PF Spotlight: My Life ROI

One of the most interesting new blogs I've encountered is MyLife ROI. (The ROI part is Return on Investment, just so you know.) He's interesting, amusing, and has an excellent grasp on personal finance math. He's also the first watcher I've gotten, and so has a special place in my heart for that reason.

It's also one of the newest PF blogs I've come across, and one of the few that's younger than mine. As such, there aren't too many posts there yet. But, here are a few of the highlights from the posts that are already up:

Why Canadians Are Dumb - One of ROI's unique features is its weekly comic strip. It's a rare addition to a PF blog; it reminds me of the late, lamented Punny Money, and Nick's great strips there. That said, I'd say out of the way of any angry Canadians looking for ROI...

How Government Spending IS Different - An interesting argument in favor of government spending to lift the economy, which seems to be a rare position to take in the PF blog community. ROI apparently got into a (surprisingly civil) debate with rocketc about the latest government bailout. Besides being a reminder of how to have a healthy, friendly, and informative debate (even if you fundamentally disagree with the other person's position), ROI points out some interesting facts about the stimulative effects of government spending, and backs them up with some hard numbers.

How to Fill Out a W-4 - Pretty much exactly what the title says, a complete walk-through of how to put all the needed information into a W-4 Form when starting a new job. He adds some helpful commentary about how many exemptions to claim (not too many, but not too few) and gives some advice on using the part-year method, if you work less two-thirds of the year (something to think about if I don't get another job until the summer).

Student Loans Driving Your Career? - A thought-provoker, looking at the connection between how much job dissatisfaction students are willing to tolerate in order to increase their earnings. Making a trade between job satisfaction and money you earn is tough to figure out, even if you have all the needed information; when you aren't sure how much you'll enjoy the job, it gets even harder. But the advice ROI gives, to keep student loan debt in check so that it isn't the driving factor in your job decision, is a good one.