Favorite Posts of 2012

Usually, on Fridays I post a litany of my favourite posts from some of my favourite writers for the week, so given this is the end of 2012, I figured I’d piece together a list of my favourite posts of 2012 .

The year itself has not been a great or bad one in terms of money. We continue to live with very low-interest rates, a stock market in the doldrums, with a few stars and a few dogs but nothing exciting.

In the world of Personal Finance writing there have been some very interesting pieces written, and today I will touch on a few of them that I have enjoyed over the year.

In General

In general, there are some sites that you really should be reading if you are serious about expanding your personal finance expertise:

• Preet at WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo puts out a Podcast that you really should be subscribed to and listen to (you should have his site in your RSS feed reader as well). I view Preet as a friend who is genuinely trying to help folks out, so why not avail yourself of this help? Oh and you should add his Twitter Feed too.
• Michael James has changed his internet address but should be on your list of daily reads as well.
• Larry MacDonald’s internet connections seem to be a little in flux, but have a look around for him another writer (a real writer in his case) worth reading.
• Mark at My Own Advisor should also be on your list of reads as well.
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade is also someone who you must have on your reading list as well.

Favourite posts of 2012

I did have some specific articles I liked this year:

• The Blunt Bean Counter is a fantastic resource as well, and I view Mark as one of our new friends as well so when he asked Does Money Bring Happiness ? I thought: It might not, but it certainly has friends who can bring it.
• Mr. Money Mustache is an interesting site as well (and it seems to be increasing in popularity) you can’t cure obesity with bigger pants a very prophetic statement, and I enjoy it.
• The Physics of Finance analyses how there are many corporate psychopaths out there running your banks, and the banks want it that way! The Physics of finance has a way of putting things that makes sense to me, not sure why.
• Rob Carrick  from the Globe and Mail brings us Mom, Dad and their parasite kids, parasite single kids scare the hell out of me too, Rob seems to be pounding this point hard these days (i.e. boomerang kids).
• Red Vines and Red Wine goes after a controversial topic in the Autism world with Here We Go Again, which talks about the folks who believe that one of Autism’s causes is the contents of childhood vaccines.
• YesIamCheap gives us Nine Tax Deductions That Prostitutes Can Claim, in case there are any finance conscious Ladies of the Evening out there.
• If you are serious about investing you need to include  Canadian Couch Potato on your reading list and he reminded me that sometimes you need to look at the forest not the trees Why Daily Market Commentary is a  Joke.
• Ellen Roseman tells us about a Rogers Customer that got a $1500 refund, Ellen’s blog has a lot of great tips and stories about consumers fighting back, and she wants to help you to fight back as well. If you liked that one you’ll love Rogers tells client she owes $2 million in roaming fees
• Sustainable Personal Finance espouses the Staycation: Better for Your Wallet and the Environment, I’d rather ruin the environment myself, and have a good time (without my kids or looking at all the work that needs to be done on my house).
• FrugalTrader from Million Dollar Journey outlines the scam with How PayDay Loan Schemes Work, read it and figure out why you shouldn’t use them!
• One of our other good friends is Boomer of Boomer & Echo who writes about Why a fiduciary standard for investment advisors in Canada is needed, amen to that one!
• The True Cost Of Owning An ETF – The MER Is The Main Thing Mike at Money.Smarts helps us understand the entire ETF jungle a bit more (and what to watch for). Mike is another one to read if you are serious about investing.

That’s it for this year, these were my favourite posts of 2012, there were many other interesting posts out there, but these are just the ones that tickled my fancy. Remember to get a good RSS reader and add these Authors to your reading list!