When it comes to saving money and personal finances, the traditional place to do research was through books and magazines. While these are still excellent sources to research and learn about personal finances, there is also a new and growing format that makes personal finances more user friendly and allows for two-way communication. This information can be found in the growing number of personal finance blogs.
"Personal finance blogs tend to offer the real life experience of the blogger as he or she deals with the common personal finance problems that we all face," says Jeffrey Strain who writes the Personal Finance Advice blog. "It gives the readers the opportunity to see step by step how obstacles are solved and allows readers to give their own opinion or ask further questions which can't be done with a book."
More often than not, bloggers find creative ways to solve the financial problems they face. "The fact is that most personal finance questions aren't cookie cutter clean. Every person has a different set of circumstances and that comes out through personal finance blogs," notes Jeffrey at All Things Financial.
Blogs are also a much better way of disseminating new information that can help people with their finances. "Personal Finance Bloggers offer another dimension to thinking about your finances - by seeing how people think about theirs," says Jonathon of My Money Blog. With your friends, they won't necessarily tell you that they missed a bill, switched car insurance carriers, or bought a new investment. While you can always find people telling you what to do - sometimes it's great to sit back and see what people ARE doing." He also notes, "Similar to news or political blogs, personal financial blogs have become a much faster form of communication. Personal finance magazines have deadlines almost a month before it finally arrives in your mailbox. A blog can tell you about a new credit card or if a bank changes its terms or interest rates within hours."
Not only do bloggers tell you what they think you should do in a particular situation, they also usually spell out the exact reasons why they came to that conclusion. "Bloggers tend to write about both what they did wrong and right, not just what was right," says FMF of Free Money Finance. "I know I do." This gives the reader a better perspective when they have to use the information in their own situation.
By finding a few quality personal finance blogs to follow, you can help improve your finances and learn more about how to save and grow your money. Best of all, you'll get a different perspective than you are likely to find in any book or magazine on the market today.
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