It’s that time again – I’m linking up to some of my favourite finance articles of the week.

JD Roth just got back from another trip to South America, and wrote a thought provoking piece on class differences. I can say this – my mother grew up poor, and although I grew up middle class, I still feel uncomfortable in some social situations; that said, I’m also ambitious and getting close to the 1% – and I’m not ashamed of that, either.

In what I consider a somewhat related post (ok, only just barely), Crystal blogged about the crack that is HGTV… and how it makes you want more space than you need, and the granite counter tops that come with it. I won’t say HGTV was what made Bruce & I build our new house 2 years ago… but I’m sure it influenced us. That said, I love my new house, and other than finishing the landscaping and building a deck (which we are trying to save up enough to pay CASH for!), there is no remodelling necessary here! (And no, I did NOT get granite counter tops… that upgrade was just too much for my budget to handle!)

Andrea at So Over Debt wrote a post about being prepared for emergencies after a tornado ripped the roof off her son’s school gym… with her son (and many other students) still inside!! I would have freaked out too. I don’t live in tornado alley, but winter blizzards and ice storms are not uncommon here, and after reading Andrea’s list, I’ll admit – I’m pretty unprepared for an emergency. I need to get on that!

This post is a little older, I read it after two other blogs linked to it this week! One Cent at a Time asks: Does blogging affect your work? SB thinks so… and I think it can too! I look back at my productivity last year at work, and while I do think my blog affected it slightly, other things impacted it more (it was a bad year for me). But this post sure makes me aware of the potential for allowing my blogs to infringe on my work. Now I’m being conscious to not do that! My work (which I love) pays my bills. Blogging is just a nice hobby!

Anyone who pays tribute to ACDC in their post title deserves a mention. Nick wrote a post called For Those About to Blog… I Salute you! He talks about how he got into blogging, and the things he’s learned. As a beginning blogger, posts like this are super helpful – thanks Nick!

So that’s it – my Friday Five roundup!