Blog Movement of the Week! by Good Financial Cents

Dear Minions,

This week I was actually a “joiner”, which is an activity we rarely engage in around here. The last time I tried to join something, I ended up nearly taking off birthday-boy Billy Campbell’s head with the Piñata-hitter stick.

Plus, once I was turned squarely at the prize and broke it in two, us kids were greeted by just the bu%$sh#@ “reward” of some cheap rock candy. When I saw rock candy splatter across the ground, I wanted to hit Billy’s mom with the stick for not getting us any good candy. …but I digress.

That’s when I promised myself not to join anything unless there were free doughnuts.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

But, join I did.

It was a little event called the Roth IRA Movement, and over 140 bloggers and bloggerettes took to the virtual net-waves and discussed the Roth IRA. It was organized by big-time blogger and financial advisor Jeff Rose, of Good Financial Cents.  I like Jeff’s particular post because he shows us that not only is he a creative thinker who created a nice educational event,

…but that he’s also a pretty crappy dancer.

Congratulations, Jeff on this award. I’m sure that when you wake up after a well-deserved rest, you’ll find the time to print this out and post it on your refrigerator.

8 Other Blogs You Should Be Following But Probably Aren’t So I’ll Remind You

It’s always a good day when I find a new blog that I’ve been missing. That’s half the reason I found Real Answers to Money Questions, or Why I Hate Radio to be such a fun read at Pinch That Penny. Synopsis: DJs having fun with financial advice and failing.

At Untemplater, Sydney rants on expensive nuptials in The Average Cost of a Wedding is Crazy: Why Do People Spend So Much Money? Holy huge ceremony, Batman! After reading this, I’m already convincing my 16 year old daughter that eloping to Vegas is CLEARLY the way to go. Synopsis: Don’t get hitched if you’re going to start your married life in debt up to your eyeballs.

I’m following the story of a family moving from Hawaii to the mainland at Simple Island Living. Note to SIL: If you’re thinking about moving from that warm island paradise, consider joining us in east Texas. Texarkana is a wonderful place when compared to Hawaii. You have both more gun owners and churches, plus there’s a crazy financial blogger who’s always worth a laugh over coffee.

Kari at Small Budget, Big Dreams is a multi-tasker and credit card collector. I’d like to write more but I’m simultaneously doing chin ups, writing this post and flossing my teeth while I sign up for frequent flier miles and UPromise on my credit cards.

Karl is too much with his analogies. He’s like an expert stock car driver with similes. He’s an express train of blogging activity when it comes to metaphors. He’s a — well, just read Can Snowboarding Help You Master Your Money? You’ll get the point.

Moving on to another favorite blog, how about Work, Save, Live. Jason describes the financial coaching thought process in a succinct, point-by-point manner in his post answering a reader question. It’s a good read into the mind of how a pro might think differently about your financial situation.

On the topic of financial experts, Sicorra at Tackling Our Debt interviews Ashley from Money Talks. Ashley discusses her upbringing and thoughts about successful money management. I’m disappointed Sicorra didn’t ask Ashley about NASCAR and doughnuts, but maybe she’s saving that topic for when she interviews me (fingers and toes crossed).

Have you thought about purchasing a new, fuel efficient car? Dr. Dean explains how he’s thinking about buying one because his pimp-mobile minivan is about done. Read Adding a Gas Efficient Car on the Millionaire Nurse Blog and weigh in with your thoughts about what the good Dr. should buy.

I can’t stop at 8 when there are so many great blogs out there….so like the gracious host I am, how about 7 Ways to Pass The Time at Your Kid’s Soccer Practice at See Debt Run. Don’t have children? So what. Read this anyway to understand the pain your parents went through if you participated in sports. I’m about to drive two hours each way to watch a whopping 13 combined minutes of my kid’s track and field meet tonight. Dream.

We’re Very Popular…and Humble

It’s pretty amazing what great stuff we write here.

In fact, every once in awhile we’re awesome enough that we fool people into thinking that we wrote something good. Here at AverageJoe World Headquarters we have a name for those people: Brilliant.

Here’s a short list of where we’ve been featured lately. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include all of the water cooler and Friday dinner parties where we were mentioned. I’m sure you were calling someone just now to mention us to a friend or two, weren’t you?

Business Insider was kind enough to include us in their overview of the Roth IRA Movement entitled The Blogosphere’s Heating Up With the Roth IRA Debate. We didn’t even have to pay them for the exposure. Any time I can talk banana splits and Roth IRAs you can score a point for the good guys.

And how about this: Interest.co.nz (New Zealand!) featured our Estate Planning for Really Smart People story in Amanda’s Top 5 for Thursday. She said we have a sense of humor. She must also have one to feature our piece. Thank you very much.

I need to list the carnivals and round ups that we were also featured in, but time is short today (remember that track meet?). Thank you to everyone else for including us. Next week I’ll do a better job.

Random Notes to End the Week Without a Flourish

My “business trip” this last weekend was to Walt Disney World. I know what you’re thinking…very frugal trip, Joe. Luckily, most of the expenses were handled by Cheryl’s employer, so it was awesome and nearly free.

When I go on this type of vacation, I’m often struck by a few great ideas. Walt Disney is certainly a man that many emulate. While I’m a fan of the mouse and of theme parks, I’m far more turned-on by great customer service and systems in action. These people orchestrate so many cool ideas in one day that there are wonderful business opportunities all around you….if you just look.

Here are a few of my notes:

- I spend too much time in my business and not enough time on my business. I will run faster if I stop working for tomorrow and instead build systems that are designed to last.

- Creativity means downtime. While I love my work and this blog, I didn’t realize how seriously burnt out I was until I was riding the Tower of Terror alone. (There are so many jokes in that sentence I’ll let you make up your own….)

To be creative, I need to recharge the batteries from time to time.

- Good business is about leading. I’ll admit it: my least favorite part of blogging is reading other blogs. It isn’t that they aren’t good. I used to asssert that they weren’t, and I’ve learned to avoid those blogs and focus on the ones that really charge me up. I also find my personal style changes when I read too many other blogs all at once. I don’t like that to happen.

- This personal financial blogging business has room for innovation and push-the-envelope thinking. I’m lucky to be surrounded by some incredible blogging talent (I’m looking at you, my late-start Yakezie team!). I need to push us all to higher/better/funner (word?) stuff. It’s good for all of us.

A final note: I have family in town this week. I’ll be around, but will be light on comments and general frivolity. That said, I have a great guest posting lineup for two of the days and a very special podcast on Monday. I’ll be back in full week-after-next.

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