May 2014 Awesome Article Roundup

A list of Awesome Articles from May in the Personal Finance World.

Thousandaire: How to Make Money Without a College Degree: Kevin wrote a great article that goes in depth on the cost/benefit ratio of getting a college degree. Overall college degrees have been over produced and hyped in the last 20 years and there are many other options in life than getting a 4 year degree to end up with a decent job and pay scale.

Personal Capital: The Cost of Funerals, Death, and Dying. Holly writes an insightful article from her experience working in a funeral home.  Funerals are often an unplanned and unexpected large expense that we don’t see coming.  Decisions are usually made during the grieving process and without prior knowledge of the price variances between funeral homes families can end up spending a lot more than they need to.

Untemplater: My Hard Earned Manager Tips for Newbies and Existing Leaders: Sydney posted an informative article on her top suggestions for managing time and people.  This article is spot on and is very helpful career advice for anyone entering management or already in management.

My Broken Coin: The Golden Rule of “For Sale By Owner“: Tom tackles the details of selling a house by owner.  I think if I were to list a house again I would go this route.  I think most people search for homes using sites like Realtor.com, and getting in the MLS is key.  I haven’t seen anyone write about selling a home by owner in a while.

The Wisdom Journal: How I Teach My Kids About Money and Life By Using Bricks: Ron shows how he teaches his kids to make good decisions using Legos.  I love unique ways to teach kids, especially when it involved money and is fun too!

Financial Samurai: What’s So Bad About The Bank of Mommy and Daddy, Cry-baby?: Sam responds to extremely angry and combative comments about his post of the Average Net Worth for the Above Average Person.  A good reminder to not be jealous of he hand others were dealt and to make the best of the one you have.

Squirrelers: The Value of Preparing Personal Financial Statements: This article brings up a topic that is highly important and missing from most people’s routines.  Treating your personal finances like a business makes it a lot easier to spot inefficiencies that can be improved upon and provides motivation by showing just how well you are doing overall.

SeeDebtRun: Documentation: The Easy Way to Impress At Your Job: Jefferson covers a great way to increase your value at work through documentation. Improving about and documenting improvements that make everyone else’s jobs easier, even those who have yet to start working for the company, increase your value.  This article touches on one of my favorite business topics of reducing organizational weaknesses. Organizational weaknesses are problems that come from no individual, but from the processes and culture an organization holds.  Improving upon these makes everyone’s job easy, makes the organization more competitive, and builds your legacy.

FinanceGirl: 19 Ways to Be Better: Natalie talks about several steps that are relatively easy to implement in life that make drastic changes in how effective we can be, how we feel about ourselves, and how other people will feel about us.