The Best Personal Finance Magazine: June 2006

In December, I declared Money Magazine as the best of the big three personal finance magazines (Money, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, and Smart Money). I promised to start the competition at ground zero in 2006 since Money was so far ahead that the others could never catch up.

As promised, I posted on this subject in early 2006, naming my winners in January, February and March. As a reminder, here are the scores through March:

• Money - 25
• Kiplinger's - 15
• Smart Money - 12

But at this point, I stopped posting on the subject. Why? It was getting boring -- it was the same thing every month. Money won, the others were weak, and that was it. Yet I didn't close the door officially on this series, so I'm doing that today. I'll give my results through June, then wrap it up, not to revisit this topic for some time (if ever again).

So here's an update on my competition for the best personal finance magazine. My methodology: the magazines get one vote for each article that I found useful -- either for me, someone I knew or for this blog.

Here are the results for April:

• Money - 7
• Kiplinger's - 3
• Smart Money - 3

Here are the results for May:

• Money - 14
• Kiplinger's - 4
• Smart Money - 3

Here are the results for June:

• Money - 4
• Kiplinger's - 2
• Smart Money - 3

So, our total for the year stands at:

• Money - 50
• Kiplinger's - 24
• Smart Money - 21

Even though Money had a bad June (it focused on the "Housing Bubble" and had a ga-zillion related stories on this tired topic), it's still a runaway. I'm discontinuing this series and awarding Money magazine the championship for the year. It's simply the best to me. That's one reason I named it among my best gifts to get a graduate.

Comments

[fivecentnickel.com]

I agree. Money wins hands down -- although I don't have the same sort of data to back up this claim. ;)

[Michael Jaz]

Indeed. I actually subscribed to Money based on your recommendation and haven't been in the least disappointed. Thanks FMF.