Well, here we are… In a few days we’ll be taking off for vacation, so we’ve been madly rushing around trying to tie up loose ends in advance of our departure. If you’re interested in contributing a guest post, please let me know. Note that we’re also looking for guest bloggers over Raising4Boys.In other news, I’ve cleaned up a few interface features (you may not have even noticed) and have also added the ability to subscribe to the comments on individual posts via e-mail. A number of people have already taken advantage of this feature — check it out. Anyway, let’s get down to business… What follows is a quick rundown of some of the finance-related articles that caught my eye over the past week.

MightyBargainHunter responds to an oversimplified view of how easy it is to retire at age 40. Bottom line: It’s dead easy to plan for an early retirement if you’re willing to assume high returns – but is that realistic? He’s also dressed up his site with a new design, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t been there in awhile.

Jim points out that free checking isn’t really free.

Flexo answers a reader question about Roth IRAs.

JLP just paid off his car loan.

FMF talks about the cost of being overweight.

Sun talks about ‘hard’ vs. ’soft’ credit inquiries.

Ben talks about universities selling alumni data to credit companies. Seems like universities should have a clear privacy policy, but I’ve never seen one.

4M tackles the issue of lifestyle inflation.

Lazy Man talks about how to inflate your eBay rating.

Jeremy has a list of tips for dealing with car salesmen. My advice is to keep the transaction at arm’s length for as long as possible by soliciting bids and negotiating the price of your car by fax or e-mail.

SVB is re-balancing her portfolio.

BinaryDollar talks about umbrella insurance.

JD has a list of yard sale tips. Guess what? So do I (actually moving sale tips, but still). The only problem is that I wrote the article over a year ago and then somehow forgot to publish. So… Watch this space, I’ll be publishing it soon.

Cap asks why do people need more than one credit card? In my case, I have a couple of different reward credit cards that I rotate when they reach their reward limits. Another reason is you like to play the 0% balance transfer game… You typcially don’t want to be making charges on a balance transfer credit card.

Finally, The Consumerist just announced that they got themselves into the Google News index. While they’re not a typical news outlet, they do a great service by making people aware of shady consumer practices.