Editor’s Note : I will be posting a weekly roundup of postings on personal finance topics I enjoyed reading in the personal finance blogosphere. These bloggers can be found my Blogroll page. Whenever possible, if I come across a new one I like, I will add them to the Blogroll and try to include them in my roundup.

The Wealth, Money & Life Network

Dividend4Life posted a fairly decent article discussing The First Steps to Investing. While I did not tackle this in the order D4L has listed, I do have to agree with the basic concepts behind these fundamentals. As always, your emergency fund if it is not funded to your likening, it should be the first priority.

Wow, I sure have been away for a while. Dollar Frugal redesigned her site which is pretty nifty. Americans Smarten Up talks about Starbucks and how they are closing their stores, remember the Latte Factor inspired by David Bach? This is the results of such a move during tight financial times.

Her Every Cent Counts recently got back from Israel and talked about Exchange Rates and how it would have saved her money years ago in comparison to today’s exchange rates. This is a common issue with a low dollar value. That is why you see more visitors from strong currency nations visiting lower currency nations. The tide will change when the dollar rises and stabilizes.

How I Save Money talked about how to Use Social Media to Drive Traffic. I have experimented this and found StumbleUpon to be the greatest driver but it is worthwhile to expand your traffic beyond StumbleUpon such as Twitter or Facebook, etc… Right now, I don’t have the time to focus on that because I need to work on my sites.

Living Off Dividends and Passive Income talks about Why I Love Payday Loans. This is one of the most common reasons borrowers seek a loan on Prosper due to the interest rates they pay on the loans. Some of my loans I have lend on Prosper were for this purpose.

Saving For A Home Of My Own posted her June Spending experience. She is certainly sticking to her budget and shows us a good reason why she dipped into her emergency fund to pay off her car loan before her move. As long as your emergency fund is at a comfortable level, it is certainly to your advantage to pay off loans, whether it is credit cards or any type of interest-based loans because you would be saving more money.

Other Personal Finance Blogs…

Cash Money Life talks about Defining Financial Freedom which is a fairly good point of view from his perspective. I have to agree with him on a few points. Two major factor in defining it for me is being debt-free and growing passive income, both which takes time but as each year goes by, I find myself feeling more free.

I have to agree with Money Ning on Our Thinking of Money Matters is Way Too Complicated. I found myself thinking too much about money issues the past two years until a few months ago when I began to realize all I had to do was spend less than I earn and just keep it simple when it comes to investing the money I save. This has allowed me to enjoy life a little more but I still have a ways to go.

My Investing Blog talks about using Gas Buddy to save yourself some money with gas. I have been hearing a lot about this tool and am currently trying to figure out how to use it on my blackberry which has Internet and will come in handy if I need to find a gas station nearby or on the road to save some money here and there.