Happy 4th of July!

After a four-week hiatus, PFBlog Network is happy to introduce its 17th gold channel -- My First Million. Unlike most of our other bloggers in our network, the person behind this new blog (pen name: 1stMill) accumulated his first million dollars ten years ago. As a different stage of financial life, he will share his insight on multiple personal finance topics with a focus on investment.

Now, please take some time to read our selected posts of the week:

Bloggers' Personal Stories

• 1stMill shared his fight against property tax increase. The happy ending: 41.9% reduction in property tax increase.
• How to protect yourself from identity theft? 1stMill researched five approaches.

Personal Finance News and Resources

• Our Mad Money series at Reasoned Investing is back. Share highlights from recent episodes: 6/21, 6/22, 6/28, 6/29, 6/30.
• A great summary of COBRA health insurance from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
• FMF concludes GM workers are way overpaid.
• The 2005 list of world's most costly cities: Tokyo is #1, guess how high did NYC score?
• How to rely on three funds to build a globally diversified portfolio?
• 4th of July means lots of food consumed. Get the statistics.
• Some tips of finding the top CD rates.
• Interesting finding: even with the recent hikes, gas is still cheaper than bottled water.
• Is rechargeable battery a money-saving idea?

Personal Finance Tips

• Morningstar more than a fund rating agency. Receive some free investing education.
• Citi's Driver's Edge credit card now reward you for driving. Nickel examined some details.
• Ever wonder why the free shipping option at Amazon is usually labeled as 7-10 days? It might well be a trick to force you to buy unnecessary shipping upgrade.
• Schnepper-Malagoli Charitable Tax Grab is a unique trick that can move money from IRS to the wallets of you and your favorite charity. (It was reported at PFBlog in 2003 too.)
• Some Excel tricks revealed in this example of tabulating Microsoft Money data in spreadsheets.