Flavors of the Week - Final Four Edition

Subscribing to my site guarantees you don't miss any new content. Choose either E-Mail Feed or RSS Feed. Thanks for visiting!

In last week’s roundup I revealed my NCAA Final Four picks. I got 3 of the Final 4 correct, but the one I got wrong (Tennessee) really hurt me.

In my pool, the best I can do now is come in 3rd place - that’s if my teams make the Final and I pick the overall winner. In case you’re wondering, I have Kansas over Memphis in a tightly contested final.

And although I picked Kansas for my pool, I was desperately routing for Davidson to beat them yesterday. It came down to the last shot and sadly it wasn’t meant to be. Kansas was by far the better team on paper, but like everyone else, I think Kansas was drinking the Davidson Kool-aid and almost gave away a spot in the Final Four.

And what a great story Davidson was - a tiny school in (arguably) the biggest basketball state in the country and they made it further in the NCAA tournament than in-state Goliaths - Duke and Clemson. Davidson was the little train that could, capturing the hearts of American sports fans and reminding us what is great about sports, especially collegiate athletics.

Without further ado, the flavors of the week:

Personal Finance

There Are No Financial Cinderellas - Hard work, determination and sacrifice are some of the qualities that go into making a so-called “Cinderella”, whether it be an NCAA team or someone who successfully applies these principles to their personal finances…

Investment Club Portfolio and Returns - The performance of this investment club reinforces the fact that the average person should buy low cost ETF’s and make passive investments. Madison does it for fun and educational purposes, as it only makes up 2% of her investable assets, that makes sense too.

Moving Debt Is Not The Same As Paying It Off - Consolidating debt can be looked at as a form of procrastination. NCN looks at the ways people procrastinate when it comes to their debt…

Financial Planning

What Retirement Means To Me - If you want to see a good example of someone who knows what he wants in retirement, and out of life, you should read this post…

5 Strategies to Survive An Economic Slowdown - Simple post but right on the money, when it comes to surviving the rough waters of this recession environment. If you enact the steps he talks about you can survive most any financial down turn…

Taxes on Irregular Income - Really helpful article for those that are self employed (like bloggers) and are starting to earn income. If your income is inconsistent or hard to gauge, Phil does a great job of walking you through the different ways to estimate income, without running a foul of the IRS…

Two Important Questions - Want to know more about the 3 ways a financial planner (or advisor) is paid? Art does a nice job of breaking down the different channels…

Self Improvement

Grade School Still Holding You Back? Part One - Jeff shares some very personal moments in his life that have helped to shape certain parts of his personality. The older I get the more I realize how our past experiences have a significant impact on who we’ve become…

Grade School Still Holding You Back? Part Two

Environment

Ten Easy Ways To Be More Green And Help The Environment - Great tips to get you thinking about doing your part to help the environment…

Investing

Do You Save More With Your Automated Savings plan? - I think adopting automated savings or investing plans is a key concept when it comes to successfully planning for your future…

ETF’s and Index Funds - Mike at QFFP has an interesting take on the never ending debate over investing on ETF’s or low cost index funds…

Bizarre

Diet Sunglasses Turn Off Your Appetite - Interesting blue Sunglasses may help you lose weight…

Photography

How to Cook Everything

Even though I have Kansas winning it all, I will secretly be rooting for UNC, as my mom could come in second (in our pool) if UNC beats UCLA. We’ve got our bases covered in my family…

Tags: Chance Flavors