Image via Wikipedia

Good day folks!

It’s Friday again and time for Panzer to share with you some titbits from the many excellent personal finance related blogs by the various authors.

My three parter on retirement has made me more conscious about retirement issues in other countries. Free Money Finance talks about how the concept of retirement is changing in the US quoting a bankrate article on the topic. It appears that we share a common bond with the Americans, i.e. we have to work until 62 or beyond due to lack of retirement funds.

The Digerati Life shares an article “Sell Your House, Downsize and Give The Proceeds To Charity?” about how a family in the States downsized their lifestyle and was able to fund community projects for 20,000 people in 30 villages in Ghana. That makes me think seriously about considering downgrading to achieve financial freedom NOW (only if the wife would agree!)

CNN money tells us what we already know about pump prices in that oil prices dropped on 17 July 2008 leading to the round of cuts in petrol prices in the Lion City. Another article by CNN Money opines that the Credit Crisis is far from over as “Banks not out of the woods yet”.

Can I Get Rich on Salary tells us about a 52 year old lady realtor who accumulated $1.3m in networth. So you think you can’t be a millionnaire on earned income?

Public speaking is “The One Skill That Will Earn You Money, No Matter What You Do” as shared by The Simple Dollar. As a toastmaster myself, I find that public speaking and communication skills are paramount in today’s society both in personal and professional capacities. The Simple Dollar also warns us against complacency in frugality because you can undermine your frugality if scrimp and save one week only to blow it away the next. I must admit that I’m sometimes guilty of this as I make use of capital gains from share trading to buy a gadget I fancy. I’ve since learnt to only spend 10% of gains while saving the rest of the 90% to grow my networth towards financial freedom.

Wise Bread teaches us that spending can be triggered by emotions as we are bombarded by the mass media in joining the cult of consumerism by buying, buying and buying!

M.D. Creekmore from the Survivalist Blog warns us that “Resistance is Futile” when we wnt to live like no-one else because the need to conform is so strong. Hence, we end up getting into debt our whole lives funding lifestyles that at the end of the day, doesn’t satisfy.

I wish you a happy weekend in pursuing your dreams towards financial freedom.

Be well and prosper.