Yakezie Round-up: Engineers Edition

Should have figured this earlier on, but we’re experiencing a growing number of engineers coming out of the closet – as personal finance bloggers! Maybe its that natural disposition to analysis or that notorious reputation for penny-pinching, but whatever it is, I’m glad our numbers our growing. After reading Joe’s bio, it inspired me to compile a list of the best posts written by my fellow engineers.

Here’s the highlights for your reading pleasure:

Thousandaire

Kevin and I are only celebrating our 1-week anniversary, but I’ve got to give him top spot. Right from the get-go, his unique sense of humor had me. If you want an example, check out the comical spoof music video he made! OR just leave a comment on any of his posts and receive a hilarious message.

ENGR PHRASES: N/A

Retire by 40

Another new kid on the block, Joe appears to be another engineer. Checking out a few different articles, I couldn’t resist including his September 2010 credit card bill review. Reason? He added an equation at the bottom of the post!

ENGR PHRASES: analyze, compliance

Dividend Monk

Maybe ashamed, DM hides his true profession. But if you’ve read any of his stock breakdowns, you’d be able to spot him a mile away given the extremely well-organized and laid out analysis. Fittingly, he writes often about technical companies – in this case, Chevron Corporation.

ENGR PHRASES: thesis, maximizing energy efficiency, upstream projects

Renting Out Rooms

A recent guest post-er here on Engineer Your Finances, Mike chronicles his experience as a “live-in landlord”. How does he show his hand? The Phenomenon of Why Strangers are Better Roommates takes away the emotion and applies the calculated approached. Sometimes this can be referred to as “cold”, but that comes from the (non)receiving end. ;)

ENGR PHRASES: phenomenon, assumptions

Invest It Wisely

Although this is a review for another website, Barbara does claim her dad was an engineer so I guess this can slide. Kevin talks about the ebook: A 20 Minute Guide to Investing. And don’t expect a sugar-coated write up, he lays out what he thinks the book was missing. Overall he does a great job providing comprehensive updates of what’s going on in the PF sphere if you ever need an update.

ENGR PHRASES: dense, impact, tool

Money Green Life

Charles works through the seemingly age-old question: How Much Savings Should You Have? And in true engineering fashion, he references his budgeting spreadsheet and provides sample calculations.

ENGR PHRASES: spreadsheet, assuming, feasible, practical

Joe Taxpayer

If you are buying your first home, then check out Joe’s post. The meat of the article can be found on American Express’ new blog – Currency, but I wanted to give credit to his own site. Giving a detailed breakdown of costs, he provides a useable checklist for potential buyers.

ENGR PHRASES: consistent, range

Early Retirement Extreme

While not technically an engineer, Jacob has a keen technical sense and a strong background in physics. Enjoying his writings since my own start, it would be remiss to exclude him from this carnival. Short and to the point, he uses something very dear to me – tap water – to draw a comparison with wasteful spending.

ENGR PHRASES: finite resource, irreplaceable aquifers

Len Penzo dot com

Having had the chance to meet him in person, I love reading Len’s work now more than ever. Putting a face to the name can really make the difference. His writings are consistently fresh, witty, & entertaining. Your Personal Finance Voter Guide gives a good example. Again, you can tell the technical nature of the writer by the clearly outlined examples.

ENGR PHRASES: thereby, appreciable, conducted, extensive

Darwin’s Finance

Another long standing giant, I think DF was the 4^th blog I contacted when starting out. Writing on a vast array of topics, I really enjoyed Workplace Recognition Goes a Long Way. As best takeaway for me personally: “However, I do anticipate that by doing this a few times to a few good people, not only do you foster an improved sense of morale and performance, but you earn yourself a reputation for being someone who gives a crap”.

ENGR PHRASES: operations, functions, process

Personal Finance by the Book

The first shall be last and the last shall be first. In this case, we gave Joe (third one here) both. Hope you checked out his personal interview he gave, but if you’re looking for more he gives an unlikely position on whether Should Senior Citizens Become Cry Babies Over Social Security Freeze? Like we’ve shown before, engineers can remove personal feelings to look at a system for what it is. Even though Joe stands to directly benefit, he still agrees that the “system simply cannot afford being squeezed”.

ENGR PHRASES: mechanism, stagnant, system