Read these Personal Finance Blog Posts!

This week's PFBlog roundup comes a bit early this week.  Here are some Personal Finance Blog posts that you should read:

Multi-Millionaires live in mansions cleaned by full time staff, right?  Not so much.  2 Million shares some insight in how much house the typical multi-millionaire owns.  It's a great reminder of all the expenses that are involved in owning a big, expensive house.

Jim at Blueprint joined the ranks of the newly engaged a few months ago.  Now he wants to know how he should calculate his net worth, his alone or as a couple?  Be sure to stick around for the comments, there's some very sage advice in there.

Four more years!  No, not G.W.  Our pal, Financial Freedumb lays out his campaign platform if he were to run for President.

Mapgirl isn't feeling well.  But even in her sickness she manages to dole out some good personal finance/frugal advice.

And don't forget about the Bogleheads' October Project at All Financial Matters.  I had the pleasure of reviewing Chapter 19, Mastering Your Investments Means Mastering Your Emotions.

A new Personal Finance Blogger I have started reading is Jeremy at GenXFinance.  Check out his post, the holidays are coming, but do you already feel the pinch?  He offers some sound advice to make this crazy time a little less stressful.

See below for my college football picks.  I had a sub .500 record last week, but am 11-8-1 since I started picking against the spread.

All times Pacific, Rankings are LAMoneyGuy Rankings, and spreads per Bodog.com.

Thursday, 4:30pm, ESPN (13)Clemson at (26)Virginia Tech, line: Clemson -4.5.  When did Clemson become a favorite over the Hokies?  What happened to Beamer Ball?  Well, these two teams have one thing in common, they both lost to Boston College.  Is Doug Flutie still playing there?  Since losing to BC and winning a close game to a not very good Florida State, Clemson has been on fire with its closest win a 10 point victory over otherwise unbeaten Wake Forest.  The Hokies have lost to the only two teams on their schedule with a pulse.  Tandem running backs, Davis and Spiller, have another big day as Clemson covers.

Saturday
9:00am, ESPN (105)Northwestern at (3)Michigan, line: Michigan -34.  Well, it depends.  Is that line for the last 22 minutes, or the whole game?  Because if it's for the last 22 minutes, then heck, even Michigan Lite (MSU) could cover that.  This one is tough, because the question is not whether it will be a blow out, but will it be a 34 point blow out?  Something tells me no.  It will be in the 28-31 point blowout range.  Go ahead and take the Wildcats... football.

9:00am, CBS (16)Notre Dame at (31)Navy, line: Domers -14.  So, here's the problem.  The Midshipmen look like a good team.  Until Rutgers shuts them out 34-0.  And Notre Dame, well they only have one loss and it's to Michigan.  But they're just not blowing anybody out.  Even awful Stanford stayed within 21 points, at South Bend.  Surely Navy at home is better than Stanford on the road, right?  The Midshipmen have the 2nd ranked rushing offense.  Of course, that comes at the expense of having the 119th ranked passing offense.  Notre Dame?  Better against the run than the pass.  I think last week against the Bruins was a little bit of a wake up call.  Irish come to play.  Win by more than 14.

9:00am, ABC (22)Oklahoma at (14)Missouri, line: Mizzou -1.5.  Two weeks ago the Sooners had a good win sealed up over a mediocre Iowa State team.  Capping the day off with one more touchdown drive for good measure, Adrian Peterson scores on a 53 yard run, diving into the endzone.  His dad, after years in prison, is in the stands watching his son live for the first time since before high school.  The perfect ending to the perfect day, right?  Wrong.  Peterson broke his collar bone, effectively ending his college career.  At the same time ending Oklahoma's season.  Should he have been in there?  I'm not going to argue otherwise.  27-9 isn't a "pull the troops" blowout.  Without Peterson, Mizzou wins this one.  With a 1.5 point spread, it's basically a "pick 'em."  So, I pick Mizzou to cover.

12:30pm, FSN (2)USC at (45)Oregon State, line: -12.  Well, at least they're learning.  Other than what will likely be a 28 point spread against Stanford, the odds makers are done with the over inflated USC spreads.  The last time USC went to OSU, Reggie Bush heroics were needed to pull off the win in Fog Bowl.  I don't know the weather forecast, but I think USC found its workhorse in Chauncey Washington in the final drive against ASU.  Whenever Pete Carrol finds his workhorse the offense finds its rhythm.  USC will cover.

12:30pm, ABC (33)Georgia at (5)Florida, line: Florida -14.  Wow, when was the last time Georgia was a 14 point Dawg?  Man, I'm pulled in every direction on this one.  Seeing the matchup, I thought, "oh, I'm going with the Gators, Georgia sucks."  But seeing the odds, I thought, "No way!"  And I think I'm going with "no way."  Florida is the far better team, but other than Southern Miss and Central Florida at the start of the year, they don't really blow teams out.  They seem to win in the teens, even against not very good teams like Kentucky and Alabama.  So, even though they still suck, I'm taking Georgia.

4:00pm, TBS (15)Texas at (40)Texas Tech, line: Texas -12.  This run n' gun stuff is getting old.  Tech lost to Colorado.  Colorado's not good.  They didn't just lose, they got their butts handed to them.  Tech is not going to have any answers at all for the Longhorns offense.  Actually, I don't really get this spread.  I think Texas will win by closer to thirty than 10.

4:00pm, ABC, (23)Washington State at (50)UCLA, line: UCLA -1.  Talk about two teams searching for identity.  The Bruins get 30 seconds from a season, and maybe program, defining win in South Bend.  Like UCLA, WSU has three losses, but they are to Auburn, USC and Cal, all top five or six-ish teams.  Then they beat Oregon, there was a collective, "Whaaat?"  Brink is a very good QB with two of the better playmakers in the Pac-10, Bumpus and Hill, to throw to.  If UCLA's defense plays the way it played for 59 and a half minutes against the Irish, the Bruins win.  If Wazzou plays as efficiently as it did against the Ducks, they win.  The Cougs are a much better home team than away.  Being at the Rose Bowl, I'm going to pick UCLA to cover the point.

4:00pm, (38)Arizona State at (23)Washington, line: Huskies -1.  Pre-season, ASU is right in the mix with Oregon and Cal to claim the #2 spot in the conference.  The Huskies are right there with Stanford for the bottom spot.  This is why they play the game.  The Huskies have lost three in a row, but two were USC and Cal, both of whom they played extremely well.  ASU lost three in before winning a scrimmage against Stanford.  So, effectively, they've also lost three in a row.  I mean, do we really count a win against Stanford?  Washington is without starting QB, Stanback.  But his replacement played very well against Cal.  If ASU gets down early, they quit.  Well, unless they're playing USC in the Coliseum.  But I would take the Huskies to get up early, and cover the point.

4:45pm, (12)Tennessee at (32)South Carolina, line: Rocky Top -4.5.  I think Danny Ainge's kid is one of the most overlooked QBs in college football.  He'll have a big game against Spurrier, as the SEC continues to take out years of frustration on his South Carolina teams.  Tennessee by more than 4.5.

Comments

[Jeremy]

Hey thanks for the mention. Although, I like your picks, but I don't agree with your Michigan Lite (MSU) comment. I'm an MSU alum. Granted our team stinks, but that has been the case in large since Saban left. How's that working out for him in Miami... oh well, he got his money I guess. But I also picked Northwestern this week, I don't see Michigan running it up that high. They will play typical Michigan football. Get a decent lead in the first half, then play soft defense, allowing them to crawl back within just a couple scores.

[lamoneyguy]

Hey Jeremy,
You'll find that few schools are spared the occasional barb. I know that one is particularly annoying for MSU alum. So, for that I apologize.

But, as you can see by my Clemson to cover over Va Tech, I really don't know what I'm talking about.

I have respect for MSU, but I don't think my ticker could take being a Spartan fan. Blowing a big lead to the Domers, mounting the biggest comeback in CFB history? All within a few weeks? No, hats off to you.

[Jeremy]

Haha, it is all in good fun. It is quite painful being an MSU football fan. Every year starts out so promising, we can even beat some of the best teams unexpectedly, and then we blow it to some unranked team and collapse the rest of the season.

Just like this year against ND, by the third quarter, anyone watching would have said we had pulled it off. No, as a spartan fan I had this pit in my stomach just knowing they would find a way to blow it. Sure enough, they did.

But what can I say, at least it is exciting!

[credit card serfer]

People are so flippant with their finance. Obviously we haven’t enaugh finance education. That is why people make appaling financial desidion (like paying only the minimum of your credit card's payment). There was no mistaking banks have great profit. I think people who post in personal finance blogs make really necessary work.