Weekend Link Love And Carnival Roundup

Special thanks to FIRE Finance for including my post What Matters In Investing in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance, Lao Tzu edition (love the theme).  Following are some posts around the blogosphere I found particularly interesting this week.

Swine Flu Virus And The Costs Of Staying Home by Saving To Invest.  Staying home all the time is certainly one way to avoid exposure, but at what cost?

100 Days Of Economic Damage by Pennyjobs.  Curt does not approve of the way the government has handled the financial crisis.

The Hyperinflation Scam by Dividend Growth Investor.  DGI thinks inflation fears are overblown and offers a few investments to hedge yourself just in case he’s wrong.

Bad Stock Market Returns Raises Your Insurance Premiums by the Weakonomist.  This isn’t something I’d thought of before, but it makes intuitive sense.  Insurance companies make money by investing the float.  If they lose money on the float (or can’t make as much as they used to), they’ll have to raise premiums to compensate.  Simple!

Credit Card Offers Can Change At Any Time by Mrs Micah.  Good point:  rewards exist at the pleasure of credit card companies so long as they make them money.  They are not a right.

Asset Allocation – Include Future Contributions? by Mike at Four Pillars.  Mike asks whether asset allocation is really such a big deal in the beginning when your contributions are so large relative to your portfolio?  The comments are well worth a read as this is a controversial topic.