Weekly Wisdom: Best Personal Finance and Personal Growth Posts Of 2009
Was 2009 a trying year financially for you?
Possibly. But that may be a good thing. Poor economies usually teach us more about smart financial living than good economies, which usually teach us to throw our money at stuff we’ll never use.
There were plenty of lessons on personal finance and personal growth brought to us by the blogosphere and other areas of the internet.
I’ve collected some of the best personal finance and personal growth posts of 2009 in hopes that these lessons stay with us in 2010–no matter what the economic conditions.
*Note: This is a very unofficial ranking. And the internet is an exponentially-growing sea of information. So, I may have missed a few good posts. If you have a favorite personal finance or personal growth post that really inspired you, please add it in the comment section.
Thanks! Here’s to a wise 2010 for you!
To succeed, we need to know what success is and visualize ourselves achieving it, PlugIn ID added this visualization exercise.
If starting a business is part of your personal financial freedom plan, check out this seminal post from My Wife Quit Her Job.
Kid Dynamite at Seeking Alpha added this post about the Wall Street Spin Machine.
Frugal living was a big theme in 2009. Moolanomy picked out the best discount brokers for active traders in this post.
Mint blog has two posts that I particularly enjoyed in 2009: 10 Lessons from a Bear Market and Investing in Gold Without Being Scammed.
Tim Ferriss at Four Hour Work Week included this video of Dean Kamen’s “Don’t tell me it’s impossible” philosophy.
Why do people spend more than they earn? Financial Samurai asks this honorable question in one of my favorite posts of 2009.
People forget that money management is a key to long-term trading success. Michael Covel never does. Here’s a great reminder he posted a few weeks ago.
Plan B Economics is a personal financial scared straight-type blog. Here Plan B reveals that 34 percent of US workers have less than $1,000 savings.
We’re all about using technology to make and save money. Dumb Little Man (which is never dumb, pretty big, and composed of male and female writers) produced a cool post about six online shopping tools that help you shop better.
On Money Making tells you 50 ways you can quit planning and still improve your finances.
Making money and building wealth is more of a mind game than most people think. That’s why Get Rich Slowly’s post on how to build confidence and destroy fear is one of the best personal finance posts of 2009.
Having trouble finding a niche or defining a passion that you can use for a business. Check out Joel Comm’s post on niche identification.
Money Crashers passes on four tips for starting a business with low risk and big success.
We want people to be wealthy. But most people settle on being rich. Digerati Life writes an insightful post that connects prospect theory with the reason why lottery winners go bankrupt.
If you’re interested in investing, Smarter Wallet recommends you start with an investing plan.
One of my favorite resources to improve my writing on this blog is Copy Blogger. Here’s one of the finest bits of advice: Ernest Hemmingway’s Top 5 Tips for Writing Well. Problogger is another resource for me. Here’s why you should create your own product.
Articles…
Forbes details the best business ideas for 2009.
The article, The Financial Lessons of 2009, is a smart compilation of advice and ideas from Motley Fool.
Fair warning: I’m more of a David Lee Roth guy, not a Sammy Hagar man. But, in my old age I’m mellowing (and beginning to blame the whole situation on the Van Halen boys), so I thought this article from Minyanville on Sammy’s business acumen was stellar.
What does big CEO pay do to a company. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s answer. (While you’re there, check out Money Lessons of a Lost Decade.)
Yahoo Finance offers predictions from Warren Buffett and 10 tips to get out of debt. (Both via CNBC.)
Our Best Advice
I thought I’d include some of our best posts of 2009 (best, according to me, so…)
17 Sites Your Boss Doesn’t Want You To See and 11 Blogs Your Boss Doesn’t Want You To Read (There’s a theme there somewhere…)
And… Money and Technology: the Wealth Singularity.
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
Official or not, I am honored to be part of this list. Thank you. And I wish you a very successful 2010.
You’re welcome, Pinyo.
And best wishes to you, too.