he hosts the Worst of the Free Financial Advisor podcast. The show includes a roundtable of financial bloggers from all around the internets so you actually might get a piece of financial advice or two. Bonus!

Tuesdays and Wednesdays he shares informative articles on personal financial investing topics such as debt management, investing and insurances. Unfortunately, these are fairly serious.

Thursday is the Cuppa Joe discussion page. Grab a cup of your favorite brew, and read about an opinion Joe has on a topic…agree or disagree, you’ll find it an entertaining day on the blog.

Every Friday Joe shares his choice for the soon-to-be-esteemed Blog Post of the Week! award, and includes his favorite posts from other personal financial blogs.

Photo: David Shankbone [CC-BY-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Blog Post of the Week! by DQYDJ

Posted by Average Joe on May 18, 2012 in blog post of the week, irrelevant stories, Uncategorized | 10 comments

Minions, Facebook IPO madness has gripped me. I can’t stay off Words with Friends and Farmville. After I finished writing snarky comments on my relatives’ Facebook pages and reading biblical quotes and surveys sent from my mother, I paid $27.95 to see who’s been searching for me on Facebook. It would have totally been worth the money if the answer hadn’t been Nobody. Now I’ve just hit the “like” button at “lawyers.com” to find out how to sue for my cash back. I’m hoping that everyone reading this knows...

6 Reasons to Shut Up About Your Problems and Save: Our Cuppa Joe Discussion

Posted by Average Joe on May 17, 2012 in Cuppa Joe, Meandering, Retirement, smack down! | 8 comments

It’s Thursday! That means your favorite post of the week, where we discuss whatever opinion I’ve formulated in my little brain. This week, I’m addressing a search term from yesterday. Before we get to that: whoever kept finding my site (and reading several pages) by Googling “Oompa Loompa,” two things. First: WTF. Second: Thank You. “The truth is the safest lie” – Anonymous On Google Analytics any day, I love to browse the search terms that lead people to our little TFFA site. Yesterday there were many of the obvious queries...

High Yield vs. Other Investing Categories in Pretty Pictures

Posted by Average Joe on May 16, 2012 in investment types, successful investing | 6 comments

When words don’t work, I’ll emulate my buddy PK at the DQYDJ blog and resort to graphics when explaining your investing options. Since I can’t personally be bothered to create any type of creative chart, I’ll instead use a graph that I received from a friend. Before we peruse this particular investing chart, I should introduce it, like a big star explains the movie clip: People worry often about risk when investing. You should. It doesn’t make sense to risk your portfolio without knowing what type of return you’ll receive. As an...

JP Morgan: Opportunity or Trap for an Investor?

Posted by Average Joe on May 15, 2012 in investing news, successful investing | 13 comments

While gold seekers in the stock market chase the Facebook IPO like NASCAR fans after a Dale Earnhardt Jr. autograph, my attention is leveled at JP Morgan Chase. I’m wondering if their recent stock hiccup is an isolated mistake or the beginning of a larger crisis. This isn’t how most new investors act. Most hear bad news and run the other way. You can profit from investing well-placed dollars into investments while others panic. In fact, I think it’s fun to prey on investors who throw logic out the window and panic. In 2004, when...

The Worst of the Free Financial Advisor, Episode #8: Top 5 Ways to Cut Expenses

Posted by Average Joe on May 14, 2012 in Podcast | 4 comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download Did you miss us? The podcast comes roaring back after our week away as OG and I talk Ice, Ice, Baby, PK wins probability parlor games, and the roundtable ponders the question “Are We Too Dumb To Manage Our Retirement Money?” Thanks to Greg McFarlane from Control Your Cash for sitting in with the roundtable gang this week! <Open> Vanilla Ice on CNBC <4:11> On the Blog: Cash Reserves <7:59 > Fractional Sense w/ PK from DQYDJ.NET <15:57 > ...

Blog Post of the Week! by Erin Shanendoah

Posted by Average Joe on May 11, 2012 in blog post of the week, irrelevant stories, Meandering | 13 comments

Minions, It’s so very good to be back. But I’m pissed off. This little 15 year old girl introduces a new website and Jon Hamm guest posts a video on it. Hello, Jon? Where were you when I called asking you to talk about doughnuts on our blog? Instead you’re telling teen girls that everybody farts? I called Jessica Alba about posting a video here, too, and just got this nice letter from her lawyers. I haven’t opened it yet, but I’m sure it’s totally a “yes.” I’ll hit her up on twitter about 40,000 more times as soon as I...

5 Fees I Hate More Than The New Spirit Airlines B.S. Bag Charge: Our Cuppa Joe Discussion

Posted by Average Joe on May 10, 2012 in Cuppa Joe, Feature, money management, smack down! | 20 comments

It’s Thursday! That means we’re grabbin’ a cup of coffee and talking about my opinion on anything I find amusing that particular day (my favorite topic). Spirit Airlines, who should really just change their name to “We Will Do Anything To Alienate Our Customers,” announced last week that they plan to charge $100 to give you the pleasure of placing a bag in the overhead bin. If it’ll fit under your seat or on your body, you’re still good. Now I’ll have to wear six layers of clothing on the plane instead of three. Like cars, I...

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Posted by Average Joe on May 9, 2012 in money management, successful investing | 16 comments

I called my mother in law to check in yesterday. I get worried about people after a loved one dies, but especially I’m concerned about her, right now. My in-laws were a close couple. She’d always yell, “Dave!” at him for one reason or another, but there was a camaraderie in her admonishments. She enjoyed admonishing him and I could have swore he enjoyed being admonished. There’s no way I can imagine what’s going on in someone’s head the day after their spouse passes away. It’s beyond imagination. Still, my call to her was...

I’m A Huge Flippin’ Star

Posted by Average Joe on May 9, 2012 in irrelevant stories, Meandering | 5 comments

Watch out Justin Bieber (Beiber? Beibur?)…here comes AverageJoe! Sicorra had the good sense to save the best interview for about week twelve of the series (have to allow the opening acts to build the crowd into a frenzy. I’ve been to a Barry Manilow concert. I know how this works). What am I talking about? I’ve been interviewed on Tackling Your Debt’s “Let’s Talk Money” Series! Because I’m a whiny diva, these are the top five questions I’m upset Sicorra didn’t ask me: - How come...

Emergency Fund? You’re Closer Than You Think

Posted by Average Joe on May 8, 2012 in Cash Reserve, money management, risk management | 17 comments

Start a six month emergency fund? Are you crazy? How can I save that much money before I start investing? I’ll never make it! – most common reaction to my advice to create an emergency fund. Personal finance is fun, but maybe the most boring part is creating an emergency fund. Yawn. Building an emergency fund should be exciting. Sure, it’s the bland foundation of the house, but once this baby’s built, you’ll be able to rock ‘n roll on the fun stuff: - Work without worry. You’ll know that even in an uncertain economy, you can...