The Best Wealth-Building Blogs

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Increasing disposable personal income (both active and passively, via investments) and accumulating increasing wealth are two of my favorite subjects. Apparently, my esteemed colleagues and visitors at The InfoSphere Business Alerts And Intelligence Blog, I am not alone.

Recently CBS Money sent me a newsletter which cited some of the best wealth-building blogs which "you may never have heard of." I have cursorily reviewed each and all of these blogs (and I actually am a regular reader of two of them!), and wanted to share them with you. I would suggest that you view each of these blogs and that you bookmark or favoritize (a Lingovation) this article in order to keep this mini-collection of blogs at hand, all together in a neat little bundle. They are all well-written, very practical, plainly spoken, and even a bit humorous. Here they are (cue drumroll):

Best frugality blog: The Centsible Life. I tell people that I'm not cheap, I'm "value-oriented." So this is definitely a blog for people like me who want to have it all, but on a budget.
Best investing blog: Oblivious Investor. This blog offers great investment advice for simple low-maintenance investing. The founder, Mike Piper, has written many successful books, and his site is filled with uncommon common-sense investing. I'm biased here, as I know Mike. think he is brilliant and wish I'd had his wisdom when I was his age. 
Best tax blog: Joe Taxpayer. This blog covers far more than just taxes and explores many great financial topics. Think of it as financial commentary for the average Joe.
Best retirement blog: Good Financial Cents. This isn't your typical "how to live in retirement" blog. It's about taking charge of your life and reaching financial independence. Personally, I like the phrase "financial independence" far more than retirement.
Best blog for young adults: Studenomics.The founder says, "My goal is to put more money in your pocket. I love to see young people grab life by the... and conquer their money." Now that's a mission statement!
People's choice award: Punch Debt in the Face. The site's slogan is "financial education one laugh at a time," and it delivers common sense advice with a dose of humor. Who says money can't be funny?
Blog of the year: Budgets are Sexy. Practical advice and tools to build wealth.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy the use of these resources. I have found that expert, prolific bloggers are oftimes a far better source of truly useful information than mainstream media, newsletters (which are loaded with advertorial content) and social media, where detail is often lacking but where you may occasionally find a good live link to a quality article on a well-written blog.

Enjoy these with my compliments.

Douglas E. Castle , also author of The Daily Burst Of Brilliance Blog

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Volatility Versus Value - Gaming Versus Growth

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Investing, asset allocation, and wealth management have become increasingly problematic, and are the subject of tremendous debate amongst the experts, gurus, advisers and media talking heads. The capital markets, the commodities markets, and all of the other markets where shares, units or interests are traded on an exchange have become as volatile (in amplitude as well as frequency) as they have become unpredictable.

To make wealth preservation and growth a reality, and in order to minimize minute-by-minute frenetic market-watching and the ensuing nail-biting neurosis, the following objectives and considerations should probably be incorporated in your corporate asset management strategy as well as in your personal portfolio management strategy.

This list is not exhaustive or all-inclusive, but it will serve to provide you with some parameters worth thinking about:

1) Diversify internationally, in terms of geography (countries), currency (FOREX) of instrument denomination, physical nature of holdings (certificate, coin, ingot, etcetera) and brokerage houses and/or investment banks.

2) Diversify with respect to whole market-based investments (such as ETFs), and  fundamental choices in individual industry-leader "bulwark" companies which provide products or services of enduring demand.

3) Diversify between equity investments and debt instruments -- the compromise position here is convertible debt or preferred equity with a decent payout history.

4) Consider syndicating or pooling your portfolio with other qualified, accredited, trustworthy and viable investment partners in order to further hedge your risk of loss and to expand your "riskless leverage" over a broader expanse of investment possibilities. This can be achieved through a multitude of investment entities, including, but not limited to LLCs, Joint Ventures and a number of others. Be certain that you are in full compliance with all securities and investment regulations which may apply to your plan of syndication, and to the jurisdictions to which laws you (or the entity) may be subject.

5) Consider buying (either individually or via syndicate) direct participatory interests in private companies or projects where your recoupment of principal will largely be through distributions of cash flow or revenue-based royalties back to you, your firm, or your syndicated entity -- this builds increased liquidity and has a favorable de-leveraging effect on your portfolio. Also, consider buying (usually via syndicate, and with the utilization of a well-constructed voting trust, or its equivalent) strategic interests in public and private companies. By my loose definition, a "strategic interest" is one in which you have access to the investee company's, books, records and checkbook, as well as a significant voting say in the investee company's policies and decisions.

Other than that, there is little to say. In days and weeks to come, I will further elaborate on how to implement and optimally utilize these direct participation and strategic investment interest approaches to stabilize your portfolio, and to grow your wealth despite the vagaries of the capital markets, rating services, government and financial public relations propaganda, and other volatility accelerants and enabling agents.

Consistent planned growth beats wild speculation or incessant "market-watching" in my book.

Douglas E. Castle (at http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com)

Other Blogs And Sites:

http://BusinessAndProjectPlanning.blogspot.com
http://MadMarketingTactics.blogspot.com
http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com
http://TheInternationalistPage.blogspot.com
TNNWC Management Consulting Services (http://www.TNNWC.com)

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