You may have heard, but there’s going to be some new commercials coming on television tomorrow night. Rumor has it Fox will break them up with a football game. I’m not one to miss commercial, so I’ll endure the football game.

As the title mentioned, I’ll be rooting for the underdogs. Here are some of the underdogs I will support:
– A quarterback who was drafted in the 6th round (Tom Brady).
– A receiver who had to fight his way just to make the college team and went undrafted in the pros (Wes Welker – must read for sports fans)
– A defensive player who was undrafted and unwanted in Pittsburgh (Mike Vrabel)
– An undrafted professional wrestler (Stephen Neal)
– An 8th round draft pick possibly playing his last game after a career of star performance at offense, defense, and special team (Troy Brown).
One prediction from me, I don’t think the game will be as close as Vegas expects… and Vegas doesn’t expect it to be that close.

I’ll finish this introduction by expressing what I hope will be my biggest disappointment of the week. Costco sells ready-bake pizzas in three varieties – pepperoni, meat lovers, and margarita (a weird tomato slice and Parmesan cheese topping). I’m sure all are wonderful. However, you need to offer a plain cheese pizza if you are planning a party.

Onto the links:

I wrote an article for Prosper.com’s Blog. If I had written it here, it may have been one of my more popular articles. I wrote how to fight back against rising costs of living.

The Sun’s Financial Diarty updates his passive income.

While Money Smart Life writes about term life insurance, Generation X Finance writes about disability insurance.

The Digerati Life writes about the simplest investment portfolio.

No Credit Needed reminds everyone (but I’ll take it as personal advice) that personal finance requires a balance.

Ever wonder how to make 3 billion dollars in a year? Free Money Finance readers don’t wonder that anymore.

I agree with Mighty Bargain Hunter, that it’s best to grow up at your own pace. I’m still a kid.

Llama Money writes about a personal journey through financial ruin.

Observant readers may have noticed that I added a donation button. I was (and still am) a little conflicted about this change. On one hand, I do make money from advertisements. On the other hand, a reader suggested that I put it on the site. I’m not opposed to making money with this blog, so if this is one way of doing it, so be it. Leo at Zen Habits listed it as one of the top ten ways he escaped his day job. So that’s the story behind the button. I put it there if you want to use it, and appreciate it if you do, but don’t feel obligated.

Here are the links you’ve been waiting for…

I wrote an article for the Prosper Blog this week, as I do every week – does psychology play a role in your money management?

The Digerati Life gives Seven tips for real estate investors. Though she says that now isn’t the time to buy property, I think it’s regional. Where she and I live, I agree with her. However, in Boston, prices have dropped 10% from where they were in 2004 and the mortgage rates are at an all time low.

Generation X Finance takes a look back at mutual fund performance of 9 companies. I don’t invest in actively managed mutual funds anymore, but if I did this would be a nice place to get more information on some of them.

Money Smart Life writes about how to use Microsoft Office Accounting Express to manage your small business. I use a different product… Microsoft Excel.

Sun’s Financial Diary didn’t make money from the falling Chinese Stocks. I think buying on dips that happened in the last week is a good plan – though prices had run up a lot before the drop.

No Credit Needed goes back to basics about getting out of debt. It’s a good reminder and consolidated nicely.

Free Money Finance had a title that I just had to click – how to get paid without working. It’s like he knows the Lazy Man. It’s an interesting story that I might write more on later on this week.

Mighty Bargain Hunter asks take a second job or build a side business?. I’ve never been much of a fan of a second job. Of course blogging became that second job. I suppose it just depends on who you call your boss.

Flexo talks about how PriceProtectr saved his girlfriend $100. It saved me 74 cents over the holidays. As usual your mileage will vary, but since it’s very little work, it’s well worth using this tool.

Brip Blap has talks about how to talk to your teenager about personal finance. I love this article, it’s just unfortunate that it’s written about 20 years before I need it. I might need to e-mail it to myself in the future.

Boston Gal’s Open Wallet brings us the national debt clock. The numbers count so fast, it’s hard not to cry.

It’s Martin Luther King day. For some that means you get the day off. Others have to work a normal day. Either way, it’s worth reading up on some Martain Luther King Jr. history. When you are done with that catch up on some personal finance links.

• Jeremy doesn’t like the idea of a 401k Debit Card. I’ll have to ask him about how he feels about social security debit card.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary found that Zecco has a horrible dividend reinvestment process.
• While we are airing our grievances, Money, Matter, and More Musings writes about a passport photo ripoff.
• The Digerati Life asks if you are depressed today? It’s the biggest depressing day of the year (though I think the Martin Luther King factor makes it uplifting). It’s really rainy here near San Francisco. If you are depressed she gives you some tips. You might also want to read an article I wrote, depression and me for more tips.
• Money Smart Life writes about a home office deduction for Ebay taxes. I will have to investigate this deduction since I work at home now almost exclusively now. As usual, I will visit my tax advisor before I do anything.
• No Credit Needed is doing a little baby shopping. I don’t think I said it before, but I wish to offer him my congratulations.
• Free Money Finance has some ways to make money as a writer. He seems to make the distinction between blogging and writing. I hadn’t really thought of them as separate things. Since I don’t software engineering anymore, I don’t typically say that I’m a blogger, but just a writer.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter wrote about discipline and personal finance. I go with a “simply adopting a broad frugal approach”, rather than a disciplined one. The problem is that I have to really think about a purchase that than just consult my hard and fast budget. The good thing is that it’s very little physcial work to adopt a broad frugal approach – and I’m Lazy.
• Jonathan Ryan wrote an article about budgeting. He doesn’t write very often, but his site is a good one if you want to learn to be handy around the home. It will save you some money.
• I helped Peter from Money Management and You set up his blog this week. He’s already got a couple of good articles on passive income.
• If you own a blog and are interested in such things, I wrote an article for the Prosper Blog about how I make money with Prosper.com. I want to note that I was writing about Prosper long before there was a referral program. In fact I used to write about them a lot more then than I do now.

HR Block sent me a link to a promotion that they are running. Specifically they are allowing you to ask a tax advisor questions for free through Jan 31st. I’m going to test them with a question that has puzzled few other tax advisors I’ve talked to in the past. It’s a very specific question with regard to our military status. The best answer I get is that it’s a gray area.

And now for the links I liked this week:

Golbguru seems to back blogging regularly again. He writes a good article about a $2500 car for sale in India. It’s an interesting point that if this takes off in India oil prices are going to skyrocket.

Money Smart Life writes about ebay taxes.

Free Money Finance highlights an article about a customer stealing when not being helped at a store. When I’m being obviously ignored and the staff isn’t rushed, I simply go behind the counter and pretend to ring up the item myself. You’ll be surprised how quickly someone comes up and says, “Can I help you?”

The Sun’s Financial Diary reviews his electricity and oil usage.

The Digerati Life, after catching a bit of a bug, asks Do you go to work sick? I admit that I used to, but I stopped in the last year. Earlier this week, I was sick, but working from home didn’t pose a problem.

Generation X Finance writes about current market conditions encouraging financial mistakes. It’s times like this where it would be great to have some cash on the sidelines to buy into the market.

No Credit Needed has fully funded his Roth IRA for 2008. I made some mistakes in the last year and still haven’t funded 2007’s IRA yet. I need to get that done soon.

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity gives us four ways to make it hard to spend money. I’m very good at making it a game. However, it’s getting easier for me to spend money lately. More on that this week.

Mighty Bargain Hunter reviews Larry Winget’s book, You’re Broke Because You Want to Be. I have this book sitting on my bookshelf, but I’m not sure when I’ll get around to reading it.

Five Cent Nickel writes about the Registered Traveler program. I’ve been hoping that my wife’s government job will spring for the program for her. She travels 1-2 weeks a month, often from SFO which is one of the airports that’s in the program.

Late last night, I found out that I had been nominated for a blogging award. If I were to pick an award to be nominated for, I would have definitely picked Performancing’s award for Best Business/Money Blog. Fortunately, that’s just the award I have been nominated for. Would you take 20 seconds out of your day and vote for the winner? While I would appreciate it greatly if you voted for Lazy Man and Money, there are some other great blogs that you should consider as well.

I write a weekly article for the Prosper Blog. If you like my writing, you can read my article, Are You Diversified there. The Prosper blog is nominated for best use of a corporate blog and I would appreciate you voting for them (and a little indirectly for me) as well.

Generation X Finance writes a tremendous article about reducing the impact of rising oil prices on your bank account. This is a concern of my wife’s, so I’ll forward this article onto her.

Money Smart Life has an article you must read if you had any curiosity about reporting income tax on Ebay earnings.

I’ve often said that I love reading The Sun’s Financial Diary because he keeps up with new ETFs. This is no exception as he writes about new Vanguard Mega ETFs

The Digerati Life breaks down the true costs of relocating. We relocated from 3000 miles paid for by the US military. In a couple of years, we might go back to Boston.

Free Money Finance has an article about how to lose $10,000 in $30 chunks. I may need to forward this one on to my wife as well.

Jim is looking at Verizon FiOS Deals. My brother has FiOS, but it’s a big deal installing it in new rooms. At&T’s U-verse is entering my area now. The competition is starting to step up in the subscription TV wars.

Mighty Bargain Hunter is trying to figure out how much time is worth. It seems easy, but it can be tough to figure out.

No Credit Needed has found that you can have dividends reinvested without commissions. I had no idea this is possible. I need to look into this very, very soon.

Five Cent Nickel is setting goals for 2008

I was included in the Festival of Frugality run at Moolanomy this past week.