What are the best personal finance blogs right now?

March 7, 2012 12:38 PM

Recommend your favorite personal finance blogs, please!

My husband and I are trying to get into a serious financial responsibility mindset after a bit of a lapse. Years ago, I read Consumerist every day, which helped me keep issues of budgeting and strategically saving at the front of my mind pretty well, while also providing some general entertainment. I'd like to get back into this sort of habit, so, what blogs should I be reading now? I'm looking for a healthy amount of personal finance content (though not necessarily exclusively) but not a lot of "what stocks to buy" kind of advice, and they should be well-written and at least a little entertaining. What's out there?

posted by juliapangolin to Work & Money (9 answers total)

(Mefi's own) Get Rich Slowly. Has a backlog of posts following JD's original path from in debt to in great financial shape, and now features other writers with different perspectives as well. I think it's 'one of the big ones' these days.
posted by jacalata at 12:43 PM on March 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

2nding above-mentioned Get Rich Slowly.

I also read I Will Teach You to Be Reach (salesy name, solid advice) and Graduated Learning (great personal / personal finance blog).
posted by ElfWord at 12:48 PM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I Will Teach You to Be Rich (not as spammy as it sounds)

I know you are not in the UK, but Monevator is really good at explaining the world of finance and investment in lay terms. On the weekend they post an excellent list of links on whats been talked about in the blogosphere about personal finance
posted by TheOtherGuy at 12:49 PM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Captain Capitalism is an blog peppered with a variety of sage conservative economic commentary.


posted by lstanley at 12:51 PM on March 7, 2012

I don't think PocketMint is meant to be funny, but its author can be entertaining. It's reasonable and well-written.

If you like LOLFed, the various blogs in its blogroll might put you in a financially-responsible mood by lampooning and/or bemoaning irresponsible financial managers, corporate execs, government policymakers and the like.

Have fun, and I salute your efforts!
posted by homelystar at 1:00 PM on March 7, 2012

The Simple Dollar is the absolute, hands-down winner in this category. By far. Start with the "Downloadables" on the right, and then the "14 Money Rules."

Sorry, but Get Rich Slowly fell off once all the guest writers came aboard. And Ramit's "I Will Teach You..." is, in fact, still spammy.
posted by arco at 1:00 PM on March 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

Sorry, but Get Rich Slowly fell off once all the guest writers came aboard.

Agreed. Go back in the archives and read the beginning stuff.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:09 PM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not a blog, but Ric Edelman is a good source for basic financial advice. His book The Truth About Money is a great primer.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:36 PM on March 7, 2012

The Simple Dollar is the absolute, hands-down winner in this category.

It's a good blog for those thinking about frugality for the first time, but some of the ideas may not suit some - the proprietor makes his own shampoo and laundry detergent, calculates how much money one loses when you open the oven door to check if something is cooked, and once made a post on how nobody should ever pay more than $3 for a swimsuit, suggesting women swim in their underwear/a t-shirt. (His writing style is also a bit pedestrian for me, but that's personal taste.) So as arco says, go through the archives rather than starting with the recent posts.
posted by mippy at 5:03 AM on March 8, 2012 [1 favorite]