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25 Best Personal Finance Blogs (Why You Should Read)
by Fred Leamnson 25 Comments
I created my list of the 25 best personal finance blogs last year. Since then, I’ve updated the post with blogs I’ve discovered along the way.
Collectively, these blogs cover most, if not all, areas that make up personal finance. You will find articles on banking, investing, retirement, estate planning, insurance, mortgages, budgeting, saving, and much more. All of these winning blogs provide detailed analysis and reviews of the topics they cover.
The order of the list that follows does not imply it is from best to worst. All are excellent and worthy to be considered for your list of top personal finance blogs.
I encourage anyone reading to suggest blogs not listed that you read and think worthy of consideration.
With that, here are my top 25 personal finance blogs.
Table of Contents
Best Personal Finance Blogs
#1 The Simple Dollar
Trent Hamm, who started The Simple Dollar, says the mission of the site is “providing well researched, useful content that empowers our readers to make smart financial decisions.” The site is a virtual marketplace of information about everything personal finance. You can find reviews on credit cards, loans, insurance, investing, and banking.
Clicking on any of these categories brings up a menu of “best of” for the various offerings in that category. Each one has a detailed comparison and review. Their blog covers a wide variety of personal finance topics to help you get educated before you shop for products or services. Check them out at the link below. You won’t be disappointed.
Check it out here – https://thesimpledollar.com
#2 Mr. Money Mustache
Don’t let the name distract you. Mr. Money Mustache is a credible personal finance website. It’s written by a guy who was tired of the rat race of the corporate life he and his wife were living. They wanted to start a family, so they decided to retire. What? Retire to start a family?
Yes! That’s what makes this site so valuable. Pete, which is the only name I could find for the author, retired at age 30. He started this blog in 2005 at age 36. Pete says he made it because he “lived a lifestyle 50% below his peers.” He saved a lot more than most. Not earth-shattering, but very difficult to implement.
You can read his entire journey to financial freedom starting with his first article, written on April 6, 2011. He tells his own story and challenges readers to think about their own lives and how to affect change to move toward financial freedom.
There are multiple articles and recommended resources, a page called, MMM Classics, representing selections chosen by Mr. Mustache. It’s a fun site, but chock-full of great material to help you manage your finances.
Check it out here – http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
#3 Get Rich Slowly
Like many successful personal finance sites, Get Rich Slowly highlights the story of the struggles of the founder, J.D. Roth. In his bio, he says he started in 2006 to document his efforts to get out of debt. These are compelling articles that are not hypothetical situations. Instead, they represent his real-life struggles to learn how to manage his finances.
What struck me when I read J.D.’s story was the mentality he adopted to take control of his money. That is, he decided to look at his personal life as a business. He looked for ways to lower expenses, increase revenue, and pay down debt. He created a spreadsheet with a goal to be debt free in 3 years. That goal became a reality. J.D. offers principals he learned that readers could adapt to their own lives.
Readers will also see featured articles from other writers and publications to further assist in the quest to get control of their finances. The style is relaxed, while the content is rich.
Check it out here – https://www.getrichslowly.org/
#4 Budgets Are Sexy
J. Money started Budgets are Sexy in February 2008. J. states that his goal for the site is “to get people to stop and *pay attention* to their money.” As the title of the blog suggests, he’s a huge fan of budgets. From his “About” page: Budgets = Confidence = Sexy. Visitors will find Excel budget worksheets they can download. Keeping it fun is a part of J.’s strategy. Looking at one of the category links, “Spaving” is a perfect example. “Spaving” represents spending and saving strategies.
Good stuff!
In 2013, J. started a second site, Rockstar Finance. Here visitors will find curated articles from what researchers believe to be the best content from blogs and websites around the web. Articles cover just about every personal finance topic you can imagine. J. recently sold Rockstar Finance to ESI Money.
Check out Budgets are Sexy here – http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/
#5 Physician on Fire
The Physician on Fire is one of the best personal finance writers out there. I have my issues with some of the physician bloggers out and their attitude toward financial advisors. One of the many things I like and respect about PoF is his approach toward advice. He has a strong opinion about how they should be compensated and offers a list of advisors that meet that criteria. That’s a refreshing difference in the blogosphere.
Here’s how he describes himself on his About Page – “You can call me PoF, the Physician on FIRE. I’m an anesthesiologist, family man, and supposed outdoors enthusiast who spends way too much time indoors.”
His articles a thorough, well researched and cover a variety of topics. He has a weekly series called The Sunday Best where he features content from other bloggers that he’s read during the week. It’s one of the most read weekly summaries published.
A recent post on credit cards is a great example of the thoroughness of his writing. He’s not afraid to take on the conventional wisdom of the personal finance community. If he thinks something isn’t right, he’s say so. He lives outside the echo chamber that many bloggers occupy. You’ll want to check out his blog. Better yet, subscribe to it to never miss a post.
Check it out here – Physician on FIRE
#6 Good Financial Cents
Jeff Rose, CFP is the author and founder of Good Financial Cents. Jeff is an Iraqi war veteran who wrote a book titled Soldiers of Finance.
His stated mission is to help people take charge of their money and make “cents” of their financial future. Readers will find articles on just about every topic imaginable in personal finance. Jeff also has a vibrant YouTube Channel with dozens of videos on many of his blog topics.
His articles and videos are open, honest, and transparent. He tells you where he’s succeeded and where he has failed. Jeff would say that his failures taught him more than any of his successes.
Jeff’s primary goal is to educate. This site does that very well.
Check it out here – https://www.goodfinancialcents.com/
#7 Money Ning
Founded by David Ning in July 2007, Money Ning is one of the most straightforward websites to navigate. He has a fresh menu with limited categories (Frugal Living, Investing 101, Money Management, Beyond Money). Click on one of the titles, and you will find subtopics with multiple articles on each. David writes most, if not all of the content on the site. They are succinct, free of industry jargon, and cover each topic thoroughly.
Here’s what David says about MoneyNing.
MoneyNing is all about:
- Helping You Become Debt Free
- Showing You How to Build Wealth Through Time
- Letting You See For Yourself How Financial Choices Impact Your Life
MoneyNing has multiple offers on products and services including banking, internet, mortgages, and travel. Reviews of each are thorough and detailed. Debt reduction and elimination strategies are a big part of the focus.
Check it out here – http://moneyning.com/
#8 ESI Money
John, founder, and author or ESI Money is a fifty-something retiree.
ESI stands for Earn, Save, and Invest. The blog focuses on these three things. There’s a Millionaire Interview series in which ESI interviews successful people who, as the name suggest, are millionaires. The interview questions revolve around the three main themes of the. The ways people get to their definition of wealth and financial independence varies yet is similar. You wee that in the interviews.
Another interview series is the ESI Scale interviews. In these interviews, people answer questions about their success in working the ESI scale. Once again, questions asked come from the earn, save, and invest categories. Participants have the opportunity to ask readers for help in any area they feel they need help. Readers offer their advice in the comments. These are two very informative areas of the site.
ESI also puts out lots of his own killer content. I highly recommend this site.
Check it out here – https://esimoney.com/
#9 The Money Mix
The Money Mix is a site is a fairly new site that recently changed the way it publishes content. The Money Mix team selects the best four articles from the web every day and publishes them on The Daily Mix.
Readers can vote for their favorite article. At the end of the week, the team tallies up the daily votes to find a weekly winner. The same thing happens on a monthly and annual basis. I’m not sure what the prizes are but it’s a really cool idea.
In addition to the daily curation, they also publish original content and guest posts from other writers. Many of the curation sites are focused on content about financial independence – retire early (FIRE) content. The Money Mix’s original and curated content covers a wide variety of topics.
Their original content is in-depth articles that are detailed guides to the topics at hand. Posts on creating a killer resume, and selling on eBay are great examples.
Check it out here – https://themoneymix.com
#10 Financial Samurai
Sam Dogen started FinancialSamurai in 2009. He says that after thirteen years in corporate America, “money ceased to be a major driving factor.” In 20121, three years after starting his blog, Sam left corporate American for early retirement and full-time effort on FinancialSamurai.
How did he do it? Like many early retirees, Sam saved 50% or more of his after-tax paycheck. He knew to work 70 hours a week was not sustainable over the long-term. He invested those savings in stocks, bonds, real estate, CDs, and rental properties to build up enough passive income to leave the hectic pace behind. Essentially, he set up his early exit with these saving and investment habits.
The site has hosted over 30 million visitors since starting. Over 1 million visitors come to the site every month. That’s an amazing number of visitors. His content categories include free wealth management, top financial products, how to negotiate a severance, and real estate crowdfunding. His corporate and investing experience bring a unique and much-needed voice to the blogosphere. Every post I’ve read is thoughtful, thorough, and full of great insights and information.
Check it out here – https://www.financialsamurai.com/
#11 Making Sense of Cents
Michelle Schroeder-Garder describes herself as a young adult. She graduated from college after 2 1/2 years (one smart lady!) from what she describes as an expensive private school. She moved on from there to obtain an MBA in finance and secured a job in the financial services industry as an analyst. Her over $38,00 in student debt weighing on her, she decided to put herself on a plan to become debt free.
Having achieved that goal, she thought it would be helpful to write about her experience (sound familiar) and started Making Sense of Cents. The blog became so successful that she left her corporate job and began blogging full time. She, her husband, and their two dogs now travel the country managing Making Sense of Cents from an RV (NICE!) They purchased the RV with the revenue generated from her blog.
As for personal finance content, there is plenty. Clicking on the category tab opens up multiple topics related to personal finance with several article choices for each. Visitors will find a category for how to save money and how to make extra money. There is also a travel tab (which she knows something about).
Want to learn how to start a blog? She has a course offering for that. Want to learn how to monetize that blog? She has a course for that too. There is something for everyone at Making Sense of Cents.
Check it out here – https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/
#12 My Money Blog
The author of My Money Blog is Jonathan Ping. He says he’s been “sharing about money” since 2004. Unlike many of the sites on my list, Jonathan keeps his topics pretty limited. He has four menu categories – early retirement, investing guide, money-saving tips, and credit card rewards. The early retirement page offers four articles with four lessons – Savings Rate, Earn More vs. Spend Less, Home-Buying and Mortgages, and How Much Can I Afford.
There are numerous additional categories on the right-hand column of the page. Some examples include annuities, book reviews, behavioral economics, funny, frugal living, inspirational, giving back, insurance, recipes, time management, and taxes.
Check it out here – http://www.mymoneyblog.com/
#13 Your Money Geek
Michael over at Your Money Geek is one of the most prolific writers on the web. There’s a new article on his blog every day. And he covers a wide variety of topics.
Your Money Geek writes about ways to make money, hacks to save for retirement, and all things geeky. I’ll let him tell you from his About page:
“we are all about having fun and helping you reach your financial goals. Whether you’re trying to pay down debt, save more money for retirement, deal with an unexpected emergency, or you just need some extra cash to enjoy the good things in life, you’ve come to the right place!
Here you will find six types of posts:
- Unique budget hacks and ways to save money
- Creative ways to increase your income and make money
- Contributions from The Money Mix Insiders and the Your Money Geek Team
- Handcrafted advice and tips to save for retirement and reach FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)
- Success Story interviews where we speak with successful leaders in entertainment, finance, writing and business
- Geeky finance and pop culture mash-ups, because who says money must be all business suits and stuffed shirts? Let’s make finance fun!”
Straight from the horse’s mouth. He says it better than I could.
Your Money Geek is a unique, informative, and yes, fun site.
Check it out here – https://yourmoneygeek.com/
#14 Frugal Rules
John Schmoll is the founder and author of Frugal Rules. His struggles are what prompted him to start Frugal Rules. When he came out of college, he had around $25,00 in credit card debt. As the name suggests, one of the keys to financial freedom is living within your means and being debt free. John uses his personal story as a means to help others.
The tagline of the site is Freedom Through Frugality. As you would expect, then, there is a significant section of the website focusing on frugality. Like many of the sites on my list, John emphasizes the formulas for success as keeping expenses low, saving more, and eliminating debt. That’s how he obtained financial freedom. That’s what he recommends for his readers.
In addition to the lessons on frugality, John offers advice and recommendations on investing, debt, best credit cards, and online brokerage. The resources tab provides short reviews and special offers on many items.
Check it out here – https://www.frugalrules.com/
#15 Money Crashers
Money Crashers is packed full of article after article to help you with all things personal finance. Topics include credit cards, banking, loans, family and home, investing, and small business. Their team offers detailed reviews and information on the topics they cover. Looking for a great bank account? They have you covered? Credit cards? Yup. Investing? There’s a wealth of information (couldn’t resist the pun).
Their stated mission is, “…to develop a community of people who try to make financially sound decisions.” And to “deliver only accurate, trustworthy news so that you can make an informed decision about topics that may impact you for decades to come.” They definitely accomplish that mission.
Andrew Schrage and Gyutae Park are co-founders of the site. Money Crashers is one of the most comprehensive personal finance sites on the internet. You owe it to yourself to pay them a visit.
Check it out here – https://www.moneycrashers.com/
#16 ThinkSaveRetire
The founder of ThinkSaveRetire introduces himself as Steve. He says he retired early. Very early, I might add.
The principles of how he accomplished this are familiar – save, spend less, invest, avoid debt.
Many people find their purpose in their work. As such, they will always be slaves to their jobs. And let’s be clear, finding meaning in your work doesn’t mean you’re happy. It likely says you haven’t found a passion outside of that job or skill.
Steve busts the myth of the standard picture of retirement. You know, the one where you’re in your 60s, living off your company pension (if anyone other than government employees still has one), and Social Security while playing with your grandchildren. No, retirement for Steve and his wife meant adventure. They are currently traveling the country in their Airstream Classic travel trailer.
You will learn how they did it, including the details of the planning, how they quit their jobs, and how they live on a much smaller amount of income. It’s a fascinating journey that will keep you reading. Oh, and along the way, you’ll learn valuable lessons to help you on your journey to financial independence.
Be sure to visit their YouTube Channel – AStreaminLife.
Check it out here – https://thinksaveretire.com/
#17 PT Money
Philip Taylor (the PT in PT Money) started and is the proprietor of PT Money. Philip is passionate about helping people gain financial freedom. In addition to traditional articles, PT has a podcast called Masters of Money. Visitors can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, and Google Play.
His blog covers savings and investing as the two primary topics. Subtopics under savings include auto savings apps, best budgeting apps, and savings and checking accounts. The investing category offers reviews of robo advisors and stock brokers. The +More link provides links to offers for life insurance, free credit score, mortgages, student loan refi and a new addition that includes retirement calculators.
PT’s also know for founding FinCon, a conference for anyone involved in the personal finance space. FinCon is held annually at a variety of locations. Last year it was Orlando, FL. I attended for the first time. It was an amazing event with over 2,000 participants from the finance community including bloggers, media, podcasters, authors, and even academia. If you’re involved in personal finance, I highly recommend this event. I’m super excited for this year’s event in Washington, DC, not far from my Northern Virginia home.
Check it out here – https://ptmoney.com/
#18 The Finance Twins
The Finance Twins is run by twin brothers Camilo and Francisco Maldonado. Theirs is a unique story. They grew up in Colombia. They lost their father to cancer at a young age. They grew up very poor. After coming to America, they started working at a young age to help their mother pay the bills.
Their hard work paid off. Camilo went from poverty to a Harvard MBA. His brother, Francisco, became a doctor of radiology. Talk about resilience and perseverance!
They blog about all things personal finance. The posts are in-depth on topics about making and saving money, debt reduction, retirement, taxes, insurance and much more. You’ll also find various calculators, many of which Camilo developed himself.
You’ll want to bookmark this site and come back to it often.
Check it out here https://thefinancetwins.com/
#19 Women Who Money
As the name suggests, Women Who Money is a site geared to help women make good decisions about their finances. Rather than try to communicate their mission, I’ll let them tell you what they desire. From their homepage:
We desire to:
“Empower women with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to improve their financial health and ultimately build financially secure and independent lives. You have money questions and concerns. We have answers. We understand the nuances of being female in today’s financial world. Our team has eliminated mountains of debt, saved thousands of dollars, and invested responsibly for a financially secure future. We’re now on a mission to guide other females to success on their own financial journeys.
Women Who Money was co-founded by Amy, who blogs at Life Zemplified, and Vicki, who blogs at Make Smarter Decisions. They have expanded their team to five members and encourage guest post from other women.
They have organized their content in a way that resembles college classes with 100-level (novice), 200-level (intermediate), and 300-level ( advanced). You’ll also find reviews on books, apps, and other financial related topics. They publish interviews with women who’ve had success in eliminating debt, raised families, went back to work, and become entrepreneurs. To offer further insight, they offer a financial directory of websites and podcasts of other successful women.
if you’re a woman looking for advice and education catered to women, you owe it to yourself to check out this site.
Check it out here – https://womenwhomoney.com/
#20 Bible Money Matters
Bible Money Matters is a unique site. Started and managed by Peter Anderson, they focus on managing personal finance from a Biblical perspective.
Peter says his three primary topics for the site are “- finances, faith, and family – while sprinkling in a fair dose of just about everything else.” As you see from the logo, his tagline is Give More, Save More, Live More. The two main categories – Making Money, Saving Money -match this tagline.
If you’re not a Christian, you should still check out this site. Yes, many articles reference Biblically based personal finance. In reality, these principals are sound for anyone. The common themes throughout are pretty straightforward and similar – save more, spend less, live within your means, invest wisely. These are also Biblically sound financial principals.
Being debt free, another of Peter’s themes provides the best financial freedom there is.
Readers will also see some unique articles. One example is 10 Weird and Unconventional Ways to Make Money. Weird and unconventional are appropriate terms for what’s in this article.
So, don’t let the name discourage you if you aren’t a Christian. This site is full of valuable content and special offers.
Check it out here – https://www.biblemoneymatters.com/
#21 The Simple Path to Wealth
As the name suggests, JL Collins is the founder and chief writer of JLCollinsNH. The Simple Path to Wealth is the title of JL’s book. The forward of the book is written by Mr. Money Mustache (he gets around).
On his About page, JL says, “Around here we discuss: Money – Life – Travel – Busines.” And that’s an accurate description. There is a menu link to a stock series that currently has 22 articles in it.
His manifesto tab lays out his thoughts on how to successfully build wealth. Here’s what JL says are the keys to financial independence: “spend less than you earn – invest the surplus – avoid debt.” Sound familiar?
Articles are serious, honest thoughts on The Simple Path to Wealth.
Check it out here – http://jlcollinsnh.com/
#22 Wealth Well Done
Wealth Well Done is one of the more unique of my top 25 best personal finance blogs. Why? Billy B., the founder of the site, went to prison for ten years when he was 21 years old. He was convicted of “Reckless homicide by delivery of a controlled substance” after one of his good friends he had partied with overdosed and died in his sleep.
I first heard Bill’s story when I read it on ThinkSaveRetire. I reached out to him and we did an interview on my blog titled How to Persevere When You’ve Hit Rock Bottom. It’s an inspiring story of triumph in the midst of overwhelmingly bad odds. When I went to the site, I was even more impressed. While in prison, Bill focused on transforming his mind and learning to write. Wealth Well Done is the culmination of those efforts.
Bill and Amanda, whom he married in 2015, focus on three principles for their site.
- Escape Your Prison
- Compound Your Cash
- Pursue Your Purpose.
Escaping your prison means letting go of the things you regret. Whether that’s a bad marriage, bad financial decisions, addiction, or something else, the key to freedom is to release yourself from your mental prison.
Bill’s history makes this one of the most inspiring sites on the list.
Check it out here – https://www.wealthwelldone.com/
#23 Maple Money
Tom Drake runs the Maple Money blog. Tom is a Canadian blogger who started Maple Money in 2009. In the blogger world, ten years is an eternity. He’s a veteran in the personal finance space and it shows in his writing and content.
Tom covers four main areas – “…how to make money, save money, invest money and spend money in a way that creates lasting financial freedom.”
Tom also has a very successful podcast called The MapleMoney Show. His first showed aired on August 18, 2018. He’s interviewed dozens of people on a variety of topics. If you’d rather listen than read, The MapleMoney Show is a great option to consider.
Though Tom is Canadian, you don’t have to be a Canadian to benefit from his content. The principles you’ll find here are for everyone. Be sure to stop by and take a tour.
Check it out here – https://maplemoney.com/
#24 Frugalwoods
Introducing themselves as the Frugalwoods, Nate and Liz live on a 66-acre homestead in Central Vermont. Like many of the younger bloggers, Nate and Liz quit their corporate jobs in Cambridge, MA by living the life of “extreme frugality” and saving 71% of their income. That 71%, she says, is after their 401(k) contributions. Pretty impressive!
The site has a month by month archive of their articles on the left side of the page. The right side contains links to numerous and varied categories. Categories include traditional financial topics. These get supplemented by creative personalized topics like Frugal City Living, Frugal Hound Sniffs, Frugalwoods Philosophy, and Frugalwoods Reviews.
Additional non-financial topics include kids, epic treks, food, clothes, cars, and entertainment. “Reader Case Studies” highlight readers stories submitted to Frugalwoods and retold on the blog. Also, there is a Reader Suggests section where Mrs. Frugalwoods offers her top choices from reader discussion groups, comments, and forums. It is a very clever, informative and unique site.
Check it out here – http://www.frugalwoods.com/
#25 The Penny Hoarder
Kyle Taylor is Founder and CEO of The Penny Hoarder. According to their About Page, The Penny Hoarder “was named the fastest-growing private media company by Inc. 500/5000 two years in a row.”
You will find articles on how to make money, find deals on food, groceries, and even recipes. There’s a section on how to get money out of class action lawsuits. The smart money section has the usual personal finance topics like debt, budgeting, bank accounts, retirement, and taxes. There’s also a section to alert us to the various scams thieves use to try and separate us from our money.
The Penny Hoarder has a great staff of writers. They feature content from freelance and other writers who are experts in their topics. You can spend a lot of time on this site and never see the same thing twice. I highly recommend you visit them.
Check it out here – https://www.thepennyhoarder.com
Final thoughts
Thanks for taking the time to review with me. It was hard narrowing the list down to the top 25. With almost 2100 blogs listed in the Rockstar Finance directory, there is a lot to choose from. The list could very easily have been the top 100. The