3rd Edition -- Festival of Under 30 Finances

Here is the 3rd Edition of the Festival of Under 30 Finances. Thanks to all who participated this time.

Saving

• Kira presents Is it better to pay down debt or save for a down payment? posted at Penny Foolish.

• Amanda presents Saving Big on Very Little posted at Young and Broke.

• Russ Ramsey presents Will You Ever Be Rich? posted at Wealth Building World.

Owning a Home

• Erik presents Becoming a Homeowner At a Young Age posted at Money Crashers.

Paying off Debt

• Thatedeguy presents Pay off Student loans before Mortgage? posted at A Penny Saved....

• Laura presents My Credit Card Pick posted at Then Things.

Miscellaneous

• Mike presents Vacation! posted at College Student Financials.

• Jeannie Bauer presents The Dead End Road of Conspicuous Consumption (Part 1) posted at Bouncing Back.

• David presents Giving incentives to employees..it's not just the salary! posted at The Good Human.

• Steven presents Is There Money to Be Made in Baseball Cards? posted at Finding Freedom.

• noah kagan presents Korean Lesson Plan: Where do You want to Go? posted at Okdork.com.

• ntbeachnc presents Employer Discounts posted at Beachgirl's Budget Blog.

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Question of the Week: If you had to choose, would you rather have a job that pays well but little/no benefits, or have a job that might not pay great but has great benefits? Why?

Here are the responses:

• Steven at Finding Freedom says: At this point, I'd take the higher paying job, as I am only really providing for myself, and I could use the extra money. If I had a family, I'd go for the one with great benefits.
  

• Mike presents at College Student Financials says: Right now, being only 21 years old, I don't need that great of benefits so I would rather have much better pay with not so great benefits. Once I get older and take on more responsibility (ie A mortgage, children, wife) I would opt for better benefits.
  

• Kira at Penny Foolish answers: At my age, since I'm young and healthy and have no spouse or dependents, I'd definitely take the job with the high pay and no benefits. If I had children or a spouse who had medical problems, though, I'd definitely take the benefits. (Or if the benefits involved lots of retirement cash.) But in general, if nobody's sick, I'd rather buy my own health insurance and disability insurance, if I'm going to lose a serious amount of money by opting for the job with benefits.
  

• Thatedeguy at A Penny Saved... says: Obviously, having a job that pays fairly well with great benefits would be better than no benefits, but if the pay wasn't that great, it might not make up for it either. Given that I have to choose, I would have a job that pays well with no benefits.
  

• Laura at Then Things answers: I would rather have the job that pays well - you can always buy your own retirement investments and health insurance and I'd rather have more choice anyway.