Finance Fox Weekend Recap: 10 Great Reads You Might Have Missed

Thong Guy @ Port Dover – Friday 13

I’m certain that most of you knew that yesterday was Friday the 13. It also happens to be the third Friday the 13 this year. Coincidence? I think not, however twenty-eight more years will go by before we see another three-peat of Friday the 13 in a single year.  There are people in this world who suffer from ‘iggatriskaidekaphobia‘– an unexplained fear of Friday the 13th – thankfully I’m not one of them. What’s interesting about July 13/2012 Friday the 13 is that exactly 13 weeks ago was a Friday, April 13, and that exactly 13 weeks before that was a Friday, January 13. That’s plenty of thirteens in a span of six months, but good thing is that next time we see three Friday the 13-ins in a year it will be year 2040. So, now you might be left wondering how often does the January-April-July Friday the 13th trilogy repeat? Not often. It happens only three to four times every century, and the last time it happened it was 1984, and I was only six months old.

Enough about Friday the 13, and instead lets switch gears a little bit. Here are some interesting news that caught my eye this week.

Fifty Shades of Gray

If you ever thought that writing doesn’t pay well, make sure you Google ‘E.L. James’ before you conclude on your answer. James’s erotic fiction trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and has accounted for up to 20 per cent of all the print novels sold in the U.S. this spring. In this series of books which focus on an enigmatic billionaire named Christian Grey, who becomes romantically involved with a sexually inexperienced young woman named Anastasia Steele and asks her to become his “submissive,” or sex slave. I haven’t read the book my self, but everyone is f*****k talking about it. Right now, I know six different women that are reading it, and one of my suppliers in their office (which women predominantly work in), have a white male half-body statue in a corner with a gray hat which syndicates Fifity Shades of Gray and its main character Christian. Check out this article on Fifty Shades of Gray and it’s critics.

Hedge Funding & JP Morgan

JPMorgan Chase announced that a bad trade executed in May, which was originally estimated to have cost the biggest bank in US $2 billion has actually cost the bank nearly three times that since the beginning of the year. Thus far it is estimated that the bank lost $5.8 billion, and its loss is a wonderful example of a hedge fund taking a huge after a trading blunder.

So, who came to the rescue? None other than the beloved Billionaire investor Warren Buffett who said on Friday that he believes JPMorgan Chase is doing the right things to deal with its multibillion-dollar trading losses. He also reiterated his support for President Obama, and how the healthcare reform is a step in the right direction.

Now let’s shift focus towards 10 great reads you might have missed this week from the world of personal finance:

Financial Samurai

Have you ever thought about quitting the rat-race and following your dream of becoming your own boss? Have you thought about what’s holding you back? There could be several things, including your savings, love for your job, fear of no income and many other forms of fear. Earlier this week Sam finally launched his first e-book called ‘How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye‘, and all I can say that it’s an amazing read so far. A lot of research, hours, editing, and ideas went into this 100 page e-book, but aside from that, this e-book’s unique approach is what makes it different from anything else out there. Rather than another e-book from a personal finance blogger about saving money and investing, this e-book stems from a mental stand point in hopes of getting you over your fears of leaving your employer, unchaining your self, and engineering your layoff. 

My Own Advisor

Mark uses a two step approach to grow his retirement fund – Dividend paying stocks from both Canada and the US, and broad market Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for passive investing. Here are a few great reasons he lists on why he owns ETFs.

Modest Money

Steve’s guest post on MM this week on why most people should take advice from personal finance bloggers with a grain of salt definitely caught my attention, so much so that I left over four different comments. I did agree with Steve on not being anonymous allows the readers to connect with the blogger, and that if the blogger doesn’t have much experience with a given topic that they should not offer insight unless they’ve dealt with it in life. However, I also disagreed with Steve on two points – You don’t need education in finance to make you a personal finance wiz, and that disclosing your personal finances/blog income does not make you more credible than the next guy. Anyone can punch in numbers on a computer and call it ‘income’. Finally, I applauded Steve on his courageous effort on putting some things out in the open,as well as a great post overall.

See Debt Run

If you have worked for a large corporation in the 21st century, chances are good that you have been, or will one day be a part of a merger or acquisition. Jefferson does a solid job by sharing his experience in the guide to surviving a merger or acquisition.

Krant Cents

I looooooved Larry’s post this week titled ‘ Forget Everything Else, Marry For Money‘, which raises the question – Is money more important than love? It may be, because finding a soul mate is harder than you think, and if anyone says that it’s easy, tell em I said they’re a liar. ;)

Cents to Save

I’m not sure about you, but I despise of cheap people. WTF is up with them anyways? They either don’t have money to go here, or buy that and are definitely bad gift givers. LF shares her take on being cheap, cheapness as a whole, and cheapskates. 

From Shopping to Saving

Here’s a very summer appropriate post for all those heading to an amusement park this summer. Whether you are heading to the water park, Disneyland, amusement park, fair, or other fun place where they sell really expensive stuff and overpriced admission tickets, then the post on how to save money at the fair or amusement park is for you.

Work Save Live

As someone who’s on the fence about making a home made headboard, this DIY post by Jason on how to make a headboard out of plywood at home was great inspiration, and maybe just what I needed to get me off the fence.

Passive Cleaning Income

Everyday I hustle, everyday I hustle…..Here’s a great post about a side hustle turning into a full-fledged side business – Side hustler as a cleaning geek.

One Smart Dollar

Here are 6 tips to get a great deal on a car and avoid car dealer tricks from an Acura lover who also happens to own a 100 pound St. Bernard dog. I went through the car buying process four months ago, and I used majority of the great ideas Sean’s list.

That’s it for this week amigos!

Thanks for being part of this weekend’s Finance Fox Weekend Recap. We hope you enjoyed this week’s 10 awesome reads you might have missed, and see us again right here next weekend where we’ll do it all over again.

Best!

Eddie

Photo Credits (donpipe, screencrush)