Best Writing of the Week, August 16

Best Writing of the Week

After skipping two weeks of listing my top five blog posts because I decided to move closer to work, it’s high time to share some writing by fellow bloggers that I enjoyed tremendously. Since the weather has been awful the past days in Belgium I had a lot of time to catch up on my favourite blogs. Below you can find the most engaging and inspiring posts I’ve bumped into.

 

What Makes Personal Finance so Personal (Frugal Fringe)

Just like me, A Noonan Moose from Frugal Fringe seems fascinated by the personal finance community and its diversity of writers and lurkers. Even though the majority of us work towards the same set of goals, be they paying of debt, striving for early retirement or building a financial independence fund, the way we try to achieve these goals differs from one person to the next. This teaches me that there’s no one size fits all aproach and that everyone has to find out for themselves what works best by balancing their unique values and interests.

 

Surround Yourself With Likeminded People (Work to Not Work)

However, even though we all go our own ways, the strength of our community lies in the fact that we support eachother and provide useful advice and learning experiences to one another. That’s why Zee thinks we should all surround ourselves with like-minded people. Even though their opinion might differ slightly from yours, they can provide useful feedback, support you in  your choices or offer a helping hand to keep you focussed on your goals.

 

Maintaining Your Network Is More Important Than Saving Money (Cashville Skyline)

While linking up to like-minded folks online is quite easy and above all really cheap – you only need an internet connection – sometimes it’s important to spend money to maintain your offline network of friends and acquaintances. Addison from Cashville Skyline showed earlier this week that the old maxim “spend money to earn money” still holds true in modern times. Even though she went 200% over her target food budget, she says it was worth every dollar. By spending over $600 on restaurants and drinks last month she already had half a dozen job lined up before even leaving her old job. I know first-hand that reaching out to others is the most important thing to do when looking for a job, even when it costs you a pretty penny.

 

How To: Cheap Homemade Seltzer with a Modified Sodastream (Frugalwoods)

Now, that doesn’t mean I recommend to spend an insane amount of money on dinners and coffee dates with friends – far from it. Frugality should be the norm, spending the exception. That’s why I like the Frugalwoods’ solution to their seltzer problem. Just like me they were creative in coming up with a solution on how to fuel their water addiction. Of course, they truly had to trump my creativity and went all-out: a homemade seltzer with a DIY sodastream.

 

Dividend Growth Investing Right Now In 2014 (The Conservative Income Investor)

Some of you may now by now that I’m highly interested in the dividend growth investment strategy. People who follow this strategy basically look for companies that have a solid business model and have been consistently growing their dividend pay-outs. While it’s always nice to buy stocks on the cheap and see massive capital gains, Tim McAleenan Jr. rightfully argues that a dividend growth investor shouldn’t concern himself with past or future stock value too much, only with the possibility of receiving future dividends.

 

There you have it, my favourite posts from the past week! Did you read anything that really struck a chord with you? Now I’m going to enjoy what little sunshine there is on offer by going for a jog. Have a great weekend!

8 Comments

  1. Thanks so much for including our weird seltzer solution! So far I can report that it’s working out great. Appreciate the shout out! Hope you’re having a lovely weekend 🙂

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