Money Hacks Carnival #76 – The Fun Money Facts Edition

By Pinyo, on August 5, 2009

Welcome to the 76th edition of Money Hacks Carnival. In this edition, I’ll be presenting some interesting and fun facts about money along with the submissions. For editor’s picks, please look for entries noted with (EP).

Money Fact #1: $1 bills wear out in about 17 months. Bills of larger denomination last longer because they are used less. Several billion notes per year are currently being printed. To keep up with demand, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing often keeps its currency presses running day and night. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing are located in Washington, DC and Fort Worth, TX.

Business and Economy

• Sun presents Cash for Clunkers Calculator posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
• Curt presents Faith in the Market Alone Will Not Produce a Recovery posted at PennyJobs.com.
• Managed Services presents Pricing Your Services in Tough Economic Times posted at Managed Services Blog.
• Praveen presents Amazon, Best Buy, and Negative Operating Cycle posted at My Simple Trading System.
• Johnny Lokin presents How Retail Security Systems Can Protect Your Business posted at Retail Security Systems.
• KCLau presents The only financial company who knows the power of social media posted at KCLau’s Money Tips — There are always many methods to get free traffic and leads to your website. Beside search traffic, another major source of traffic is social media. There is one company who knows how to make use of social media – ROCKWILLS.

Money Fact #2: The paper for money is made specially for the Bureau by a Massachusetts paper maker and is shipped to Washington and Fort Worth by armored truck. Possession of the blank paper by outsiders is a federal crime. Genuine currency paper is one quarter linen and three quarters cotton.

Career

• (EP) Nissim Ziv presents Career Goals: Examples of Career Goals and Objectives posted at Job Interview Guide.
• Darwin presents Top 10 College Degrees in 2009 with Massive Demand posted at Darwin’s Finance — The Top 10 Highest Paying college degrees for new graduates. There’s an interesting pattern in this year’s hottest degrees since the Wall Street meltdown.
• (EP) Emma Taylor presents 100 Best Blogs for Your Job Search posted at Job Profiles.

Money Fact #3: Abraham Lincoln’s portrait appears on both the penny and the five dollar bill. The 16th president has been on the penny since 1909 and the five dollar bill since 1928. Lincoln was also on the hundred dollar bill between 1869 and 1880.

Debt & Credit

• (EP) Craig Ford presents Debt: Upside Down and Backwards posted at Money Help For Christians — Traditionally people saved and then purchased. Today people borrow then purchase. This backwards equation leaves many upside down in debt.
• 2 Pennies Earned presents How to Maximize Your Credit Card Cash Back Using a Discover Credit Card posted at Two Pennies Earned — In the last nine months alone Two Pennies Earned have exchanged cash back for $175 in gift cards to Chili’s, Macaroni Grill, Lowe’s, Buca di Beppo, DSW, Bath and Body Works, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and the Gap.
• Michael Bass presents Helpful hints for Debt Settlement posted at Debt Prison
• PFCreditCards presents How to Save Money With 0% Balance Transfers posted at PF Credit Cards.
• MoneyNing presents AnnualCreditReport.com For Free Credit Reports posted at Money Ning — Annualcreditreport.com should be the only place to get free credit reports.
• (EP) Jim presents Is FreeCreditReport.com A Scam? posted at Bargaineering.
• J. Savings presents A Personal Finance Lesson Learned the Hard Way posted at Budgets are Sexy — Sometimes you cut corners and you win – others, not so much…
• David presents 0% Balance Transfer Offers posted at Credit Card Offers IQ — Here is one of the largest list of 0% balance transfer offers on the Internet.
• (EP) The Dough Roller presents Will the ‘Real’ FICO Credit Score Please Stand Up posted at The Dough Roller — When you check your FICO score, make sure you get your real FICO score, and not a fake!
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents How To Get A Personal Loan posted at The Digerati Life.
• Flea presents Getting Out Of Debt posted at Be A Survivor.
• (EP) Matt Jabs presents Debt Reduction – Emergency Fund Savings – The Balanced 75/25 Method posted at Debt Free Adventure! — Matt has been receiving a lot of questions regarding his personal approach of debt reduction versus emergency fund savings contributions. This topic has been an orbiter in many of his posts so he addresses it directly in this article for everyone to read, analyze, critique, love, hate, smile about, cry over, and provide feedback to.
• SingleGuyMoney presents Using Credit To My Advantage posted at Single Guy Money.
• Madison presents Credit Card $40 Sign Up Bonuses posted at My Dollar Plan.
• Debt Freedom Fighter presents The Correct Way to Report Cases of Identity Theft posted at Discover Debt Freedom!.

Money Fact #4: The $100,000 Gold Certificate, Series 1934, was the largest note ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These notes were used for transactions between Federal Reserve Banks, and were not circulated among the general public.

Frugality & Saving Money

• Online Dividends presents Are Bank Bonuses an ethical way to make money? posted at Blogging Banks.
• (EP) Nicki presents To Upgrade Or Wait – Frugality Tested posted at Domestic Cents.
• Tony Cookson presents Update: Magazine Subscription Math posted at This Young Economist.
• Kristen Ellis presents Behold The Almighty Raincheck! posted at Frugality In the Making.
• ChristianPF presents Budgeting with Mvelopes Personal posted at Christian Personal Finance Blog.
• Studenomist presents Checklist For College Freshmen- Dorm Room Essentials posted at Studenomics.com — A list of all of the essential purchases you need to make before going off to college this September.
• Patrick presents Free Smoothie From Jamba Juice posted at Cash Money Life Deals — Buy one Smoothie, get one smoothie free at Jamba Juice.
• (EP) Ben Dinsmore presents How to Get the Book Inexpensive Family Vacations posted at Trees Full of Money — Ben sharing the strategy he uses to get the best deal using online travel booking sites.
• Banker Saver presents How Safe Is Your Retirement Fund? posted at Banker Saver.
• Miss Bankrupt presents My Deadbeat Television posted at Miss Bankrupt.
• Free Printable Birthday Cards for Dads posted at Home Life Weekly — Birthday cards can be expensive here is simple and quick way to make your own and save money.
• Anthony Samuel presents Save Money on Your Coffee Addiction: Buy a Starbuck’s Gift Card posted at Personal Finance Analyst.
• Michael Schindler presents 5 More Easy Ways to Save Your Money posted at Your Personal Finance Source — Wasting money is a terrible thing to do. Here are 5 great ways to save you money.
• Chance.pfsr presents Give Your Budget a Spring Cleaning posted at Personal Finance Software Reviews.
• (EP) Kyle presents Young Broke People – A Fundamental Difference in Thought posted at Suburban Dollar — A Fundamental difference in thought between Kyle and his wife resulted in an interesting discussion on how we perceive people.
• Jim presents 25 Ways to Save Your Money to Make Your Future Bright posted at Financial Updates.
• Wisebread presents 10 Ways to Get More Wear Out of Your Clothing posted at Wisebread.
• Kathryn presents Easy Ways to Slash Bank Fees posted at Out of Debt Christian — Bank fees continue to go higher and higher, which means that avoiding them is more important than ever! With fees deducted directly from your account, it can be tough to notice that may have been charged hundreds of dollars per year just for the privilege of using your own money! Fortunately, you can cut these fees to nearly zero by taking just a few easy steps.

Money Fact #5: The legend In God We Trust became a part of the design of United States currency in 1957. It has appeared on all currency since 1963. The National Motto has been challenged in court many times by those who believe that it is an Unconstitutional blend of “church and state” but the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice have both indicated that they intend to defend the National Motto against all challenges. Recent defeats of these challenges include a 1977 Supreme Court decision to allow the National Motto to stand and the 1992 defeat of a Maryland District Court challenge.

Income

• Dividend Tree presents What is value of Net Worth? posted at Dividend Tree — Among others, increasing cash flow is very significant element of wealth creation. Using available resources to increase one’s cash flow will increase your wealth.”
• TIP Guy presents Alternative Income Streams posted at TIPBlog.in — It would be unrealistic for me to expect that these alternatives income streams will replace income from salaried job. However, it is realistic and certainly possible to select at least two alternatives and build those streams with sincere effort. Over time and perhaps 15 years down the line one is bound to succeed.

Money Fact #6: If you had $10 billion and spent $1  every second, it would require 317 years for you to go broke.

Insurance

• TIE presents When To Enroll in Medicare Part D posted at The Incidental Economist — Advice from the health economics literature on the optimal time to purchase prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
• Jason presents How Much is Car Insurance for a 16 Year Old? posted at Insurance & Finance.

Money Fact #7: While there have been no images of African-Americans on American currency to date, three coins have been issued with images of African-Americans: A fifty-cent piece featuring Carver and Washington and another fifty cent piece featuring only Booker T. Washington were released in the 1940s. Recently the U.S. Mint also released a coin with Jackie Robinson on it. Despite the lack of images of African-Americans on currency, four registers and one treasurer whose signatures have appeared on bills are African-Americans.

Investing

• ABC presents Risks of Fixed Income Investments (Bonds) posted at ABCs of Investing — Some factors which can cause bonds to go down in price.”
• (EP) Dividends4Life presents Market Timing vs. Buy And Hold posted at Dividends Value — There are many ways to earn a good return in the market. In addition to buy and hold, some have successfully used various forms of market timing including sector rotation, momentum investing, technical analysis, et. al. Given a person’s unique makeup, not all strategies will work for everyone.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents Buffett Partnership Letters posted at Dividend Growth Investor.
• FMF presents Seven Termites That Eat Your 401(k) posted at Free Money Finance — These seven can kill your 401k if you’re not careful.
• Tom Drake presents What Are Guaranteed Investment Certificates? (GIC) posted at The Canadian Finance Blog — Guaranteed Investment Certificates, or GICs, are a form of investment where you agree to lend money to a bank for a set amount of time.
• (EP) The Smarter Wallet presents Reading Stock Charts Using Technical Analysis posted at The Smarter Wallet.
• Investing Toolkit presents What’s A Stock Market Index? posted at Investing Toolkit.
• Ray Discount Brokers: 5 Tips to Choose the Best Discount Broker posted at Financial Highway — Tips on how to find the best discount broker.
• Investing School presents What is Forex? posted at Investing School — Forex refers to currency exchange and here’s more explanation of it.
• Jae Jun presents 2009 Top 40 Best Stocks to Retire On: Part 4 posted at Old School Value — Analyzed all 40 of Fortune’s Best Stocks to Retire on list of 2009. View the results now.
• Ben presents Market Capitalization: An Overview posted at Money Smart Life.

Money Fact #8: It is illegal for the United States Government to depict a specific model of car on currency because this would create the impression that the government was promoting one model of car above all others. However, there are four cars parked around the treasury building in the engraving that appears on the back of the ten dollar bill. To be able to depict cars without promoting particular brands, the currency artist who created the original model created composite cars. The cars depicted are designed to resemble period automobiles but not to depict any specific type of automobile available in 1927.

Taxes

• Jeff Rose presents Cash for Clunkers Tax Rules posted at Good Financial Cents.
• (EP) Helen presents Can an S corporation save me money? posted at Affine Financial Services — If you’re starting up a business, an S-corp can reduce your self-employment tax, but at the cost of a lot more paperwork.
• Cameron Daniels presents On Cigarette Laws and Pigovian Taxes posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job

Money Fact #9: In accordance with the July 11, 1862 act of Congress that authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe the final form of currency, decided to add three well-known statesmen to the collection, which is why our currency bears the portraits of some men who were not U.S. Presidents. These three are: Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury; Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War and the man credited with promoting the National Banking System we enjoy today; and Benjamin Franklin, inventor, diplomat, publisher and second-oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Other

• (EP) Lazy Man and Money presents What If There Was No Tomorrow posted at Lazy Man and Money.
• Four Pillars presents 2009 Cash For Clunkers Program – Trade In Your Old Junker For Money posted at Four Pillars — A comprehensive look at the new Cash for Clunkers trade-in program.
• Jason presents Estate Planning 101: 7 Documents You Need to Know About posted at Redeeming Riches — Let’s face it, no one wants to talk about their demise, but these 7 things can be a stress reliever for your loved ones and can be the difference in whether or not Uncle Sam becomes your biggest beneficiary.
• Peter presents Considering Refinancing Or Getting A New Home Loan? Here’s How To Read That Confusing HUD-1 Settlement Statement posted at Bible Money Matters — Closing on a new home is an exciting yet, daunting process. This article aims to help de-mystify one part of the closing process, the HUD-1 settlement statement.
• Patrick presents Is Your Car Eligible for the Cash For Clunkers Program? posted at Cash Money Life — Eligibility criteria for the Cash for Clunkers Program.
• Mr Credit Card presents American Express Gift Cards Review posted at Ask Mr Credit Card.
• Sam presents New !! Prenup !! Should I Sign a Prenuptial Agreement? Do I Need a Prenuptial Agreement? posted at Surfer Sam and Friends.
• Jack Schmidt presents The High Cost of Deep Fried Coke posted at SectorMatic Money Journal.
• Chris McClelland presents Best buys of the fall posted at Lucrative Investing.
• PT presents Cash for Clunkers Questions posted at Prime Time Money — Q&A About the CARS Program.

Money Fact #10: The new designs on United States Quarters are due to the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act (Public Law 105-124) which was signed into law by President Clinton on December 1, 1997. The stated purposes of this new law were to honor the Federal Republic of States that comprise the U.S.A., to promote knowledge of history and geography to the youth of America and to encourage young people to become coin collectors and come to appreciate the diversity and unity of the United States through collecting representative samples of all 50 quarters.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Money Hacks Carnival using our
carnival submission form. Next edition will be hosted at Personal Finance By The Book.

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Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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