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Mighty Bargain Hunter is hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. I contributed my post on dealing with state tax notices.

So, go over and check out all of the posts and see MBHunter’s hard (holiday) work.

I often slag my local paper (the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) as second rate. Growing up in a city with two first rate papers will do that to you. When they have real stories, the P-D does a great job with them and they have good reporters, but the cost cuts of the past several years have eliminated a lot of those top notch reporters and left the paper largely rerunning AP wire stories.

One of the stories that they have been following really well is that of our local electric utility, AmerenUE. Ameren is a conglomerate of all of the smaller electricity companies that were in the area and they have most of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois locked up.

They have had, let’s say, problems in the past 18 months. A storm in August 2005 left nearly half a million people without power for up to four days.

Last December, a reservoir at the top of a hill gave way unleashing a torrent of one billion gallons of water on a national forest and literally washing away the forest ranger’s house. Luckily, nobody in his family that was in the house at the time was seriously injured. Ameren is currently paying hundreds of millions of dollars to repair damage as the reservoir gave way because of human error and lax inspections.

Then, this summer two storms packing 75 mph winds hit the area two days apart. Another half a million people lost power as the temperatures soared to over 100 degrees. Some people lost power for almost two weeks. After the summer storm, the P-D began reporting that Ameren had been chastised by the Missouri Public Service Commission (it’s “regulator”) for cutting their tree trimming budget and falling several years behind on trimming trees away from power lines. Despite blaming trees toppled by the winds for the outages, Ameren claimed it was keeping up on tree trimming and had spent enough on upgrades to keep the system going.

Just before the summer storm, Ameren filed for a rate increase. In the filing, Ameren claimed that they were falling behind on system upgrades and that a rate increase was needed to fund further improvements. Yup, exactly the opposite logic that had so publicly trumpeted after the storms.

Last month, a major ice storm hit the state of Missouri. One of the worst in recent history according to most people. Again, half a million people lost power, some for two or more weeks as crews could not reach the downed lines in wooded areas. Though once again defending their spending on the electrical system, Ameren changed course and said these outages proved that they needed increased rates for upgrades and everybody should just shut up and pay, even if they have lost power for weeks at a time several times over the past couple of years.

Another P-D article that appeared two or three Sundays ago (but is not online) showed what a lackadaisical job Ameren did with line inspections. Most of the inspections that are done are done by the tree trimmers themselves, who have no electrical training other than “cut tree away from line”. Even the tree trimmers union has filed complaints against Ameren for this practice. But Ameren continues to say that lines are routinely inspected (though it fails to say by whom) and that the system is doing just fine.

Everyone expected the PSC to turn over and let Ameren rub it’s fuzzy belly like it has time and time again. However, PSC staffers shocked everybody but saying Ameren should not only be denied their rate increase, but actually have their rates cut. Apparently having three major outages and a hilltop reservoir give way in 18 months was enough for the PSC to notice that Ameren is doing a crappy job.

It probably helps that the political appointees of the PSC (and their bosses) are a little nervous now that Ameren’s approval rating rivals that of President Bush and that not doing something will make them look like the powerless bureaucrats who are sleeping with the utilities they regulate that they are.

The decision is not final and has to go to the PSC board, which is all politically appointed unlike the staff positions that are civil service jobs. It will be interesting to see if the PSC makes a big public display and then quietly approves the rate increases.

So, what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable rock? I have no idea, but I bet it’s a lot like the CEO of Craig’s List meeting a bunch of Wall Street bankers.

Those behind Craig’s List, as well as Craig himself, are vehemenently anti-capitalist when it comes to the website. They refuse to run ads, they only charge certain postings enough to pay for expenses, and they have the general ethic that would make Marx proud.

On the other side of the room were Wall Street vultures bankers. They kept asking the CEO how he planned to maximize revenues from the wildly popular website that doubles in pageviews every year. They apparently didn’t get the memo and kept asking leading to this amusing exchange.

Wendy Davis of MediaPost describes the presentation as a “a culture clash of near-epic proportions.” She recounts how UBS analyst Ben Schachter wanted to know how Craigslist plans to maximize revenue. It doesn’t, Mr. Buckmaster replied (perhaps wondering how Mr. Schachter could possibly not already know this). “That definitely is not part of the equation,” he said, according to MediaPost. “It’s not part of the goal.”

“I think a lot of people are catching their breath right now,” Mr. Schachter said in response.

Apparently, that exchange didn’t stop the enterprising analyst from writing a research bit on the company. In an apparent shot at the company he wrote: Craig’s List “does not fully monetize its traffic or services.”

That probably made Craig Newmark’s day.

Welcome to the December 11, 2006 edition of The Carnival of Personal Finance.

With the end of the year coming up, I decided to highlight the posts that deal with tax planning strategies for the end of year. There are a lot of great submissions, so read all of the posts to find out about managing debt, when to use that emergency fund, and how to shop for online mortgage quotes.

makingourway presents 2006 end of year tax planning activities posted at makingourway, saying, “Summary of end of year activities for our family and business personal finances.”

FMF presents Ways to Save on Your 2006 Taxes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “It’s not too late to save on 2006 taxes.”

And now on to the rest of the submissions.

Budgeting

Andy Oshiro presents Maintaining your budget (part 2) posted at moneywalks.

Amy Allen Clark presents Holiday Bling Without a Bling Budget posted at Amy Allen Clark, saying, “Thank you!”

Henry Stern, LUTCF presents Who Pays? posted at InsureBlog, saying, “SUMMARY: InsureBlog’s Bob Vineyard analyzes a recent Kaiser Foundation study about which of us are the most careful health care shoppers (and consumers).”

Career

Victor Fam presents My Strategy Towards Weath Building posted at Victor Fam.

Lynn Cognito presents The Business of eBay posted at Wisebread.

Rich presents Use it or Lose it posted at Queercents, saying, “Rich’s company, like most in the US, jettisoned the “rollover” vacation days a while ago. Today it’s use it or lose it, and studies suggest most Americans are losing it—in more ways than one!”

Credit

Flexo presents Get Free Money: Comparing Cash Back (Rebate) Credit Cards posted at Consumerism Commentary, saying, “Here are six different credit cards that offer different levels of cash back rebates.”

Mr Credit Card presents The Math of 0% Balance Transfer Arbitrage posted at Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog.

nickel presents Free Bonus Money for Applying for Business Credit Cards posted at fivecentnickel.com, saying, “Submitted this last week, but apparently missed the deadline. Thanks!”

Penny Nickel presents How NOT TO repair your credit (and the ethics of blog ads) posted at Money and Values, saying, “Thanks very much for hosting! Let me know if you have questions.”

Debt

Joseph presents Are credit reports really free? posted at How to save money.

Tricia presents Is Prosper.com Trustworthy? posted at Blogging Away Debt, saying, “I’m not sure whether this would be better in debt or investing since I’m discussing Prosper. I’m a borrower there, so I ended up putting it under debt. Feel free to change. Thanks for hosting this week!”

Economy

Silicon Valley Blogger presents I Know What You Did This Christmas posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “This post is really about consumerism and consumer behavior and their potential impact on the economy.”

Tom Hanna presents The Week Ahead: Your Financial Roadmap for December 11 to December 15, 2006 posted at Financial Options, saying, “Two big events of the week: Tuesday is Federal Open Market Day - the Federal Open Market Committee for the Federal Reserve Bank will meet and announce a decision on interest rate targets. Friday is Quadruple Witching Day - when contracts for”

Frugality

Mike presents Analyzing Transportation Costs posted at Blog Money Whore.

J.D. Roth presents Review: Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor posted at Get Rich Slowly.

Investing

Bryan C. Fleming presents Money In The Bank posted at Bryan C. Fleming.

Joe Cerny presents Baseball Cards can Teach your Kids about Stocks posted at Finance-4-Kids.

oovs presents Automate Your Way to Wealth posted at LifeTraining - Online.

Trent presents The Bogleheads Have Won: Dipping My Toes Into A Mutual Fund With Vanguard posted at The Simple Dollar, saying, “I take my first tiny steps into a mutual fund.”

Steve presents UFGC #1: Suze Orman vs. Doug Andrew - Paying off your mortgage early posted at Adventure Money, saying, “Two financial gurus square off in a battle of financial ideologies. Suze Orman and Douglas Andrew debate paying off your mortgage early.”

NCN presents Inflation: The Nerd Out, The Reality, The Choices posted at No Credit Needed.

Andy Boyd presents Getting into the share market? Keep these 6 tips in mind posted at Wealth Talker, saying, “A few quick tips for investing.”

Scott presents Mutual Fund Distributions posted at Scott.

The Dividend Guy presents Tracking Dividend Payments and My Yield posted at The Dividend Guy Blog.

Dan Green presents Fixed Income CDs Flat-Line; Could A Recession Be Ahead? posted at The Mortgage Reports, saying, “Declining rates on CDs may be proof of a looming recession.”

Money Management

Ririan presents 20 Fabulous Tips To Holiday Spending posted at Ririan Project.

Emmanuel presents Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions » Blog Archive » Afloat in A Sea of Abundance posted at Comments on: There is a science to get rich.

Finance Buff presents Selling a Used Car posted at The Finance Buff, saying, “personal experience in selling a used car to a private buyer”

Steve Faber presents Debt Free Year End Financial Review posted at DebtBlog.

Sun presents Identity-Theft Insurance: Why You Don’t Need It posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

Wanda presents Who, me, adult? posted at Wanda, saying, “Just a post about becoming financially responsible for myself. Kinda scary, in fact. Thanks for hosting!”

Sagar Satapathy presents Fattening Credit Card Cos On Money Meant For Donation posted at Credit Card Lowdown.

bluntmoney presents When to use your emergency funds posted at Blunt Money.

Ben presents The Dangers of Automated Online Bill Pay posted at Money Smart Life, saying, “Article about things to watch out for with online bill pay.”

Taxes

makingourway presents 2006 end of year tax planning activities posted at makingourway, saying, “Summary of end of year activities for our family and business personal finances.”

FMF presents Ways to Save on Your 2006 Taxes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “It’s not too late to save on 2006 taxes.”

Joe Kristan presents Roth & Company, P.C. - Tax Updates - CONGRESS THROWS BONE TO AMT-ISO VICTIMS posted at Roth & Company Tax Update, saying, “AMT ISO victims: here’s your bone.”

Miscellaneous

Cody McKibben presents Interview: Ramit Sethi Won’t Just Teach You To Be Rich… posted at Time For Some Thrilling Heroics, saying, “Here’s a great article in which I sat down with Ramit Sethi of IWillTeachYouToBeRich and PBwiki.com for an interview on his entrepreneurial experience, personal finance, and more!”

Laura Young presents The Trouble with Happiness: Understanding the Difference between Joy and Pleasure posted at Dragon Slayer’s Guide to Life, saying, “Would you be happier if you were richer? Recent research on happiness reveals surprising findings on how we relate to money.”

Evolving Times presents Comfort Zone Equals Money Zone or I Don’t Do Touchy Feely posted at Edward Mills.

Jennifer Lynn presents The Money Conundrum posted at Broke-Ass Student.

English Major presents Spreading the Personal Finance Gospel posted at An English Major’s Money, saying, “My blog is quite new, and this is my first Carnival of Personal Finance. In this post, I write about discussing personal finance with my boyfriend. It can be difficult to deal with financial differences within a relationship, and it can be tough to talk about money–this post is a story about trying to overcome those difficulties in order to offer my boyfriend help in getting his finances together.”

Golbguru presents Bank Of America Scam Email - Watch Out For This Crap posted at Money, Matter, and More Musings, saying, “Beware of scam Bank of America scam emails.”

MarshallMiddle presents Is advertising on a personal finance website wrong? posted at How to Make a Million Dollars, saying, “Walking the line between helping and hurting people with our raw financial advice.”

Big Cajun Man presents Flashback: Don’t Pass it to the Other Team! posted at Canadian Financial Rants, saying, “Control the things you can with your spending plans!”

Christine Kane presents Are You Leaking? posted at Christine Kane.

living almost large presents the worst investment ever… posted at Living Almost Large, saying, “The price of pets…”

Victor Fam presents Spreading the Personal Development Pixels posted at Victor Fam.

Mike presents Giving to Charity the Right Way posted at The Road 2 Riches, saying, “Philanthropy”

TJP presents Retire Rich in 10 Steps posted at Investor Trip, saying, “10 steps to a rich and wealthy retirement.”

savingadvice presents Personal Finance Writers Are Worthless… posted at Personal Finance Advice, saying, “Even if you think that you know everything about personal finances, here are some reasons why personal finance writers are still useful.”

Super Saver presents Be Healthy and Get Wealthy posted at My Wealth Builder.

Pete presents Overcoming Financial Drama posted at My Financial Awareness, saying, “Sometimes we get caught in a financial drama where we play the victim (e.g., to credit card companies). Learn how to overcome the drama and take charge of you life.”

Michael K. Dawson presents Financial Freedom | Navigating the Icy Path to Financial Freedom | powered by The Time & Money Group » Blog Archive » Main Stream Thinking Will Not Lead to Financial Freedom posted at The Time and Money Group.

Dan Melson presents Online Mortgage Quotes posted at Searchlight Crusade.

Kevin Kneupper presents Should You Get Both An MBA And A Law Degree? posted at Free the Drones, saying, “A post on whether it’s a smart financial move to get both an MBA and a law degree.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of personal finance using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of personal finance, blog carnival.

Not the typical post you’d see on this site, but I wanted to point out the benefits of a simple shredder. According to Roth and Co., a dumpster diver was able to get many interesting things from the trash of Marcia Cross. Included is one thing he is ransoming graciously selling back (what I won’t focus on) and one thing he is not (what I will focus on).

The thing he is blackmailing ransoming asking her to pay to get back are a couple of hundred photos that she probably doesn’t want the public to see. The other item that he has noted that he has is copies of her tax return. (I think it says a lot about us which one he is selling back)

Of course, your tax return has all sorts of information you probably don’t want stolen. Your SSN, your spouse’s SSN, the SSNs of any dependents, home address, phone numbers, the names and EINs of any partnerships/S Corps that you own, etc. Oh, and if you direct deposit, it also has your bank account and routing numbers on it.

Needless to say, you don’t want a dumpster diving dirtbag getting this information and selling it, so always, always shred anything that is a sensitive nature. That includes photos, Marcia.

If you have an account with PayPal or Neteller, this is a fantastic idea. Set up a no minimum balance checking account (if your financial instutitution allows it) and have that be the checking account hooked to your PayPal account. That way, if your PayPal account gets compromised the thief hits a blank checking account rather than your real checking account.

Of course, you have to remember to transfer money into the account whenever you are doing a legitimate transfer lest you be hit with NSF fees.

Link

USA Today has an excellent article on buying life insurance. If you haven’t looked into it lately, the article is an excellent primer on doing just that. I will be reviewing my policies in the next year, so I will be starring this article and saving it for future use. Their tips are:

• Buy term insurance rather than whole life
• Don’t rely on your employer’s life insurance policy
• Don’t assume you are uninsurable if you have health problems
• Shop around

I have to agree with all of those points. I have a whole life policy through my professional association, but the rates are starting to creep up as I get older. That’s one of the reasons that I will be shopping around. Plus, it’s really to cover my wife and daughter until my daughter is old enough to be out on her own (my wife works and has a nice pension plan as a teacher, so I’m less concerned about her).

Shopping around really can save you money as every insurer sets its own rates and can charge you whatever they want. Don’t just go with a name you have heard of without checking out other rates.

If you are a disgruntled Sprint Wireless customer, Sprint just may have given you a gift. Basically, they upped the amount that you pay per text message and per kb downloaded. Why is that a gift?

Because, the standard Sprint contract gives you 30 days after any material change in your contract to back out without paying the Early Termination Fee. This has been labeled a material change and several outlets have verified that Sprint is cancelling contracts without the ETF.

However, if you’ve already paid a bill since October 1, you’re out of luck. The same agreement states that if you pay a bill you agree to the changes and are not eligible to back out of the contract.

So, if you haven’t paid a bill and want out, call Sprint up. They will resist, but you are eligible even if you have never sent a text message. You do have to call Sprint before signing up with another carrier to transfer your number. If you call the other carrier first, Sprint will not refund the ETF.

The North Korea nuclear test that has roiled the markets this morning was most likely a dud according to an article at DefenseTech. He goes through the calculations, but basically even if North Korea got the yield it claimed, it is 1/40th the yield of the device dropped on Hiroshima.

A commenter points out that it may be possible to even fake a yield of the size North Korea was claiming with conventional explosives.

Oh, and the Kim Jong Il will have me cracking up all day.

Yahoo! Finance has several fantastic how-tos available on their website. My particular favorite is their how-to guide on successfully investing. They go through sensible advice on picking stocks, bonds, and even commodities. They cover both mutual funds and ETFs.

If you are unsure where to start investing, this is a fantastic resource and a great place to start.