Welcome to the Curious Cat Investing, Economics and Personal Finance Carnival: find useful recent personal finance, investing and economics blog posts and articles. The carnival is published twice each month. This carnival is different than others in two significant ways. First, I select posts from the blogs I read (instead of just posting those that submit to the carnival). I think this provides readers a better selection of valuable material (many of the best blogs don’t take time to submit to carnivals). And second, I include articles when I think they are interesting. I figure the primary purpose is to provide links to good recent content, so just because something isn’t a blog post doesn’t exclude it from inclusion. What would happen if Greece defaulted and left the euro? by Jim Jubak – “I think it’s much too late to head off an eventual Greek default sometime, in my opinion, in 2012. But it still does make a huge difference how that default happens. Right now it looks like Greece is headed toward the kind of disorderly default—if not in March then in June or so–that results in the country leaving the euro and produces all the long-term damage I’ve described above… My Top 6 Financial Commandments by Ryan Yates – “Don’t overlook saving for retirement. Remember, there’s no amount too little to save. Everything helps. Setting up an IRA or making the maximum contributions to your 401k are essential to keeping your future financial status secure.” Euro is not to blame for crisis, interview with Jim Rodgers – “You can debase currency, and history is replete with governments that have debased their own currency and ruined their own currency for hundreds of – well for thousands of years it has been going on. You can do that and everything is okay for a while, but eventually you have inflation, you have high interest rates, you have currency turmoil, you have people no longer trusting each other to invest with each other, and then you have the end of the system, and we have chaos, and it starts over again.” Apple’s Stock May Not Be as Cheap as It Looks by Jonathan Weil – “Using the fiscal 2009 earnings that Apple initially reported, its price-earnings ratio that day was about 33. Using its restated numbers, the ratio would have been about 23. My guess is a similar effect is occurring today: Had it not been for the rule change, Apple’s P/E ratio would be higher, because the ‘E’ would be lower.” Why Dropbox Is A Major Disruption by Bill Gurley – “Once you begin using Dropbox, you become more and more indifferent to the hardware you are using, as well as the operating system on that device. Dropbox commoditizes your devices and their OS, by being your “state” system in the sky. Storing credentials and configurations of devices, and even applications are natural next steps for this company.” [I’ll admit I still don’t understand why Dropbox is worth so much, it seems useful but doesn’t seem to have much a “moat” (in Warren Buffett’s meaning) – John]

Empire State Building, New York City by John Hunter

• I’ve Maxed Out My 401(k); Where Should I Invest Next? by David Weliver – “Got the emergency fund covered? Then to continue investing, it’s time to look at a taxable investment account. The good news is you can invest however you want and you can access your money whenever penalty-free…
• How I Quit My Job, and What I Plan to Do Next by “What I would like to do is to continue growing my websites, as that will be my bread and butter until I can ramp up in other areas. I also have a stash of emergency savings that can last me most of the rest of the year, assuming I don’t make another dime. I for sure don’t want to rely on that, though. I will also start developing my own mobile apps and start doing freelancing and consulting work for others.”
• Why Won’t The Federal Reserve Board Talk To Financial Reform Advocates? by Simon Johnson – “Based on what is in the public domain on the Fed’s Web site, my assessment is that people opposed to sensible financial reform – including but not limited to the Volcker Rule – have had much more access to top Federal Reserve officials than people who support such reforms. More generally, it looks to me as though that even by the most generous (to the Fed) account, meetings with opponents of reform outnumber meetings with supporters of reform about 10 to 1.”
• How can Apple, the stock with the biggest market cap in the world, possibly be cheap?
  by Jim Jubak – “Apple sports the biggest market cap of any company in the world–$478 billion–but it trades at just 12.1 times projected fiscal 2012 earnings per share… Sales grew by 66% in fiscal 2011 and Standard & Poor’s forecasts 48% sales growth in fiscal 2012. And gross margins are climbing, not shrinking, with size.”
• USA Individual Earnings Levels: Top 1% $343,000, 5% $154,000, 10% $112,000, 25% $66,000 by John Hunter – “the top 1% earn 16.9% of the total income and pay 36.7% of the total federal income taxes. Those in the top 1-5% earn 14.8% of the total income and pay 22% of the income taxes. Those in the top 5-10% earn of the income 11.5% of the income and pay 11.8% of the federal income taxes.” (this data excludes social security taxes)

If you would like to be considered for guest hosting a future edition of the carnival please make a comment including a link to your blog. I will be selective in what blogs I have guest host. My management blog has been hosting a carnival for years.

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