Say It Visually is a useful reminder to make your blog attractive, as well as easy to read.
I saved Frugal Dad, FuelEconomy.gov, and Gas Temperature Map for future reference.
Feed the Pig was entertaining, though not useful to me. I tried every tool. It's a good example to go with Say it Visually.
The .gov sites offer good online reference materials. How quickly things have change! To ignore/scoff at the compound interest lesson is short-sighted. A savings account or cd yields nothing at the moment, other than more security than your shoebox, but the principle is valid.
Banking 2.0 may be useful to some. I reviewed each of the sites in the Learn section. Our experience reinforces the need for self-discipline.
We do online banking with Wells Fargo. We do not pay bills electronically. We balance the check register off-line. We enter income, savings, daily cash, check, and credit card expenditures to a hand-written 14-column journal. My wife keeps her business journal on an Excel Spreadsheet.
I use Yahoo Finance portfolios and related research tools to consolidate information from several brokerage accounts and my 3M retirement 401k. TDAmeritrade, Schwab, Wells Fargo, and 3M all provide useful tools. At times I've paid for premium services from Morningstar, Zacks, Investors Business Daily, and the Street.com.
I tried Quicken a couple of times, as it came bundled with other pc software. We don't use it. I know several people involved with non-profit organizations who use Quick Books, and still struggle to get the balance sheet and summary reports in a form that board members can understand. It helps to have an accountant set it up, and make sure the IRS and State Attorney General get all the paper forms and attachments they need.
One thing I might I add to this Thing is a list of useful blogs and rss feeds. I consolidate mine in Google Reader. My favorites are
The Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/
The Economist's View http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/
CNBC's Bob Pisani http://www.cnbc.com/id/20398120
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