Steve Diamond is a computer consultant, a web developer, and a long-time web surfer. His consulting services are offered at http://consulting.necessaryvirtues.com/. Steve knows a good site when he sees one.
There's lots of online information about personal finance. If you're looking for advice on budgeting or investing, you'll find plenty. If you want quotes for loans or insurance, they're available. If you need help getting out of debt, you can find it online.
Predictably, some of the personal finance resources online are better than others. Some are frankly self-serving, trying to sell you some product or service. Others give information freely. Some of the information is good and some is not so good. You have to evaluate and discriminate when looking for authority and accuracy in personal finance information. After all, it's your money that you'll be risking if you follow bad advice. So be careful out there.
We can't hope to list all the good online sites for personal finance. There are just too many. But here's a short list to get you started in the right direction. We've included a few of the standard mega-sites plus some really good ones that are not so well known.
Necessary Virtues Personal Finance
http://finance.necessaryvirtues.com/
Specializes in information about how to manage your money efficiently and live a prosperous life. Offers several full-length books as free downloads, including these titles: "Solving the Money Puzzle: Personal Finance Made Simple," "The Science of Getting Rich," "Money for Life," and the classic, "Think and Grow Rich." Also offers free newsletter, "Your Money Plan."
MSN Money
http://moneycentral.msn.com/
Specializes in information for investors, including free stock quotes and analysis tools. Also has sections on planning, banking, and taxes. Good investment advice columns and features. Some analysis tools require Internet Explorer for best results. (The site is owned by Microsoft.)
CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/
More breadth than MSN Money but less depth on investing. Covers many areas and has quite a bit of unique content from Fortune and Money magazines. (This is a Time-Warner site so there is common ownership.)
Kiplinger.com
http://www.kiplinger.com/
Mostly about investing, but also has good articles on credit management, real estate, insurance, retirement. Do be aware that much of their focus is on selling subscriptions to their various newsletters, like the Kiplinger Report.
Zen Personal Finance
http://www.finance-weblog.com/
This is something completely different, a blog with a unique perspective on personal finance. Has sections on retirement, housing, credit, and investing (a mammoth 30-part series of posts on "How To Think Like Warren Buffet"). Not the place to go for everyday reference, but recommended for browsing.
The Motley Fool
http://www.fool.com/
Specializes in help with investing, particularly in stocks and mutual funds. Information is of high quality, but registration is required to access most of it, and payment is required for parts of the site and for some newsletters.
Yahoo Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/
There's a lot here, but most of it is conglomerated by Yahoo from various third-party sources. You'll have to be discriminating.
Carnival of Personal Finance
http://carnivalofpersonalfinance.com/
A blog carnival that offers weekly collections of recent blog posts on topics like budgeting, saving money, earning money, managing debt, and living below your means. The quality is uneven so be prepared to dig deep.
So there you have it, a quick introduction to some of the best of the web when it comes to personal finance. Some of the big sites made our list as well as some smaller hidden gems. Here's hoping you find it useful.
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