By Andrew Blackman
August 18, 2005
The blogosphere, that smorgasbord of screeds, musings, news and advice, is doubling in size every few months. There are now 12.5 million blogs, up from six million four months ago, and almost 100,000 new blogs are created every single day, according to estimates from blog search-engine firm Technorati.
Personal-finance blogs are still little more than a blip in the blogosphere, but are growing quickly: Technorati estimates there are about 5,000 of them, up 40% from six months ago. Some are written by financial professionals and offer investing tips or advice on financial planning; others provide links to and commentary on financial news; and many are chronicles of the writer’s personal financial triumphs and failures.
The most obvious attraction of blogs is their immediacy: A blog post can be published in seconds, as can reader comments, and the most recent post appears at the top of the page, so it is easy to see at a glance what the latest news is. A good blogger will also act as a filter of all the articles and stories on the Web, and will comment on them or post links to alternative points of view. And the personal nature of blogs affords a voyeuristic and often fascinating glimpse into other people’s lives.
The problem, of course, is in knowing whom to trust. After all, many bloggers post anonymously, especially those dissecting their own finances, and there’s no guarantee they know more than you do.
Here’s a selection of some popular personal-finance and investing blogs, along with their pros and cons.
Consumerism Commentary was listed among a number of other blogs.
- Source location: Wall Street Journal
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