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Economics made fun
The dismal science doesn't have to be so dismal after all, as Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner have proved with their lively blog Freakonomics and best-selling book of the same name. Levitt, a University of Chicago economist, and Dubner, a writer, take turns showing how economic principles influence so many areas of our lives. Recently, for instance, their blog has addressed why Ticketmaster has begun to auction off the best concert seats after years of resisting the idea, and why TV networks don't swap shows in the same way that baseball teams trade players. Dear Economist, written by Financial Times columnist Tim Harford, plows similar ground, although it is less a blog than a collection of Harford's newspaper columns and other writings.
For a big-picture view of investing and the economy, check out Thoughts From the Frontline. John Mauldin, a hedge-fund consultant and financial adviser based in Arlington, Tex., posts weekly commentaries on a broad range of timely topics. Recent posts have explored whether the stock market is overvalued (short answer: yes) and whether New Zealand's struggling economy foretells trouble on our own shores (maybe). You won't find strongly worded pronouncements or bold market calls here. Mauldin isn't a table-pounder. Rather, he offers food for thought for the investor who wants to delve beyond the numbers.
In Random Roger's Big Picture, Prescott, Ariz., financial planner Roger Nusbaum tackles everything from economic trends to the latest in exchange-traded funds to what's dragging down the shares of computer maker Dell. A companion blog offers retirement-planning advice. It's impressive to see professionals such as Nusbaum hand out advice and answer reader questions at no charge. Why do they do it? It might attract new clients, although Nusbaum says that's not his primary motivation. "It sounds hokey, but I really enjoy the fact that I can help people in this way," he says.
Many investors, particularly young ones, use blogs to document their personal quest for financial security, complete with running tallies of their net worth. The sheer number of these blogs makes it hard to pick a favorite. Happily, the authors of many of them share their best ideas weekly in a compendium called Carnival of Personal Finance. It is hosted each week by a different personal-finance blog. You'll find a list of past and future Carnivals, as well as links to a vast network of personal-finance bloggers, at Consumerism Commentary. By the way, Flexo, who writes Consumerism Commentary (and claims to be a 30-year-old man), reports that his net worth is $51,030, up from $21,248 in July 2003.
Cramer vs. monkey
Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Jim Cramer, host of TV's Mad Money, has found a way to turn stock picking into prime-time entertainment (see Booyah! The Manic Universe of Jim Cramer). So it's only fitting that CramerWatch.org, a blog that tracks the success rate of Cramer's numerous stock recommendations, has its own showbiz shtick. It pits Cramer's picks against those of Leonard the Wonder Monkey (actually a computer program that generates random outcomes). Overall, Cramer and the monkey are running neck and neck. Unfortunately, the commentary portion of the site is updated only occasionally. For a more consistent examination of Cramer's picks and pans, as well as a lively discussion of other investing topics, check out Mad Money Machine, the creation of software consultant and avid investor Paul Douglas Boyer. If you like the written blog, an audio version is available as a podcast.
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