The Friday Feast ~ the 1st of July

The personal finance community is filled with so many talented writers and inspiring families in search of something better out of life than the traditional society-approved plan of buying lots of stuff and retiring in your 60s if you're lucky.

Here is a look at the best of this week's personal finance blogs.

In this episode of Friday Feast: Frugal Rules, The Irrelevant Investor, Just One More Year, Tawcan, My Alternate Life, Half Baked, 40 To Wealth, Making Sense of Cents, PT Money and Tiperosity.

Hot damn, it's officially the other side of the halfway point in 2016. We are going to celebrate this momentous occasion by vacationing for a week in Baja, Mexico. It'll be nice to escape the heat of Arizona.

As usual, the blogosphere was active this week. Here are some of the best articles that I got to read.

First, Frugal Rules gives us 31 signs that we are financially stable. Can you sleep at night? Do you have low DTI? Do you even know what DTI is?

And elsewhere, The Irrelevant Investor reminds us of how the stock market tends to respond to a supposed "crisis". It should put the Brexit fiasco in full perspective.

My favorite post of the week

My favorite post this week comes from Just One More Year who asks an imposing question: What if our future expectations are completely wrong?

"As I listened to the students’ graduation speeches, I got the sense that they were painting an overly optimistic picture of the future, while of course wearing rose-colored glasses," Bryan wrote.

"Seeing the hope and creativity of young graduates is energizing, and reminds me that, no matter how discouraged I’m feeling today, there is still the opportunity to create a bright future. "

More from the personal finance community

Tawcan gives us another reason to reach financial independence.

Over at My Alternate Life, Jordann writes about that time she banished all of her credit card debt once and for all.

Also, Desirae from Half Baked talks about the wisdom of automating your investments.

Lastly, 40ToWealth takes a look at the costs of raising a child vs. retiring early.

Honorable mentions: Making Sense of Cents talks 17 life-changing financial books, PT Money argues that just talking about money can raise your credit score, and lastly, Tiperosity gives us 21 tips for working towards your next promotion at work.

Photo of the week

This is one of my all-time favorite shots that I captured of Cathedral Rock in Sedona, AZ a couple of years ago.

Coming up in the week ahead on ThinkSaveRetire: A one-post week coming up, as we'll be in Baja for the 4th of July holiday. On Monday, I'm doing my best Jeff Foxworthy impression with a probably-unfunny blog post about "You might be ready to retire early if..."

Thanks for reading, and cheers to another financially productive week ahead!