Personal Finance Review – Football is Better edition

There’s a great billboard along the 101 in the San Francisco that I pass on my morning commute. It’s for the 49ers and it simply reads, “Life is good, but football is better.” I couldn’t agree more. Onto my reads of the week.

Ben at Money Smart Life asks if Minimum Wage is Too Low. I believe that it is and will leave it simply at that.

Golbguru gives some thoughts about life after spending a ton of money on a car. It’s too bad that he bought a Toyota.

The Sun’s wife has the rare option to open a Roth 401k. I’d love to have this option as I’d love to pay today’s taxes to escape what I suspect will be a raised rate tomorrow.

Silicon Valley Blogger gives some thoughts international investing. For the second week in a row, I have a lot of thoughts on the issue and need to develop a whole post to it. Look for it later this week or next week.

Generation X finance gives a great 2nd quarter market review.. I love these updates. However, more interesting to me is that he’s addicted to Guitar Hero. I took an introductory guitar class about 3 years ago and while it was good, I need to work on my skills. I don’t see myself buying an Xbox for this though. If anything, I’ll look at buying a Wii fit.

Five Cent Nickel is looking for the very best 529 Plans. I’d like to direct him to the article that I wrote this week, Choosing a 529 Plan.

A reader on Free Money Finance asked about the value of an MBA. In one of my earliest articles I wrote about the value of a MBA. I’ve often wondered if I should get one. One option that I looked at is the University of Phoenix reviewed by Flexo. I’m just unsure if an MBA really adds any weight to my resume – the main reason I want an MBA.

Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity writes about Synthetic Diamond Engagement Rings. I’m not sure how much money it saves. I do know that buying your diamond online (not from Blue Nile) will save money. Check out the steps in my Diamond Buying Guide.

Mighty Bargain Hunter gives a bunch of options for Roth IRAs. One thing I noticed is that there was no mention of the Zecco.com option. It has a $30 a year fee, which I thought was too much for me. I currently pay $10 a year to buy an ETF with TD Ameritrade. However, as my Roth IRA continue to grow, I’m liking the idea of being able to rebalance the holdings for free – except for the spread in the bid-ask prices of the ETF. Someday, I may be able to invest 1-2% of it in a speculation stock to curb my inner gambler.