linklings, p2p edition

Here’s another weekend roundup. First, I have a brief announcement: starting sometime in January (I will link to it once I start) I am going to be writing a regular series of posts for the Prosper blog. It’s already up and running with a bunch of bloggers you are probably familiar with if you’ve been reading Brip Blap for any length of time. I’m excited about the opportunity and I’ll have more peer-to-peer lending news below.

But first, some links:

Frontier Markets: The new emerging emerging market | The Dough Roller

• The Dough Roller has a quick primer and a few thoughts on frontier markets. I started thinking about Kazakhstan. If you haven’t heard of it except for the Borat movie, you should read about it a bit more. It’s going to be a wealthy nation with a (dictatorial) capitalist/command economy blend similar to the Gulf States. Like the Gulf States, they have big oil. Big. It’s going to be a country worth investing in. (Usual disclaimer: please consult with a professional financial advisor before doing anything relating to anything I say).

9 Financial Lessons | Cash Money Life

• Part of the writing series based on “The 12 Days of Christmas” theme, Cash Money Life has some good financial lessons everyone should learn. I especially like “Increase Your Income.”
  
  

What’s Your Definition of Retirement?

• I may be slightly prejudiced here, since Lazy Man’s quoting from an email exchange we had, but I think this is a great post on one of the central questions of the financially aware person’s existence: how do I reconcile work and life and retirement?
  
  

Early Retirement Extreme: Should I get insurance?

• Should you get insurance? In a sense, yes. In a sense, no. It really depends on the situation. Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme has a contrarian’s take on it.
  
  

Earn $1 Million By Not Buying a Nintendo Wii! | Cash Money Life

• A second link for Cash Money Life on a subject near and dear to my spleen. Video games are a waste of money. A lot of people will say “oh, it’s exercise” or “oh, it is fun for the whole family.” Buy a board game. Don’t waste your life, Flounder. I know that wasn’t exactly the point of the article – it’s more on the lost investment money – but it gave me a chance to rant about the Wii/all video game systems. Again.

The Double Bridge Investment Plan

• Even though this article is Canadian-themed, it is a nice analysis of why people who plan to ‘retire’ early need both traditional retirement plans but also something to sustain them in the years after they ‘retire’ from the day job but before they hit the age where the retirement funds can be withdrawn – from a 401(k) in the States, for example. I like the term ‘double bridge.’
  
  

When Christmas Shopping, Your Car is Not a Safe Storage Space | Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life

• Here’s some good advice from Mrs. Micah. Quite frankly, it is easy to feel that your car is a vault – but it’s not.

Carnival of Peer-To-Peer Lending – Home

• (Via Lazy Man and Money) Here comes a new carnival, and one that I’ll be hosting in the near future. It’s the carnival of peer-to-peer lending. Should be interesting, since it’s a fairly narrow topic – but a growing one! This will also tie in quite nicely with my new Prosper writing, as well.

Tags: economy, family, income, investing, life, linklings, money, wealth