Comments: Net Worths of Financial Bloggers

Back at the start of June, I began posting on the net worths of personal finance bloggers and I've continued this trends over the past three months. I do this because:

1. I find it interesting and I think my readers do as well.

2. It's on a topic (net worth) that's near and dear to my heart.

3. I like to give exposure to other personal finance blogs and this is a way to do it.

Even so, not everyone loved the idea at first. Here's a comment on my first post:

Yikes, when you show my net worth like that, it looks like I haven't been doing so well. :> And Frugalgirl has a finace she's including in there. If I were to include my girfriend, my net worth would be dragged down farther. :> Anyway, it's not a contest between bloggers, and everyone has their own set of unique circumstances. Let's just have fun. :>

And another:

I have mixed feelings about posting your monthly progress. One the one hand I love it because you are throwing it out to the world and you strive harder to achieve it.On the other hand some of the sites tend to be all about "me" and I think the focus should be on helping others. Many sites do a great job of balancing both!

This prompted a re-comment by the first person:

The way I look at it is that there are better places to go than blogs for financial help. If dispensing advice was the only goal of blogs and their authors, they'd all be pretty much the same. Save a lot, earn what you can, invest wisely, etc. The personal bit is what makes a blog interesting. If I have to read the same piece of advice on thirty personal finance blogs, especailly if it's dispensed in a preachy manner, there's no motivation for me to continue reading all of those sites. But I do agree that balance is very important...

Then there's someone who's just looking at the total picture:

The housing bubble has probably, temporarily, caused household net worth to increase a LOT since the 2000 census. The collapse of the housing bubble will probably cause the opposite effect, because many people have increase their leverage by taking out more loans.

But then he comments again later, showing his interest in the non-monetary side benefits associated with a large net worth:

And by the way, I don't post my net worth on my blog because I don't think my readers care, and it can be interpreted as either bragging or pathetic, depending on the reader's perspective. But I'd be interested in knowing how large of a net worth would attract women.

What do you think?

Comments

[mmb]

I don't have an opinion on the net worth thing one way or the other. I post mine because my blog is my personal finance journal, nothing more and nothing less, and tracking my net worth along with my spending habits is a way for me to chart my progress. For me it's a replacement of the good old fashioned pen & paper method, the only difference being that now people can see what I write (but that's why I use an alias instead of my real name ;)

I like seeing other people's net worths for the same reason I like the "me" aspect of the blogs. It makes me feel less like I am reading a newsletter and frankly, if I really want stock advice I would probably check morningstar before I check a personal finance blog. What helps me though is hearing about people's experiences with different financial institutions, their thought processes and the angle from which they approach financial decisions etc. Everyone has a slightly different, an unique take on things and that's what draws me to them. Sometimes it gives me a broader perspective on things, sometimes it helps me relate and sometimes it simply helps me see things in a new light.

[Jonathan]

I post mine because that's the whole point of having my own blog. To help *me* keep track and achieve financial freedom. If I want just personal finance tips, I read Kiplinger's or SmartMoney magazine or CNN Money or MSN MoneyCentral. I like seeing how other people are trying to advance themselves, or already have advanced themselves, whether good or bad.

[savvy saver]

I post my net worth because it helps me stay on track and forces me to be honest with myself. I had a couple bad months, and by writing them down I took the first step to correcting my course. I also don't increase my home's value on paper because it would (artificially?) inflate my net worth and it would probably lead me to not try as hard. I would rather track my actual progress towards building equity than my "progress on paper".

[savvy saver]

I should also add that I like to see other bloggers' progress because it make it more real. I especially admire those that are digging their way out of debt. Often they are the most disciplined, and the ones making the biggest changes in their lives and are to be commended for sharing their learnings with other.

[Ryan Williams]

As you could imagine, I love the idea. It's what our site is all about. I think it's fascinating to watch people track their net worth and be willing to put these kinds of details in their blog. I absolutely agree that the personal nature of these blogs is the main reason for their appeal. Posting net worth not only provides a way to monitor one's progress towards their goals, but by you putting them in your blog, it makes it easy to compare the bloggers (I know it's not a competition, but it's still interesting) and provide a bit more context to their blog.