Weekend Reading: Fantasy Baseball

About six months ago I entered into a Fantasy Baseball League with a group of personal finance bloggers. I had no idea what I was doing at that point and intended to learn as I go.  However, there were too many things going on in life and I never got into it.  The program picked my initial team and it was on auto-pilot from that point on.  Surprisingly, I came in fourth out of nine participants — not bad!

The winner was Lazy Man from Lazy Man and Money — congratulation! As part of the bet, we agreed to mention charities that the winner supports.  Here are charities that Lazy likes:

• Jimmy Fund is a cancer research charity founded in 1948, the Jimmy Fund has supported the fight against cancer in children and adults at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping to raise the chances of survival for cancer patients around the world.
• Hits for Kids is a charitable organization founded by Boston Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis, dedicated to rallying local and corporate support for charities and organizations focused on the health and wellbeing of children. Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids teams up with existing community-based children’s charities and medical research programs in New England and in Kevin’s home town of Cincinnati, to help them raise money and awareness.
• American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the ACS has state divisions and more than 3,400 local offices. Learn more about ACS, what we do, and our plans for the future by visiting their about page.

The 10 Day Give (October 10th through 19th) Please consider contributing to these charities.

Fantasy Baseball side bet

Additionally, we had a little side bet among the bloggers, and the losers all had to share a few articles from the winner’s site. I’ll follow Patrick’s (Cash Money Life) example and go through the list of my favorite articles from all participants here:

First place: Lazy Man and Money

• Seven Things You Must Do to Prepare for An Emergency
• Top 5 Paths to a Million Dollars
• Finance 101: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
• Snowforting: Snowflaking an Emergency Fund
• Save on Gas With These 35 Tips

Second Place: Money and Values

• Retirement Savings 101: Should I use a 401(k) or an IRA? Roth or traditional? — Great introduction to different types of retirement savings account.
  

Third Place: Cash Money Life)

• Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps — This is a nice summary of Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps with link to articles that go into more detail on each individual step.

Fourth Place: Moolanomy (that’s me!)

• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Asset Allocation

Fifth Place: The Simple Dollar

• 31 Days To Fix Your Finances: A Wrapup — An excellent “timeless” guide on how you can improve your finances.
  

Sixth Place: Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

• Be Ecofriendly To Your Wallet This Summer — Being green and better money management goes hand in hand.  Here’s a good article that reinforces this concept.

Seventh: Generation X Finance

• ETFs vs. Mutual Funds: Which One is Right for You? — Ever wonder about the difference between these two types of investment?  This is a great article that clearly explains the differences.
  

Eighth Place: Get Rich Slowly

• 25 of the best books about money — If you are interested in better money management, this is one of the best lists of books about money.

Ninth Place: Prime Time Money

• 10 Ways to Simplify Your Finances — If you don’t have time to read books and need practical money management advice now, this is a nice list to start off with.
  

Again, congratulation to Lazy Man and the rest of the players.  It’s a pleasure to be in the same league with you guys (you’re supposed to laugh at this point).

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!