Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Why Aren't Personal Finance Bloggers Wealthy Yet?

Just to pass this along, I read a great blog post at my-wealth-builder.blogspot.com entitled "Why Aren't We Wealthy (Yet)?"

One of the basic criticisms of personal finance bloggers goes something like this "If you're so smart and know how to be rich, what are you doing sitting around writing a blog?

Super Saver's first answer to the question hits the nail on the head: "More Time Needed." Most personal finance bloggers (me included) aren't blogging about get rich quick schemes. But, a lot of the advice in the good personal finance blogs can help a person to get rich over a period of years.

When I say good personal finance blogs, I am talking about a very small percentage of the blogs out there, probably about 2% of them.

One of my pet peeves is all of the trash that people in the personal finance blog community spew forth every day of the week. To come up with a typical post, they link to a "Top 10 Ways To Save Money" link at Bankrate.com, they list the 10 ways, and they write very little of their own content to supplement it. I have to admit I have been guilty of this as well on occasion, but I am really getting fed up with what I'm seeing out there.

If one more person tells me to give up coffee, pop, or find my latte factor, I am probably going to hit them with a roll of pennies. Of course, they are probably going to collect those pennies and use them to buy a latte, but at least I will have had the satisfaction of blasting them in the face with a heavy, blunt object.

I think I'm going to start writing a weekly post where I find a boring/useless/blatantly stolen, or otherwise incorrect post on someone else's blog, and I'm going to call them out for it. It won't win me any friends in the PF Blogging community but I think it will go a long way towards calling out people who really need to be called out. Bloggers beware!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I am a blogger and I have a net worth over a million. In addition to hard work I got here by reading the same great advise over and over because it kept me focused. You seem to be angry that your wealth has gone nowhere. I would love to sell you all kinds of magical new ideas to get rich because you are the type that would buy them. If you don't like whats out there, then just go away. Needless to say I will not leave my name to you because I have no time for your anger and disdain for other peoples entertainment. Let it go chief.....

MoneyMan said...

Thanks for your comment. I'm not angry for the reason you suggest (that "my wealth got me nowhere," whatever that means). I'm angry at the useless information a lot of people are pushing around the blogosphere.

Also, if you read my blog posts, you'll see that I would be the last person to buy into a "magical idea to get rich."

My basic complaint is that I keep seeing the same post over and over, and I see some of the most basic pieces of financial advice misinterpreted and tossed around by people who hardly know what they're talking about.

I would like to think that people come to my blog to read something a little different every now and then, sometimes stuff that is a little more advanced, and above all, something they will find useful.

I know this will make some people (notably bloggers who spend their time passing off other people's ideas as their own) pretty angry, but I'm not worried about them.

I'm going to continue to call 'em as I see 'em.

Anonymous said...

HAHA, love this post moneyman, certainly I've gone through many personal finance/wealth blogs over the last few months, hell it inspired me to created my own, but I agree with you, re-hashing the same old stuff like, "latte factors" thanks Dbach you'll pay for that one day, kidding, but indeed just whipping up a "10 best whatever" post isn't much of a post at all especially with no real content around it.

MoneyMan said...

word!

Tom said...

MoneyMan wrote:

I would like to think that people come to my blog to read something a little different every now and then, sometimes stuff that is a little more advanced, and above all, something they will find useful.

Your blog is certainly one of the few that carry a unique perspective and I find especially useful. I always believed that if you don't have anything special to say, then don't say anything. You've done really well in this regard. Every post is well thought out. Thank you and keep it up!

I hate blogging for blogging's sake, if you know what I mean. Ironically those "10 best whatever" posts generate the most number of clicks and diggs, and help the monetization of a blog. That's why people do it. I'm not naming names but if you've read PF blogs long enough you know what they are. You are certainly not in it for the money because you don't even have an ad on your blog!

MoneyMan said...

Thanks for the feedback. I try my best to bring a different perspective to this blog. Not sure if I always succeed, but I try.

Not sure why it didn't come up, but please note that I do have an adsense link on the side of the page. I do try to minimize the ads on my site so they don't interfere with your reading experience. I've seen some pages that are basically 90% ads with annoying popups and banners... and I will definitely never be one of those.

That said, I'm definitely not in it for the money. Adsense on this site would not be able to support a goldfish. :)