If you are new to WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com, every Friday I run a post called “A Lap Of The Blogs” which provides links to articles I found interesting and think that others may want to read for themselves. I also include some commentary on what’s going on in my personal life and a weekly “racing video” since my former life was in the auto-racing industry. The name “Lap of the Blogs” is in reference to “A Lap Of The Gods” which is an old video series which chronicled on-board footage of the world’s greatest F1 drivers lapping various racetracks from around the world.

From Around The Blogosphere

Leveraged ETFs seem to be the talk of the town, although mostly in a negative light. I should opine that they do what they are supposed to do, but people may be mis-using them as they are not well understood. In any case, Jonathan Chevreau mentions them (and me) in a recent blog post. Use them if you want, but do your homework.

Larry MacDonald discusses securities lending by ETF manufacturers. This is worth reading, as is the article he links to which discusses securities lending practices by mutual funds. Briefly, securities lending is when a fund lends out securities (that YOU own) to short sellers (who must eventually give them back). The fund collects interest on the borrowed securities – but how much of that interest is passed on to the investor? Read on.

Canadian Capitalist explains away some misconceptions about holding US listed securities with exposure to international companies – specifically the misconception about which currency fluctuations you are exposed to.

Michael James on Money helps explain why some penalties to break a mortgage are higher than others. If you break a mortgage to get a better deal, that means your current lender is losing out – enter the Interest Rate Differential.

Million Dollar Journey just reviewed Squawkfox‘s new book: 397 Ways To Save Money, and you can still enter the giveaway contest to win a copy!

Four Pillars continues with the next installment of the Scam Series – always a great read, and you might save yourself from getting hoodwinked, bamboozled, etc…

Thicken My Wallet wonders if a house should be viewed purely as an investment.

This Week’s Racing Video

This week’s video is a very short clip. This is a demonstration pitstop of one of the most beautiful racecars ever made: The Aston Martin DBRS9. If I ever won the lottery, I would buy one. Note that these enduro racers have jacks built in – so when it comes in for its pitstop, the crew don’t have to jack up the car, just plug an air hose into the car, which then forces the jacks down, causing the car to lift. Enjoy!