Comments on: How Personal is Personal Finance?

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:32:21 +0000

Blogs are definitely just one component of the big picture. I enjoy reading books, checking in with “big media” outlets, etc. to get my daily fill of money talk.

But I definitely like the fact that I can read 100-150 blogs on a daily basis and get a lot of different viewpoints on the same subject!

P.S. Thank you! I just simplified it a bit this week (sidebar was getting too cluttered for my taste). I show one AdSense ad to search visitors, and mostly rely on residual affiliate income right now…everything else will come in due time.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:03:07 +0000

It depends whether we’re talking about how people learn, or how they want to learn.

Not to get too preachy about it, I wouldn’t like to know everything I know about personal finance and investing from reading blogs. I read a lot of good books, completely devoid on the whole of personal experiences, and it gave me a good grounding.

Now, I *did* learn stuff on my own as I went. And over time I spoke to a lot more savers/investors, and eventually I discovered the personal finance blogs, and it’s all very compelling.

But am I learning more from blogs compared to reading a book? I’m not convinced? Is reading my favourite blogs more fun? Absolutely.

All of which makes me think Monevator (my own blog) should be less like a book and more like a provocative entertainment platform focussed on personal finance – something I think in fact you’re doing very well here. (Also – super clean theme. And no ads?)

But we all write as we must over the long-term… whether we look inward or outward, we have to do what comes naturally I feel.
Monevator´s last post: Playing chicken with house prices

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:55:16 +0000

I completely agree; in fact, I’m writing a post for Untemplater as we speak that addresses those very principles. Thanks for commenting!!

By: Deacon Bradley

Deacon Bradley — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:53:27 +0000

I agree that everyone’s personal financial situation is unique so the same advice will certainly not work for everyone. However there IS a set of core principles that is unchanging if you want to attain financial independence: Live on less than you make, save and invest for the future, get on a budget, don’t buy things you can’t afford. The principles are the same for everyone, but can be applied with many different methods.

Understanding the basics of how money (really) works enables people to sort through all the specifics out there and identify what works and what doesn’t for their specific situation.

Great post!

By: Fun Tax Facts - Carnival of Personal Finance #242

Fun Tax Facts - Carnival of Personal Finance #242 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:45:54 +0000

[...] Kulicki from Fiscal Fizzle presents How Personal is Personal Finance?, and says, [...]

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:12:13 +0000

Thanks again! It never gets old, I love the attention as much as the little guy.

By: ConsciouslyFrugal

ConsciouslyFrugal — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:09:22 +0000

Like being new parents! I will likely never have wee ones, but I sure do love to read about such exciting and challenging changes in other folks’ lives.

Just wanted to take another opportunity to say congrats.

By: 2 Cents

2 Cents — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:57:44 +0000

Write what you know is great advice. I try to stick to that principle too. If I’m writing on a topic out of my comfort zone, I put in lots of links to people who know more about it than I do.

By the way, it’s nice to read about “other things”!
2 Cents´s last post: Book Review: Enough Bull

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:02:02 +0000

Excellent example–I think people relate to case studies, even if they can’t apply it directly in their own lives. People are smart enough to know how to gather multiple examples of others and deduce a course of action for themselves that is likely to succeed.

Rather than, as you point out, a “save more” approach.

By: Wojciech Kulicki

Wojciech Kulicki — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:59:04 +0000

Love the buffet analogy, and that’s exactly how I think of the niche! I think my experience and knowledge about new topics is built from a total experience of multiple different streams and opinions of everyone that writes about that topic…

On the timeliness point, I think the best we can do is take the old fiction-class advice and “write what we know.” I could write about investments all day long, but honestly–I wouldn’t know what I was talking about. So I write about other things!