No Credit Needed reader, James, uses the You Need A Budget budgeting system to manage his household finances.  He recently sent me an awesome email and I’m happy to share it with you:

I don’t believe that I have ever taken the opportunity to thank you for mentioning YNAB on your blog. For it was here at No Credit Needed that I first heard of YNAB.  At that time my wife was pregnant with our first child and we were trying to decide if she was going to return to work or become a stay at home Mom.

To make a VERY long story short, YNAB afforded us the opportunity to not only allow her to stay at home with our child full time, but also allowed us to become completely debt free and financially worry free.  So while the folks at YNAB deserve tons of credit, it is really you who deserves the most. I can’

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China’s central bank sold three-month bills at a higher interest rate for the first time in 19 weeks after saying its focus for 2010 is controlling the record expansion in lending and curbing price increases.

Bloomberg

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Every expert will give you his or her not so humble opinion on how much gold should you own. You will see figures ranging from as little as 2 percent to as much as 50 percent of your entire portfolio. The main point to consider is why are you buying gold. Here are 4 different scenarios,

a) How much gold to buy if you only want to own it as insurance against weak dollar? I would suggest a figure in 10 to 12 percent range. That should be enough for those investors who believe that eventually things will go back close to where they were just few years ago, but still want to make money if gold goes up, and have a bit of an insurance just in case.

b) How much gold should you own if you firmly believe that U.S.

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With the festive period almost at an end, this is the time where many of us start to count the cost of our Christmas spending. One option to consider if you have some Christmas debt is a 0% balance transfer card as this gives you some breathing space to pay down your debt gradually without incurring interest.

This week we are looking at the Virgin Credit Card.

What’s the deal?

The Virgin Credit Card is not a new deal. In fact it has been top of the balance transfer card best buy tables for some time. 

At 16 months, it offers the longest 0% period on balance transfers and this may go some way to ease the pain of a debt hangover.

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I’ve spent the past week watching bowl game after bowl game.  That and celebrating Christmas/New Year.  Many bloggers took a bit of a break over the holidays, but there was still plenty of good stuff published.

Why Your Taxes Might Go Up In Retirement by Early Retirement Blog.  The common assumption that your taxes will go down in retirement (usually tied to an assumed lower level of income), only holds up to scrutiny if one assumes tax rates won’t go up in the future.  Not likely.

Automating Your Finances Is An Expensive Mistake by Bargaineering.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve knowingly made a decision that cost me money simply because it was the easiest thing to do.  Most recently, setting up my accounting software to record transactions when the cash leaves my business account rather than when the purchase is actually made will cost me some tax deductions in April, unless I go out of my way to make a few manual adjustments.

Top 10 Financial Stories Of The Decade by My Dollar Plan.  A major story of each year is covered by a different blogger, from their own perspective.

How To Reset Your “Check Engine Light” by Science And Money.   My check engine light comes on every 5,000 miles to remind me to change the oil.  Problem is, the guys at the shop don’t reset the light half the time.  It’s annoying to no end.

Saving On Pet Care by Couple Money.  A fairly comprehensive overview (oxymoron?) on how to avoid bankruptcy court on account of Fido.

8 Money Tips I Learned From Clark Griswold by Foreigner’s Finances.  Yes Virginia, this hilarious holiday classic does have redeeming social value!

Credit Card Interest:  How High Is High? by Debt Tips.  A 79% interest r

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