Wait, that’s not quite right. Let me try that again.

Today is my 100th post!

I knew it would be hard to start a blog, but I still underestimated just how much work there would be.  There were times I got discouraged and wanted to give up.

Reaching my 100th post is symbolic for me, because it shows that I can tough it out and stick to my goals. However, I could not have done it without the help of many people – especially you!

Without readers, I’d be yelling into the wind.

Without commentors, I’d have been tempted to give up.

And without people linking to this site, no one would know about it.

As a thank you, I have created a carnival of links, consisting of everyone who has commented on my site. I sorted through my 400+ comments, and checked out every one that left a website. There are 70 finance links in all, broken down into 15 different categories.

Please take a look at these links…I spent a lot of time to bring you the best articles I could find from each site, and there’s some quality stuff in there.

So without further ado, here is my Carnival of Gratitude.

On Blogging

A lot of us in the financial community are bloggers, so it only makes sense to include a few tips about blogging.

Blogging and Blogger has some great thoughts about How to Build Traffic.

Penny Jobs shares 7 Secret Tips I’ve Learned About Personal Finance Blogging. My favorite? Helping others. You win with people. It’s amazing how far you can get just by treating others with respect.

On Budgeting

We’re all trying to save a few bucks, and the best way to do that is with a budget.

Funny About Money explains How to Budget for Extraordinary Costs. You gotta plan for emergencies, folks. One oversight could be enough to throw your budget off for months.

Paying for Retirement asks How is Your Monthly Budget? I’m a big believer in the importance of setting a budget and sticking to it. It’s like the front line in the war on poor finances.

On Entrepreneurship

There are two sides to the personal finance coin. Part of it is spending less, and equally important is making more money. Here are a few posts about entrepreneurship.

Blueprint Economics – who gave me my first comment ever! – has some good thoughts on Building Your Team with the best personnel possible. If you want to be successful, surround yourself with those who are already successful.

Penny Seeds has an interesting article on Lessons Learned from Struggling Entrepreneurs in Other Countries.

Seven Figure Psychic asks if you are Still in Love with your Niche? You have to specialize to be successful, but what happens if you get tired of your area of expertise?

On Frugality

A penny saved is actually more than a penny earned. Here are some ways to stretch your pennies.

Lovely Las Vegas  has some tips for Saving Money in Downtown Las Vegas. I love Vegas… I just wish it was as easy to beat the casinos as it was to get a good deal.

Pecuniarities tackles self-responsibility by asking Who’s to Blame for Your Spending? I’ll give you a hint. It’s you!

Prime Time Money runs down a list of 15 Things You Should Never Pay For. No sense in wasting money, after all.

Moolanomy tells the man that I Don’t Want Your Freakin’ Extended Warranty. After all, why would companies offer extended warranties unless it was better for them in the long run?

Budgets Are Sexy asks How Frugal is Too Frugal? After a certain point, the returns are diminished, and you could be hurting yourself.

Shrinkage is Good tells us How Banks Steal $2 Billion from Us Every Year through bank fees. Don’t let them get even more of our money!

My Life ROI gives some advice for Saving $4000 a Year. They’re good tips, designed to save money without impacting your quality of life.

On Fun

I love posts that can keep a good balance of informative and interesting. Sometimes, fun is the best way to go. Here are a few examples of that.

My Journey to Millions lists 9 Financial Lessons Learned from the Legend of Zelda. You can’t go wrong if you’re mixing video games with personal finance.

The Road Through Middle Earth has a great Tolkien-related post about Dreams and Legends that Appear out of the Grass. In addition to discussing some of Tolkien’s best writing, it can also be a metaphor for overcoming adversity.

Obscured Clarity has 11 Spectacular Bird Photosby David Hemmings. I’ll admit, it’s not finance related, but it’s a great set of pictures.

Weakonomics has a great and creative article comparing Your Favorite Politicians as Star Wars Characters. My inner-nerd greatly appreciates this one.

On General Finance Topics

In life, you have to be flexible and accept what may come. The same goes for link carnivals too.

Green Panda Treehouse explains Why She Doesn’t Use Automated Payments. I don’t blame her – I don’t either.

The Paycheck Chronicles describes how the GI Bill has changed since 9/11.

 One Advice tackles the age old question of What is Good Debt? What is Bad Debt?

Hannlyn tells us how to Replace Your Variable-rate Student Loan Rates with One Fixed-rate Loan.

On Goals

If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t be unhappy with where you’re at.

My Quest to Build an Empire tells us Why It’s Important to Set Goals.

Creating Momentum is going to Quit Screwing Around, and really get working on her goals.

The Wonderful World of Slinky writes about their dream. What’s Yours?

Second Child, Last Born gives us an update on their March 2009 Goals.

Personal Finance Firewall has an update on his February Goals.

Checkbook Diaries tells us why his goal of Fully Funding an Emergency Fund is important.

All Things Financial tells us about a Vacation Worth Taking.

On Kids

It’s never too early to start educating your children when it comes to finance.

 Cash Money Life explains how to Make Your Child Your Financial Guru.

Father Sez shares tips on How to Prepare Your Kids to Handle Financial Stress.

On Mental Attitudes

You have to have the right attitude if you want to get anywhere in life.

15 Minutes to Riches warns that Information Overload Will Eat Your Brain.

Wealth Junkies gives 5 Tips for Taking the Long View with Money.

Hustle Up is going to Live Below His Means.

Money Young explains The Difference between Broke, Poor, Rich, Wealthy, Frugal, and Cheap.

Life Made Great writes about how We Get What We Ask For.

Retirement: a Full Time Job is Choosing Happiness. I think we all should!

On Personal Development

Your financial journey should also be a quest to learn and grow on a personal level.

Thriveal asks How Will You Change the World?

Financial Matters has some tips for How to Come Out Stronger in this Economy.

Your Money Relationship shares some Financial Lessons from Flight 1549.

 The Happy Rock ponders if we’re In Search of Perfection, or Seeking Honesty and Growth.

Divorced Dad Frugal Dad says that if you’re Feeling Helpless, Knowledge Will Empower You.

FIRE Finance has a list of 1001 Financial Words You Need to Know.

This Improved Life thinks that Sometimes You Just Have to Say No to Yourself.

Seek Wisdom, Find Wealth explains what the true Cost of Wisdom is.

Taking Charge Credit Card Blog is Growing Up, and Got Her First Collections Letter.

The Amateur Financier shares Three Things He Wish He Knew When He Was Younger.

Scordo gives 5 Reasons Why It’s Important to Have Social Skills.

On Real Estate

Buying a house is the biggest purchase you’ll make. It’s important to do it right.

Bankruptcy Access asks Who’s the Real Owner of Mortgages?

Free From Broke has some Frugal Ideas to Help Your Home Sell.

On the Recession

There’s no point denying the elephant in the room. Times are hard.

Monevator explains that The Recession is Not a Choice.

All Financial Matters wonders When Things Will Get Back to Normal.

Stretchy Dollar has 5 Great Recession Tips From 5th Graders. Sometimes the best advice is also the most simple.

Curious Cat Investing is also wondering When Will the Recession be Over?

My Two Dollars asks What, If Anything, Have You Given Up During the Recession?

My Notes on the Stock Market says this is a Depression, Not Recession. That’s the Impression, at least.

Elementary Finance has a similar point of view, and thinks that An Economic Depression is in Our Future.

On Stocks

Even though the market is down, it’s still a great opportunity. Maybe even more so than it was before the bottom dropped out.

Saving to Invest describes Another Panic Monday on Wall Street.

Passive Family Income says that with a Recession in America, it’s Trading Stocks, not Investing.

The Digerati Life asks How Do You Feel Now that the Dow Jones Closed at 6700?

The Oblivious Investor tells us that the Biggest 401K Mistake People Make is Not Accepting Free Money.

Money Progress explains some Investment Changes for After the Crash.

My Covered Call gives some information on the Historical Performance of the market.

Taxes

Only two things are certain in life, and taxes are one of them.

Fine Tuned Finances explains How to Get Tax Credits and Deductions by Saving for Retirement.

My Barnabas asks What Are You Going to Do With Your Tax Refund?

Don’t Mess With Taxes (awesome name, by the way) lets us know that the New Withholding Tables are Ready.

Work

Are you working to live, or living to work? I know it’s a cliche, but try giving it some serious thought.

Finance Your Life describes how Young Professionals Do Not Need a Work Life Balance.

The Strump gives tips on Dealing with the Behaviorial Job Interview.

And last – but certainly not least – The Online Investing AI Blog tells us how Getting Laid Off Can Be a Good Experience.

Again, thank you all for reading, commenting on, and linking to my site! I sincerely appreciate your contributions, and appreciate being able to learn from you.

I hope you continute to join me on my next 100 posts, and beyond!

It describes itself as “a community for financial news, ideas, and tips”, but my favorite way to describe it is one their slogans:

Tip’d: 700 billion reasons to join

It’s a great slogan, even if it needs to be updated to 787 billion after the recent stimulus package.

So what is Tip’d?  It’s a community-based website, where people submit news stories related to anything finance.  They have 12 different categories for submissions, ranging from personal finance to private equity and venture capitalism.

Once a story is submitted, it goes to the “Upcoming” section.  Other users read the articles, and can “Tip” it if they like it, or “Topple it” if it’s Spam.

If a story gets enough Tips in a certain amount of time, they’ll move to the “Published” section of the site.  This is what appears when you go to its home page. 

They don’t publish their magical formula, but it appears that submitted stories have around 24 hours to move from the “Upcoming” section to “Published”.  If they do not hit a threshold of Tips in that time, they are no longer eligible to be published, but they do not disappear from the site altogether.  It seems as if the required number of Tips depends on the amount of traffic on the site.  At 4AM, it may only take 5 or 6 Tips to make it to the front page, but at busy times, getting 10+ may not be enough.

Tip’d has quickly become my favorite web site.  This is not an exaggeration – I’m #29 on their top users list.  Why do I spend so much time there?  Because in only four months, it’s become the best source for financial news online.  Hands down, no questions asked.  As a casual reader, I find it informative and interesting. As a blogger, it’s one of the best tools I have.

Here are some of the ways I use Tip’d to build my audience:

1. Publicizing my site

It’s hard to promote a new blog, especially if you don’t have a strong online presence to leverage. Using social media sites like Digg was out of the question. Plus other sites don’t have the audience for finance, and they’re not nearly as friendly to bloggers or new users either.

Tip’d actually welcomes bloggers. According to their blog:

I prefer to encourage, rather than discourage, people from submitting their own content–synergy happens when interests align! (You get submissions, they get traffic.)

I was able to use Tip’d to get my name out there in financial blogosphere. If I had a good story, I could get it published, regardless of how small my site was. I think it’s also helped get other people to link to my site.

2. Increasing my financial knowledge

 I’m always trying to learn more, and Tip’d has the best financial news feed I’ve seen. After all, they have a community of people who take pride in finding the best finance stories online.

The quality and selection of articles is much better here than you could find anywhere else.

3. Networking with other bloggers

There is a large presence of bloggers on Tip’d. I’ve been able to introduce myself to others, and establish some legitimacy with my presence on Tip’d.

I also get to learn more about other bloggers, and interact with them on another level. It’s almost like an extension of leaving comments on a blog. I can build networks and help support quality blogs by submitting their posts, tipping their articles, and leaving comments on their stuff.

4. Power tools for bloggers

They like bloggers so much that they have an entire section for blogger tools.  They make it easy to add a Tip’d button to every article on your blog, simply by inserting a one-line script into your permalink template.

They also write a blog where they regularly share tips and tricks with users.

5. Finding new sources of inspiration

We’re all short on time. Yeah, I look around my usual stable of financial sites, but it’s impossible to get to everything. Tip’d features the best of the best news, so it’s a great place to find inspiration for things to write about.  It’s been a time saver, and cure for writer’s block.

6. Learning from the successes of others

I use Tip’d to see what other bloggers are doing right.  I can see what kind of stories tend to do well, and how they’re active in the community.

7. Finding new links for my site

Like many people, I host a weekly roundup where I link only to other blogs.  I like to feature links from some of the smaller blogs (because fewer people have seen the articles or the blog).  I never have a problem finding new links on Tip’d.

8. Getting instant feedback on my writing

It’s hard getting feedback when you’re just starting out.  You can’t rely on the number of comments or hits as an indicator of how well you’re doing.

Tip’d has been great in that it provides me with nearly instant feedback.  Within a day of submitting an article, I can tell how well it’s being received by both casual readers and other blogs.

As an example, there was one time I had two posts ready to publish on my site.  I thought one would be solid gold, while I thought the other was just filler.  No one noticed my “gold” story, while the “filler” ended up one of my most viewed posts to date .

9. Making a long term investment in the Tip’d community

I’m convinced that the success of Tip’d will only grow in the future.  In a little less than four months, they have 3200 comments, 4700+ registered users, nearly 9300 submitted stories, and more than 58,000 Tips.  The sky is the limit here.

What do you hear when you turn on the news? Money money money.  It’s going to be that way for a long time to come, especially if the economy continues to worsen for the next few years. Tip’d came along at the perfect time.

I’m proud to be part of the Tip’d community, and am grateful for the help and support they have given me.  I try to give back too.

And while it’s not my motivation for being active on the site, I can’t help but feel that getting in on the ground floor of a new social media site will have some benefits down the road.

Those are some of the many ways I use Tip’d to build an audience, but they could just as easily be ways I build my net worth.  The insight I get from Tip’d is priceless, and it’s been my best promotion tool.  Regardless of if you’re a reader or blogger, I recommend giving Tip’d a shot.