Weekend reading: Summer BBQ edition

A quick introduction to this week’s suggested articles, as I’m keen to get outside — the sun is shining and it looks like the Great British Indian Summer of 2009 is underway.

It’s therefore time to dust off the BBQ, which I’ve barely used since the Great British Heatwave back in May.

Since then it’s been the Usual Great British ‘Meh’ Summer of Cloud and Intermittent Showers. It’s almost painful to contemplate that we’re nearly into September.

New motivation to invest: Creating an escape fund. 🙂

Anyway, the chicken and pork are marinading in a good dollop of Reggae, Reggae Sauce, friends are en-route and England are about to be beaten by Australia in the Ashes again, so let’s get on with it.

This week’s money blog post round-up

• Money-Watch introduced a new-to-me spiky UK consumer finance blog, Bitterwallet.
  

• Moolanomy suggests some weird ways to make money.

• The Wisdom Journal has an interesting take on exploiting a gold rush. (In short: Sell shovels!)

• The Digerati Life has tips about keeping your shirt when you trade.

• The Psy-Fi blog muses on behavioural finance. (Make a cup of tea first).

• Oblivious Investor outlines the tax efficiences of ETF investing.

• Wealth Pilgrim has been posting a very comprehensive series on financial advisers, with lots of (US-orientated) information for those who fancy going pro. Here’s the first.

• Neal also made a detailed case against the U.S. cash-for-clunkers scheme over on Frugal Dad.

• Million Dollar Journey has a guest post about saving money on travel. That’s one way to get there quicker! (To the million, I mean…) The comments are the best bit here.

• Sigh. When Get Rich Slowly writes about the market’s wild ride, everyone listens — and comments, too. Still it’s hard to get jealous when he does it with his usual candor.

• Zen Habits is a big blog with millions of readers. If they all went self-employed, who’d be left to open the mail?

A few mainly UK-focused articles from the big boys

• Punchbowl master-in-chief Ben Bernanke thinks the slump may be ending, reports the FT.

• The FT also looks at the big gains investors have made in emerging markets.

• It could be worth backing a new Junior Mining fund, says Mark Dampier in The Independent.
  

• Derek Pain meanwhile ponders an investment in AIM tiddler SnackTime.

• The Motley Fool looks at investing in the coming smartphone revolution.

• Nothing to do with investing, but Brigitte Bardot really was a babe — and there’s a new exhibition featuring her endless legs in London.

Papers James! Let me prepare your weekend reading every Saturday. Subscribe (for free) via email or RSS for regular updates.