Blogging Away Debt

This is a personal site of a wife who obsesses about the family debt and decided to blog about it. Thus, it is more of a journal rather than an advice blog. It can be read for inspiration as well as for as a case study of how one family is coping.

She mentions Dave Ramsay in a few posts, so I assume she is following his system. She covers purely personal topics as well. Her latest post is about her pregnancy.

As of this writing she’s got their debt down to $8,000 - all of it student loans. Since there’s no amount listed for home mortgages owed, we can assume they re renters.

All in all, this blog occupies a limited niche but it occupies that niche well.

The Consumerist

I see that a top rated blog is The Consumerist. It is visually attractive but its content seems to me to be shallow. Now a blog is not a book. I realize that posts ought to be short and they need to get to the point. Still, things ought to be explained, I believe. Also, there needs to be some indication where a person ought to go for further information.

Two posts troubled me.

1) Their top post as I write this is about short selling houses. The item contains an interesting story but does not explain what short selling homes means.

2) Friday Flickr finds highlight pictures to be used in future posts. These are just eye candy. They do not convey any additional information. Indeed, the publisher does not even identify what topic these pictures will be used for. This is a regular Friday feature of the blog.

It has interesting news items. I just note that this is the top rated blog on Wisebread at present. We all could do better (yes, I know "we" means me,too!) but I think the very best should be better than this.

Seeking Alpha

This is the name of a super financial site. It is not exactly an aggregator. People submit articles to this site as they would to a magazine. It has a very large number of authors and readers. Most of its content is economics and investments.

Master Blogger on Personal Finance Blogging

Here are the submission guidelines for Get Rich Slowly. This is one of the top blogs on personal finance, #4 on Wisebread’s top 100.

These guidelines form an interesting essay on the art of writing on financial issues. He stresses original writing and thinking and having an original point of view. He stated he does not necessarily want new ideas but new slants on old ideas. A lot of this is great wisdom but I do not think this is for everybody.

The shelves in the local library and the ones in the local book stores fairly groan under the weight of business/personal finance/development literature. Even I am overwhelmed by them all – and I’m a CPA! When I read a book or a blog, while I do want good writing, when it comes to this area, I want the important information first. – And hopefully as succinctly as possible. How about you?

Frankly, too much writing gets in my way. As you can tell, I admire Rich Dad, Poor Dad series but how I wish Robert Kiyosaki was less creative! Just give me the info, dammit!

Also, different blogs have different focus’ than that one does. This one, for instance, covers selected master writers or doers together with my thoughts on them. Most entries are short. They are not meant to be a substitute for those books but an encouragement to read them. In addition, my focus is broader than just personal finance. On the one hand, this blog goes into business knowledge in the corporate environment; on the other it goes into personal development.

There is much to admire in this guide. I’d suggest that all finance writers ought to read it. But in the end, it is a guide not the 10 Commandments. We all have to follow our own muse.

All on One Page

The Simple Dollar is another fine blog. I like that word “Simple”. The author, Trent Hamm, wrote a small book that summarizes the field of personal finance as succinctly as possible. He’s giving it away for free.

His upcoming book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams, is coming out later this month.

Sample post: 7 tips on getting things done.

I like his blog and I like this book! Visit it and tell him Jack sent you.

Illustration cc Trent Hamm.

Non-Finance Jack 3/10/10

Here's some recent things I wrote in other places:

Herodotus in Egypt
Twitter eye-opener
Can Sam Sloan ever be respectable?
What are Obama's goals in Space now?

are linked here. What I'm up to when I don't blog history.

and don't forget my first Youtube video ever!