Here’s a bit of weekend fun… Jim over at pfBlueprint asked a bunch of personal finance bloggers what they’d do with a million dollars.

This was my answer:

If a million dollars suddenly fell into my lap, I’d invest the vast majority of it. The concept of “financial freedom” is very attractive to me, so I’d focus on building up that nest egg. I’m not saying that I’ll necessarily quit my job when we reach that magical crossover point, but it’s hard to put a price on being in a position to make that decision.

Boring, but true.

So… What would you do?

(Oh, and don’t forget to click through and read the other answers.)

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that Blockbuster Total Access is running a new promotion where you get 50% off your first month plus a free $25 Visa gift card*. So…

You can get their 3-at-a-time movie plan for one month plus the $25 gift card in return for just $10 for the first month (and $19.99 thereafter). Moreover, unlike Netflix, you can exchange your movies in their stores, which lets you get more bang for your buck.

Click here to apply.

*Apparently you have to remain a member for six months to get the gift card.

A few weeks back, a reader named Randy sent me a tip about an article dealing with money and (in)fidelity. While the concept of infidelity is typically used in the context of adultery, infidelity is more generally defined as disloyalty. The article then goes on to discuss the concept of financial infidelity — that is, keeping financial secrets from your spouse. [more]

I’ve been a reader of Money Magazine for a long, long time. And despite the proliferation of electronic media, I still derive a certain pleasure from sitting down with a hard copy of a magazine and reading through it. Unfortunately, I typically plow through each copy of Money within a couple of days of its arrival, leaving me with a several week gap before the next issue arrives.

I’d like to subscribe to another publication (or two) but am unsure of which to choose. I should note that I’ve recently subscribed to Consumer Reports Money Adviser, though the first issue hasn’t arrive, so I can’t really comment on it (yet). So… I wanted to ask you preferences when it comes to finance-related magazines.

What do you like? What do you hate? And, just as importantly, why?

Below, I’ve compiled a partial list of what’s available, but feel free to branch out to things I might have missed.

» Business Week
» Consumer Reports Money Adviser
» Forbes
» Fortune
» Kipinger’s
» Money Magazine
» Smart Money

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a new book called The Middle-Class Millionaire. That post generated a good bit of discussion and, not long after publishing it, I was contacted by Lewis Schiff, who is one of the authors of the book.

Lewis graciously offered to field questions from readers, and a good number of took him up on his offer. What follows is a series of burning questions (and answers!) about Middle-Class Millionaires (MCMs)… [more]

In case you need another reason to convince you that gift cards suck, check this out… Sharper Image filed bankruptcy on February 19, 2008 and promptly stopped honoring their own gift cards. This was actually a byproduct of the bankruptcy proceedings, but they initially told the court that they wouldn’t seek an exception to allow them to honor the $42.6 million in outstanding cards.

Sharper Image eventually changed their tune, however, when Brookstone (another mall specialty store) took advantage of the situation by offering cardholders a 25% discount on their entire Brookstone purchase in exchange for their card. They ultimately got permission from the court to resume honoring their gift cards but, as things currently stand, you have to make a purchase that is at least twice the value of your gift card.

Full details on gift card redemption can be found here.

As a followup to my previous post about middle-class millionaires, I was wondering if you guys have any questions that you’d like to ask of Lewis Schiff, who is one of the authors of “The Middle-Class Millionaire“? Lewis stopped by the original article and he has since offered to do a Q&A if any of you are interested.

Here’s how it will work… Please post your question(s) as a comment below. I will then aggregate the responses and forward them to Lewis. Once I receive his answers, I’ll put together an interview-style post. Depending on the response rate, I’ll leave this call for questions open for a couple of days.

I’ll go first…

What proportion of middle-class millionaires inherited their wealth (or at least a large chunk of it) as opposed to truly making it on their own?

According to a recent article from MarketWatch, a new economic class — the so-called “middle-class millionaires” — now accounts for nearly 10% of the U.S. population. Defined as being those with a net worth of between $1 million and $10 million, these individuals have some interesting characteristics. For example… [more]

The following is a guest post from David of MyTwoDollars. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

It was September of 2006 when I finally gave notice at what was turning out to be a dead-end corporate gig. While it paid handsomely, it was so incredibly boring that it was sucking the life out of me. I am a curious learner by nature, and to have days go by with nothing but paperwork to push around was killing my spirit!

So after 4 years at this job, casually collecting my big paychecks, I quit cold turkey. I gave them a month’s notice so I could assist in any transition, but guess what? There wasn’t one, because they never got around to hiring anyone. Believe me, it was not a healthy environment. But back to how we survived. [more]

This is a guest post from NCN of NoCreditNeeded. NCN also does an excellent podcast, and runs a motivational network (for lack of a better term). If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.

I have been reading FiveCentNickel for almost three years. Over that time, I’ve learned a lot from Nickel, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to write a guest post.

Nickel and I agree on a lot of topics. We both believe in saving for retirement. We both work hard to save money. We believe in teaching our kids about money - Nickel and his wife have four boys. My wife and I have two kids — and a third on the way!

But there are also subjects about which we disagree. Big time! [more]