PFI Weekly Updates – March 3 (2009)

photo credit: aprilandrandyWelcome to PFI and the weekly updates – The Recession to Depression Edition. I have seen many people starting to talk and write about the world going into another depression and not a recession. I won’t get into the definitions of each, but whatever we are going through – it feels like it is getting a lot worse. I couldn’t keep myself from watching the bloodbath on Wall Street yesterday. The only thing I kept telling myself is that the DOW can only go to zero and no further. That is pretty sad but gave me a little chuckle.

Unfortunately, we are now caught in a viscous cycle that is going to be hard to get out of. People are losing their jobs and can no longer pay their mortgage and are cutting way back on purchasing products. The mortgage lenders, banks, and companies who make products are seeing declining sales because people are not buying anything – so they are forced to make more job cuts. So now more people are out of work who can’t afford to pay their bills and buy more products. This shouldn’t be breaking news to anyone – but I feel we are starting to accelerate this spiral downwards and it is getting a little scary.

In times like these, you should focus on the things important in your life. That is what I did yesterday when I was watching the continued sell off of the stock market. I thought about my family and how I was going to spend the evening with my children and wife. I then thought about the plans that I have to become financially independent so that I could spend more and more time with my family in the next few years. That was all the motivation I needed to get back up this morning and not give up – continuing on with my long-term goals.

Personal Finance Blog of the Week
Today I would like to highlight one of my favorite new blogs that recently went live. The author of this blog is no stranger to the world of personal finance and ways to make money online as she has several other sites. The new blog is called Residual Income Web Blog and is an absolute must read for anyone wanting to learn about ideas and ways to make legitimate income from the web. Please take the time to go over and say hello to Maria. Check out this site as you won’t be disappointed!

Carnivals
I participated in the following carnival over the past week. Please check out some of the great reads from this carnival!

• Carnival of Personal Finance – (Mar. 2, 2009) Recession in America – Abandoned Subdivisions – hosted by Free Money Finance.

Articles I liked this week
Here is a list of articles and posts I really enjoyed over the past week -

1 – Free From Broke shows us how using Google Calendar will remind us to pay bills on time. I think this is a great idea if you have not done it already with your finances. Your cash is important so you need to avoid paying any late fees or extra finance charges if you are late on a bill.

2 – Dusty from Chasing the Bull talks about simplifying your life and getting rid of things you don’t need. The same point can be made about not buying things you don’t need or will never use. This kind of thinking will help you during the global recession.

3 – Dividend Growth Investor provides analysis on the General Electric Dividend Cut. As a GE stockholder and a dividend investor, I sold my position in the company yesterday. It was a difficult decision for me, but one that was very necessary in this ugly stock market.

4 – Maria from Residual Income Web Blog breaks down a way to make money online. The post is centered on developing a niche website for income. I have a goal to have a new niche website up and running by the end of the month.

5 – Scott from The Passive Dad brings up a topic that I am very passionate about – teaching your children about money. I actually had a talk with my 5-year old son over the weekend about starting his allowance. We discussed the Daddy Bank as I call it where he has the opportunity to invest his allowance back to me to earn interest – sounds like a good case study for some future posts!

6 – MD from Studenomics gives us some tips on how to fix a bad financial habit.

Have an wonderful week!

Tagged as: depression, recession