welcome to the first ever edition of the carnival of financial resources!  as such, this shall be the birthday issue! you may be amused to know that today is actually my (fwp) own birthday as well!

first off, i want to say thank you to EVERYONE who submitted something for this first CoFR carnival edition.  it was really kind of you to make the effort to share your posts with the rest of the PF blogging community and readers.

CoFR received almost 50 submissions — not too bad for its first issue!

i’m sad to say that there were many articles that although fabulous, and/or really interesting and different, did not abide by the submission guidelines that were posted at CoFR.  as a result, i had to disqualify at least 10 really cool articles! :(  i’m sorry, but i want to be fair and stick to the criteria for what i was envisioning for CoFR material.  i encourage you to (re-)read the CoFR submissions guidelines, and submit another post for the next edition!

for those whose submissions are included below, please kindly take a moment to do the following:

• link/track back to this issue from your own site
• offer feedback and insights to the writers below at their respective sites
• share this issue with others!
• pfbuzz, stumble, and/or digg this post!
• consider subscribing to the Financial Wellness Project via rss or e-mail and receive interesting stories, lessons, reviews, and more several days a week!

due to the volume of submissions (a great turnout!), CoFR will be posting every two weeks (rather than once a month).  the next edition will be october 31st, with deadline the 29th by noon EST.

CoFR is looking for hosts for upcoming editions of this carnival!  if interested in volunteering, please refer to the hosting guidelines.

lastly, i would be interested in receiving feedback on what you think of this carnival, what you might like to see, what might be improved upon, ideas for new categories, etc.  please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below, or at the CoFR site under this edition’s announcement.  if you would like to contact me privately for any reason, you can reach me through this contact form.

thank you, and i hope you enjoy this issue!

tools & software

francois at liberta tells us to write down our expenses and be amazed at how much we’re spending, exactly!

FIRE finance offers resources from books to tools in top resources for early retirement

lazy man at lazy man and money shares his concern about how other unexpected events might need use of an emergency fund, aside from a job loss.

rich leverage evaluates 3 basic money management skills.

j. money encourages us to use text-messaging to entertain ourselves and communicate with — for cheap or free! at budgets are sexy.

heather evaluates at least 3 tools — online banking, pen and paper, software — to share with us how you can save money by tracking your spending, at the greenest dollar.

here is my own article on 43things, a web resource that can further your financial goals.  it has helped me with my life outside of personal finance, and now i use it to remind myself of my financial goals.

deals & coupons

card blogger at my credit card blog shares his thoughts on the best chase credit card offers.

investment products

patrick at cash money life gives us a comprehensive review of tradeking, an online discount broker that has been rated quite well.

jim at blue print for prosperity shares with us his review of FNBO direct’s high yield savings accounts.

mbb at money blue book finance blog offers a detailed review of the top 5 online banks with high interests savings and checking.

kclau tells us how fundsupermart will revolutionize the unit trust industry in malaysia.

praveen at my simple trading system tells us about a different kind of investment purchase he made recently, in taking out the DOG.. “DOG is an ETF that is the inverse of the Dow index.  So it goes up when the Dow goes down, and vice versa.”

john at weekly technical commentary shares his breakouts and breakdowns with respect to wall street activity, including several charts to view.

lifestyle

moneyning encourages us to focus less on the economic turmoil, and do something else in 10 activities for the bear market!

businesses & services

phil for humanity shares his analysis of the recent bank bailout, and 4 reasons why it will not work.

steve at debt free evaluates how mortgage debt consolidation may or may not be a smart financial move for you, and shares several pitfalls to watch out for.

and there you have it, the first ever edition of the carnival of financial resources!

i hope you will consider submittting a post for the next issue.  please be sure to read the guidelines first!
thanks for stopping by!