linklings, a cold wind blows through Jersey edition

I seem to fall behind pretty badly with the link roundups on the weekends. It seems to be popular with most bloggers to shoot for Friday (or other weekday) roundups, and I’ll be moving in that direction. I’m also thinking that I may include more non-blog stuff – newspaper articles, etc.

On to some links for the week:

• Fox’s Secret Millionaire: This was a weird show. Bubelah and I saw part of it, and despite being a little bit repelled by it we did watch it, talk about it quite a bit and probably would watch again – which is, I guess, what they want.
• Prepare for an Increase in Mutual Fund Expense Ratios: The collapsing market gives us another gift that keeps on giving.
• Prosper and Loanio Updates: The P2P industry is going through a tough time. The early leader, Prosper (I was a writer for their blog for a while), is having some legal issues and currently (for different reasons) is going through ‘quiet period’ in which they are not accepting new lenders or new loans. Lending Club, who went through a similar quiet period, are suddenly the leading active P2P (in my opinion) after starting out a distant second to Prosper. I still think the P2P lending industry could remain a niche investing idea, but I don’t think it appears it will explode into the mainstream anytime soon, given the overall economic conditions.
• Save Money on Your Television Bill: I think TV bills grind on everyone’s nerves. Why? If you’re like me, you watch 2-3 channels and pay for 150. If I had Disney, a no-subscription movie channel and PBS I think I’d be happy. Maybe throw in the Travel Channel and the Food Network, too, but you’re still talking about paying $80 per month for 5 channels. But I am paying for a vast number of channels I don’t watch and never will. I guess it’s still not expensive enough for me to ditch, though.
• The Frugal Billionaires: I have to admit that I hate these stories. If I grew up in a dump, then made a middle class salary later in life, no-one would fault me for buying a nice home in a good neighborhood.
• November 2008 Monthly Unemployment Rate at 15-Year High – Chart of The Day: I’m proud to be a part of an appalling statistic like this one. No, really.
• Is Desperation Required To Be An Employee?: An interesting take on why people become employees. I’m not sure that I agree desperation is required for the employer. A desperate employee is both more likely to work harder to keep a crappy job AND more likely to jump at the first opportunity to a slightly higher paying job. I know fear of a loss of benefits is a driving factor in my reluctance to become a 100% full time independent contractor.
• Free From Broke Guide To Twitter: It’s a time suck, and of debatable usefulness, but it can be a lot of fun, too – this is a good intro to the place where all the cool internet geeks hang out.
• My article asking whether you need a bailout was included at Carnival of Personal Finance #181

A few more good articles:

• Are You Suffering From Budget Avoidance Syndrome?
• Got Laid Off? What To Do When You Lose Your Job
• VistaPrint Holiday Card Deals