Circle of Competence

Sorry fellas for the delay with the Fesitval, I’ve been away.  Don’t despair, the Festival is alive and well!

There were lots of great posts this week, ranging from stock analyses, to a book review from AlexG, to an fun aptitude test for Jae over at Old School Value.  Great job all.

First, some articles on personal finance for the week to get us warmed up:

mmhabits presents How Much is Your 401k Worth? posted at Millionaire Money Habits, saying, “The editor of Money Magazine recently wrote about Why We Flunked 401k, and mentioned some frightening statistics. In 2006, the median 401k balance was only $22,000. Find out how you stack up.”

John presents Balancing Index Funds and Individual Stocks + Stock Picks posted at Young With Bux.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Help Your Kids Get Rich: Invest Early posted at The Digerati Life.

KCLau presents Ride on the Oil Palm Industry Boom posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “LEading to oil palm investment, an insight into what Country Heights Grower Scheme is all about”

Raymond presents Do Credit Cards and Stocks Make Up Your Emergency Fund Savings? posted at Money Blue Book.

Next up, we’ve got some posts covering general investing tips and knowledge:

Raag Vamdatt presents Stock Split or Bonus - Reason enough to cheer? :: RaagVamdatt.com :: Financial Planning demystified posted at RaagVamdatt.com.

Steve Alexander presents How To Find Great Buffett Businesses posted at MagicDiligence - Optimizing Joel Greenblatts Value Stock Strategy, saying, “How the Magic Formula finds “good” businesses, and how to add MagicDiligence to find the “great” ones… according to Warren Buffett himself.”

Jae Jun presents Wall Street: Got What it Takes? posted at Old School Value, saying, “A humorous look at what it takes to make in on Wall Street, old school style.”

Dividends4Life presents The Dark Side of Dividends posted at Dividends 4 Life, saying, “In life there are precious few things that are lily pure in which nothing negative could rightfully be said about them. Join me today as don myself in black and explore the the Dark Side of Dividends.”

AlexG presents The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger by Bud Labitan Book Review posted at Contrarian Value Investing.

Dorian Wales presents Inflation and the Stock Market – Which Stocks Offer Greater Protection against Inflation? posted at The Personal Financier, saying, “A small yet enlightening research on the relationship between inflation and the stock market and a discussion of the stocks that will offer more protection against inflation”

Lastly, we have some great posts analyzing specific investment opportunities in the world of finance:

Brice Hogan presents Top 20 IBD Stocks posted at Financialzip.com.

Tope Akinyemi presents Yesterday was History…. | TOPSIE posted at TOPSIE.

Frank Lara Jr presents 2nd Place is just fine for Rocco Mediate and Target (TGT) | The StockMasters posted at The StockMasters - Investing News and Analysis, Hot Stock Tips, Stock Market commentary for the Savvy Investor, saying, “Thanks!!!”

Slackerwealth presents Hain Celestial, A Pure Play on the Organic Market posted at A Slacker’s Quest for His First Million, saying, “I examine Hain Celestial, a company positioned to benefit from the growing organic food and products trend.”

Mark presents Buyout Anyone? Dynacq Healthcare DYII, Barrett Business Services BBSI, Stone Energy SGY & Other Low Enterprise Value to EBITDA posted at Stock Pursuit, saying, “A look at some companies with low enterprise value to EBITDA. Dynacq Healthcare looks promising with its strong fundamentals.”

Investing Angel presents I’m Betting Against Oil » Free Stock Market Investing Tips posted at Stock Tips, saying, “The price of oil has rocketed lately. Is it time for it to come back to earth?”

Dividend Growth Investor presents V.F. Corporation (VFC) Dividend Analysis posted at Create Rising Passive Income From Dividend Paying Stocks.

Super Saver presents 6/16/08 Stock Purchase Update - Sold Potash and Intuitive Surgical posted at My Wealth Builder.

That’s all this week from the Festival of Stocks!  Read up on what our bloggers have to say, and stick around a little at Circle of Competence and see what I’ve written too!  Have a great week everyone.

Have you subscribed to the RSS feed yet? Even if you were a subscriber of the old Circle of Competence, don’t forget to subscribe in the upper right corner, or via e-mail on the right hand side. The old feed no longer works, so don’t forget to re-subscribe to the new one!