This is a guest post by Kevin from The Red Stapler Chronicles - an up and coming personal finance blog about making money and get paid to websites.

1. “Get busy living or get busy dying”
—Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption

The millions of Americans that are currently overwhelmed with debt and are on the road to financial ruin, really only have two choices.  They can immediately start taking measures to reduce their debt and spending.  Even if they are able to eliminate one monthly bill or pay an extra $25 on a credit card, they are “getting busy living” toward of debtless future.   Yes, sometimes the path to recovery can be a long and difficult one (probably not as bad as Andy’s path to freedom in the movie).  However, the second option, ignoring the problem, will quickly cause your financial life to end via drowning in a vast debt pool.

2. “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” — Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump

If you can predict the future, you don’t need to be wasting your time reading any personal finance blog.  But, if you can’t, you need to prepare for unexpected events.  Sometimes these events will be tragedies (a layoff or illness), while sometimes they will be blessings (a pregnancy or wedding).  Regardless, a nicely funded emergency fund is a necessity.  Experts say a great fund would cover 6 months of living expenses.  Nevertheless, a thousand dollar emergency fund would surely be a good start.

3. “It’s not always the popular person who gets the job done.” — Gordon Gekko, Wall Street

Of course, I had to include a quote from Wall Street in this list.  Often, difficult decisions have to be made in order to eliminate debt.  These decisions are more than likely to affect others.  For instance, try explaining to your teenage daughter why you are getting rid of HBO, Showtime, and Starz to save some extra money.  Imagine how your co-workers might react if you start putting in extra hours in order to earn a promotion.  Regardless, if you are really determined to eradicate your debt, you will sometimes have to play the role of the bad girl/guy.

4. “You’re not your job.  You’re not how much money you have in the bank.  You’re not the car you drive.  You’re not the contents of your wallet.  You’re not your f**king khakis.” — Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Too frequently, Americans get caught up in a destructive possession contest (usually with a family member, neighbor, or in-law).  It really must be engrained in our DNA somehow.  For example, your brother buys a new self-propelled lawn mower—you get a sit down mower.    Perhaps, your brother-in-law boasts at Christmas table about his recent success in the stock market, you create an E-Trade account the second he leaves.   Would you take a job as a garbage man even if it had a higher salary and better benefits than your current job?  These types of decisions are rarely based on anything remotely close to real financial data.  Even though you probably will get a temporary high of being able to “one up” a family member or spare yourself the humiliation of telling someone you are a garbage man, these decisions are unlikely to provide any lasting happiness in your life.

5. “Life goes by pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

I think everyone would agree that reducing and eventually eliminating debt is an extremely worthwhile goal.  Too many Americans are forced to live under extreme levels of stress because of their financial difficulties.  Still, life is too short to make EVERY decision in your life based on saving money.  You can still enjoy a trip to the movies to see the newest blockbuster (maybe sneak in your own snacks though J).  You can still go to your parent’s house across the country for the holidays (maybe you forgo the non-stop flight to save money).  The road to a healthier financial situation is not short and will not be a straight line.  Just keep your financial compass in the right direction and you will eventually reach your goal.

Even movies can help you live a better, more economical lifestyle. Remember to plan for the worst, and keep your finances in order if you really want to live the dream!

-The Net Fool

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Lets get right down to it,

Another crazy week in the books! A lot has happened in a short period of time, and heck, with exams around the corner I have been a very busy man. But hey, before I get into the news…. lets get to reading some of my favorite articles and posts from the week ending May 3rd.

• Winning the Web - The Power of Social Proof - All the Cool Kids Are Using It
• Courtney Tuttle - Introduction to Lead Blogging
• The Blog Entrepreneur - Blogging is a BAD Way to Make Money Online
• Monkey Blogger - Consistency People!
• The Germz - Get more traffic to your site

Okay, lots of good stuff this week. There has been a lot of mindless rambling after the most recent Google PageRank. Apparently I now have a PR of 4, which I completely don’t believe for now. Though it may be correct, I have to be hesitant to believe I moved from a 0 to a 4 in a month…. a 4 would put me in the ranks of only the most elite bloggers, and definitely a few steps ahead of blogs that have even 20x the number of subscribers that I do. These articles posted are mainly about increasing traffic to your blog by writing good stuff, and how to do it well. Nothing out of the ordinarily, but definitely some nice material.

So what happened this week?

Blogosphere:
Things were pretty much on edge after the PageRank update that I mentioned. No, there weren’t any more blogging fights / major controversies, but pretty much all of the ‘make money online’ blogs released their earnings statements which is always interesting. I’d suggest going to some of the more popular ones to see how they are making their cash online. One of the funnier ones was from OneMansGoal.com, yes the blog that was bought out for $10,000 by some kid, which reported “Income $27″…hahaha . Other than that, quite a few bloggers posted more fantastic earnings, so its good to see things moving along.

Stock Market:
Pretty interesting week here, amid lots of talk about the supposed commodity bubble bursting and the weak US Dollar coming back from the dead. So many conflicting views here, but we definitely had a good week as the Federal Reserve cut the Federal Funds Rate down 25 basis points (that’s 0.25% if you are confused by the terminology) to 2.00%. This is probably the last cut in a long time, as we are down from 5.25% in September 2007.

Remember my pitch of Harsco (NYSE: HSC) in early April? Well, it would appear that once again… Jim Cramer is reading my blog and once again stealing my ideas! Enough is enough Jim! Okay, but all kidding aside, it’s good to see people taking notice of this company. We’re keeping an eye on gold (commodity), because it is essentially hanging in the balance around $850-$875… we’ll see what turns up.

The Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest:
Right so finally, let’s talk about the contest that is underway here. Lots of entries so far, and things are definitely picking up. I have my finger on the trigger in purchasing some sponsored reviews on other popular blogs, and should see a nice spike in traffic following this move.

What… you want another way to enter you say?! Okay. Fine.

1 Entry For “Favoriting” My Blog on Technorati!
So how do you do this? Simply follow this link for the direct method. You will need a Technorati account, which I suggest that you do if you don’t have one already. Basically, Technorati is a huge social networking website, and having more people favorite my blog is a step in the right direction in taking over the world making new friends online!

This week, I am going to be posting some more guest bloggers’ posts because of exams. But other than that, I should be able to sneak in some great articles on blogging… and some good controversial smack-downs. I have a lot of ideas right now on my idea pad, so whenever I get enough time to sit down and write them out… its going to be some great new material!

… oh, and stay bullish on the net!
-The Net Fool

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As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has retracted its offer for Yahoo in a surprise change of events. It was widely suspected before that they would be “going hostile” with their original $31/share bid for Yahoo (NYSE: YHOO), and after some negotiations this weekend… Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer decided to walk.

I had talked about the deal way back on March 9th in a post about the possible takeover. But I guess things weren’t meant to be, I see this as a win-win-win situation as Microsoft doesn’t throw away money, Yahoo doesn’t get destroyed form the inside out, and MSFT shareholders keep their sanity.

From the Wall Street Journal:
“Microsoft Saturday released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang saying that Microsoft had said it was willing to raise its offer to $33 a share for Yahoo, but Yahoo demanded at least $4 per share more.“

So where does Yahoo get off demanding so much money, eh? These guys are the laughing stock of the financial world now because they are demanding an unprecedented amount of money… YHOO stock isn’t worth $20…. let alone almost twice that! The drivers for growth in this company are all gone stale. Google, and heck, even Microsoft are tearing them apart on the internet, and there’s really nothing beyond that for Yahoo.

What was most intriguing was that Ballmer actually upped the bid to Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang to $33 per share, which was really not anticipated. A lot of people, myself included, see Ballmer as the kind of guy who will make his demand and never back down… kind of a ruthless conqueror of sorts. The fact that he was able to bend and raise the bid should have been enough for Yahoo to accept. I feel like they are dooming themselves and will never get their stock back to that much value.

Wall Street analysts have estimated that shares of Yahoo would fall to $20-$25 if Microsoft walked… I am thinking they are spot on. I’m not so sure what Yahoo is anticipating as far as movements go in order to reposition themselves as market leaders… but you hear names like Google and Time Warner thrown around quite a lot. We’ll have to see what happens.

Maybe if Microsoft acquired Yahoo, bloggers would have seen some insanely cheap advertising deals in a competition scramble… but hey, I see this as a win. This Microsoft empire shouldn’t be getting that much bigger any time soon, and I don’t think anybody wants them having that added pricing power.

-The Net Fool

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Another month, another fantastic growth in traffic and readers! The Net Fool Dot Com has been fully established as a reliable business blog at this point, and I have enjoyed a great deal of success over the past two months. Once again, we saw our RSS subscribers double in numbers… and expect this trend to only increase as we progress through the month of May.

After a fantastic March, we followed things up with a killer April that saw about 80 new subscribers coming from all around. It seems that the Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest is proving to be successful, and there have been a decent amount of blog posts on the contest already to help spread the word. Before I get into my plans for the blog’s future, let’s get right at the relevant statistics for the month of April!

March Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 76 Readers
• Average Unique Visitors: 159
• Average Returning Visitors: 25
• Average Page Loads: 305
• Alexa.com Ranking: 300,597
• Google PageRank: 0

April Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 153 Readers (101.32%+)
• Average Unique Visitors: 179 (12.58%+)
• Average Returning Visitors:32 (28.00%+)
• Average Page Loads:302 (-0.98%)
• Alexa.com Ranking: 250,089 (20.20%+)
• Google PageRank: 4?

Monthly Review and Growth Strategy
As you can see by the numbers, most of our growth this month came in the form of RSS Subscribers, which we more than doubled (101%+ growth), and finally passed that ever-elusive 100 subscribers mark. Right now, with around 150 subscribers, the Net Fool dot com has begun to be established as one of the more popular ‘make money online’ blogs, and I hope to pass more of the competition with new initiatives this month.

As far as traffic goes, we saw steady increases across the board. Sure, there was a slight decline in page loads… but I feel that the organic growth was great. Last month, the numbers seemed a bit inflated because I was visiting the site myself a lot more to do work on the design. So essentially, we grew a lot more than even the numbers suggest…. the Net Fool dot com is well on its way to success in 2008 and beyond.

We’ve come to see more and more growth from popular search engine placement, with organic search engine traffic comprising 28.8% of the traffic here. Basically, we have been hitting on some great terms in Google and Yahoo such as “best stock investments for 2008″ and “best gold stocks” to name a few. Traffic sources, geographically speaking, continue to trend toward the United States…. however there has been an increasing amount of visitors from Canada, Australia, India and England.

The biggest surprise this month has been PageRank. Apparently, Google has given the Net Fool dot com a PageRank of 4 in the latest update. I am going to blog about this if it holds, because all of the other popular ‘make money online’ blogs have been given a 3…. a 4 would be a rediculous advantage given our short time on the blogosphere. I’m going to reserve judgement on this for now, but if it holds, you will hear about it.

Revenue Breakdown
In April, I put out just one sponsored post, with a few more in the works. In addition, I have sold 3 ad spots for $15/month each. Other than this, SWATcash has continued to provide steady income with just over $30 coming from my referrals. I have a major web design project in the works that will bring in around $200 total, which I plan to invest fully back into the Net Fool. Expenses this month have been about $10 in Project Wonderful advertising, and that’s pretty much it. I don’t like to spend so much on advertising, but am going to move into a few sponsored reviews from some bigger blogs to increase growth… you will definitely hear more about those when the orders are placed.

May 2008 Outlook
This month, I am going to move into some advertising as the Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest shifts into full gear. I feel like this contest can be a great opportunity to tack on an extra 100 RSS subscribers for the month if things play out as planned. 150 subscribers is nothing to scoff at, but I hope to push over 250 by the end of the month. We hit on most of our major targets this April, but hopefully we can surpass expectations for next month.

Since I am curerntly in exams, there is going to be a small amount of lag time in posting… but I am still going to attempt to post daily with some sponsored posts filling the gaps in time. Stay tuned for updates and more opportunities to get rich.

Stay bullish on the net!
-The Net Fool

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This is a guest post by Robert from Flimjo.com - a blog containing some great ideas about money, and how to make more of it!. You don’t have to be employed on salary forever, get off the paycheck!

Many people think that investing in mutual funds is the way to go and the best method for getting rich. I think mutual funds are horrible investments. Here are 8 reasons why you should not invest in mutual funds.

1. Mutual funds don’t beat the market.
72% of actively-managed large-cap mutual funds failed to beat the stock market over the past five years. Trying to beat the market is difficult, and you’re better off putting your money in an index fund. An index fund attempts to mirror a particular index (such as the S&P 500 index). It mirrors that index as closely as it can by buying each of that index’s stocks in amounts equal to the proportions within the index itself. For example, a fund that tracks the S&P 500 index buys each of the 500 stocks in that index in amounts proportional to the S&P 500 index. Thus, because an index fund matches the stock market (instead of trying to exceed it), it performs better than the average mutual fund that attempts (and often fails) to beat the market.

2. Mutual funds have high expenses.
The stocks in a particular index are not a mystery. They are a known quantity. A company that runs an index fund does not need to pay analysts to pick the stocks to be held in the fund. This process results in a lower expense ratio for index funds. Thus, if a mutual fund and an index fund both post a 10% return for the next year, once you deduct The expense ratio for the average large cap actively-managed mutual fund is 1.3% to 1.4% (and can be as high as 2.5%). By contrast, the expense ratio of an index fund can be as low as 0.15% for large company indexes. Index funds have smaller expenses than mutual funds because it costs less to run an index fund. expenses (1.3% for the mutual fund and 0.15% for the index fund), you are left with an after-expense return of 8.7% for the mutual fund and 9.85% for the index fund. Over a period of time (5 years, 10 years), that difference translates into thousands of dollars in savings for the investor.

3. Mutual funds have high turnover.
Turnover is a fund’s selling and buying of stocks. When you sell stocks, you have to pay a tax on capital gains. This constant buying and selling produces a tax bill that someone has to pay. Mutual funds don’t write off this cost. Instead, they pass it off to you, the investor. There is no escaping Uncle Sam. Contrast this problem with index funds, which have lower turnover. Because the stocks in a particular index are known, they are easy to identify. An index fund does not need to buy and sell different stocks constantly; rather, it holds its stocks for a longer period of time, which results in lower turnover costs.

4. The longer you invest, the richer they get.
According to a popular study by John Bogle (of The Vanguard Group), over a 15- or 16-year period, an investor gets to keep only 47% of a cumulative return from an average actively-managed mutual fund, but he or she gets to keep 87% of the returns in an index fund. This is due to the higher fees associated with a mutual fund. So, if you invest $10,000 in an index fund, that money would grow to $90,000 over that period of time. In an average mutual fund, however, that figure would only be $49,000. That is a 40% disadvantage by investing in a mutual fund. In dollars, that’s $41,000 you lose by putting your money in a mutual fund. Why do you think these financial institutions tell you to invest for the “long term”? It means more money in their pocket, not yours.

5. Mutual funds put all the risk on the investor.
If a mutual fund makes money, both you and the mutual fund company make money. But if a mutual fund loses money, you lose money and the mutual fund company still makes money. What?? That’s not fair!! Remember: the mutual fund company takes a bite out of your returns with that 1.3% expense ratio. But it takes that bite whether you make money or lose money. Think about that. The mutual fund company puts up 0% of the money to invest and assumes 0% of the risk. You put up 100% of the money and assume 100% of the risk. The mutual fund company makes a guaranteed return (from the fees it charges). You, the investor, not only are not guaranteed a return, but you can lose a lot of money. And you have to pay the mutual fund company for those losses. (Remember also that, even if you do make a return, over time the mutual fund company takes about half of that money from you.)

6. Mutual Funds are unpredictable.
The holdings of a mutual fund do not track the stock market exactly. If the market goes up, you might make a lot of money, or you might not. If the market goes down (the way it is now), you might lose a little bit of money . . . or you might lose A LOT. Because a mutual fund’s benchmark isn’t a particular market index, its performance can be rather unpredictable. Index funds, on the other hand, are more predictable because they TRACK the market. Thus, if the market goes up or down, you know where your money is going and how much you might make or lose. This transparency gives you more peace of mind instead of holding your breath with a mutual fund.

7. Mutual Funds are sales items.
Why don’t all these money and financial magazines tell you about index funds? Why don’t the covers of these magazines read “Index Funds: The Most Obvious And Rational Investment!” It’s simple. That’s a boring heading. Who would want to buy something that isn’t exciting or that doesn’t tickle one’s imagination of immense riches? A magazine with that headline won’t sell as many copies as a magazine that boasts “Our 100 Best Mutual Funds For 2008!” Remember: a magazine company is in the business of selling . . . magazines. It can’t put a boring headline about index funds on its front cover, even if that headline is true. They need to put something on the cover that will attract buyers. Not surprisingly, a list of mutual funds that analysts predict will skyrocket will sell loads of magazines.

8. Warren Buffett does not recommend mutual funds.
If the above seven reasons for not investing in mutual funds don’t convince you, then why not listen to the wisdom of the richest investor in the world? In several annual letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett has commented on the value of index funds. Here are a few quotes from those letters:

1997 Letter: “Most investors, both institutional and individual, will find that the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees. Those following this path are sure to beat the net results (after fees and expenses) delivered by the great majority of investment professionals.”
2004 Letter: “American business has delivered terrific results. It should therefore have been easy for investors to earn juicy returns: All they had to do was piggyback corporate America in a diversified, low-expense way. An index fund that they never touched would have done the job. Instead many investors have had experiences ranging from mediocre to disastrous.”

Bottom Line: If you want to make money, you need to copy what rich people do. So if Buffett doesn’t like mutual funds, why would you? So, if not mutual funds, what should passive investors invest in? The answer by now is clear. Invest in index funds. Index funds have lower fees, and you keep more of your returns in the long term. They are also more predictable, and they give you peace of mind.

-The Net Fool

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