What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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Acesalad
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What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Acesalad »

I know a common conception is that personal finance magazines give glorified views of financial strategies. I have been reading Kiplinger's for a few years. While I don't agree with everything I find some of the articles to be useful. I mostly gloss over the ones about picking individual stocks or even the best mutual funds (since right now I am only investing in my 401(k), so unless their picks are in my plan it's pretty useless to me) and stick to the ones that cover other aspects of personal finance, such as saving for college or best ways to research cars to buy. That being said I am starting to find the material to be less useful. Does anyone read any magazines that feel are more useful to the Boglehead approach to personal finance?
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runner26
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by runner26 »

None.
Texas hold em71
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Texas hold em71 »

Used to get Money but articles within the same issue contradicting each other got annoying and it seemed like after a few years it was repetitive.

I get Schwab's investing magazine and I read Schwab and Vanguard's online articles. But mostly I read this forum instead.
tomd37
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by tomd37 »

I have had a continuous subscription to Kiplingers Personal Finance (formerly Kiplingers Changing Times) since January 1965. As you can surmise, I am pleased with it.
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Sconie »

In terms of print, I read Money, WSJ, Barron's and Investech.
In terms of on-line material, I like to follow the material on RealClearMarkets.com, Bogleheads, as well as listen to the Portfolio Solutions Quarterly Conference Call + read Jeremy Grantham's quarterly commentary on the GMO website.
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joe8d
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by joe8d »

Money and Kiplingers.

Just for the cartoons, of course :)
Last edited by joe8d on Sat Aug 31, 2013 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Topic Author
Acesalad
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Acesalad »

tomd37 wrote:I have had a continuous subscription to Kiplingers Personal Finance (formerly Kiplingers Changing Times) since January 1965. As you can surmise, I am pleased with it.
Wow, that's pretty impressive.
livesoft
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by livesoft »

I don't subscribe and don't read such magazines on a regular basis. I do read the articles in the NYTimes and WSJ online whenever I can get through the pay walls.

I also enjoy some articles in the Journal of Financial Planning http://www.fpanet.org/journal/
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BolderBoy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by BolderBoy »

Acesalad wrote: Does anyone read any magazines that feel are more useful to the Boglehead approach to personal finance?
After 35 years, this past June I ditched my sub to Money Mag which was the only financial rag I was reading. This forum provides much better info for me.
The Wizard
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by The Wizard »

joe8d wrote:Money and Kiplingers.

Just for the cartoons, of course :)
I think you'll find that The New Yorker has better cartoons.
And James Surowiecki's one-page writeups ain't bad either...
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joe8d
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by joe8d »

The Wizard wrote:
joe8d wrote:Money and Kiplingers.

Just for the cartoons, of course :)
I think you'll find that The New Yorker has better cartoons.
And James Surowiecki's one-page writeups ain't bad either...
Wizard. you missed the joke. that was the old "Playboy" reason. :happy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by The Wizard »

joe8d wrote:
The Wizard wrote:
joe8d wrote:Money and Kiplingers.

Just for the cartoons, of course :)
I think you'll find that The New Yorker has better cartoons.
And James Surowiecki's one-page writeups ain't bad either...
Wizard. you missed the joke. that was the old "Playboy" reason. :happy
Something like that, yes.
But I chose to segue it toward my favorite periodical...
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Tycoon
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Tycoon »

None.
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tylerdurden
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by tylerdurden »

I used to have subscriptions to Money, Fortune, and Forbes (all were pretty cheap subscriptions). I let all of them lapse since I find much better information online and on forums such as this. I do pick up the WSJ or Money magazine sometimes when I stop by the local library, though.
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RNJ
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by RNJ »

NYT business section if I see something of interest (we have an online subscription). A couple of times a month I'll pick up the WSJ. I have an online subscription to M* as well.

More important, since becoming a sane investor (i.e., become a Boglehead) I''ve stopped reading: Money, Kiplingers, Barron's, SmartMoney, and others I can't recall.

I think the money saved by not buying these magazines has done more for my bottom line than getting rid of actively managed funds and their high expense ratios.
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nedsaid
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by nedsaid »

Money magazine.
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lawman3966
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by lawman3966 »

Kiplingers and Forbes.

Kiplingers covers a range of topics in personal finance. For a topic I know about and have read original research articles in, Kiplinger will do little more than provide a cursory summary that would be of no interest to me. However, their articles can provide useful little tidbits here and there about things I wouldn't have thought of, and didn't know about beforehand.

I see Forbes as being directed 1/3 to news about specific corporations and business trends, 1/3 to economics in general, and perhaps 1/3 (or less) to personal investing. Some years ago, I acted on advice from one of their columnists about Canadian Royalty Trusts. However, as my knowledge of Boglehead principles has increased, I find that I use their advice less and less.

For now, both are entertaining enough to be worth continuing, but neither is indispensable to any investing approach that I'll use in the future.
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steve roy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by steve roy »

I used to read Kiplinger and Money faithfully and actually followed various articles' advice. (HUGE mistake.)

What I finally realized: the investing rags keep blatting out the same (contradictory) advice over and over. They jump on hot trends. They run away from cold trends. They are about stock picking, "smart and savvy" fund managers, and where the editors think markets might be going. What they're NOT about is smart, coherent investment strategies, but about the fad of the moment. (Let's face it. Some of those things crop up here. Remember when the Harry Browne Portfolio was all the rage? Me, too.)

As market sectors heat up, human beings get excited about the latest Highway to Riches and behave accordingly. What this site has taught me is, diversify over asset classes and keep your costs low. There is very little else that works as effectively.
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pennstater2005
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by pennstater2005 »

I read mostly online articles that are free. I have a couple news apps that are all free content and occasionally there are good finance articles. Mostly I just read here now. Better content :happy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by chaz »

runner26 wrote:None.
Me too.
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cflannagan
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by cflannagan »

steve roy wrote:I used to read Kiplinger and Money faithfully and actually followed various articles' advice. (HUGE mistake.)

What I finally realized: the investing rags keep blatting out the same (contradictory) advice over and over. They jump on hot trends. They run away from cold trends. They are about stock picking, "smart and savvy" fund managers, and where the editors think markets might be going. What they're NOT about is smart, coherent investment strategies, but about the fad of the moment. (Let's face it. Some of those things crop up here. Remember when the Harry Browne Portfolio was all the rage? Me, too.)

As market sectors heat up, human beings get excited about the latest Highway to Riches and behave accordingly. What this site has taught me is, diversify over asset classes and keep your costs low. There is very little else that works as effectively.
That's definitely not the impression I got from reading Money magazine, but I guess as with everything else, I take things with a grain of salt and do my own research.
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Toons
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Toons »

15 years ago I was reading Money Magazine ,Barrons at the local library.Around 1998 I started accessing information on internet and the rest is history regarding magazines.The last time I picked one up in a store it appeared that the few articles that were in the magazine were sandwiched in between ad after ad. :oops:
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gkaplan
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by gkaplan »

None.
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CABob
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by CABob »

Money, Kiplingers Personal Finance, Kiplingers Retirement Report, and AAII Journal.
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by pkcrafter »

Kiplinger's for many years.

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leo383
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by leo383 »

None.

Once I got past looking for the latest go-go fund, the money magazines didn't seem worth it anymore.

I'm surprised at all the Bogleheads who still get financial magazines. It seems to conflict with the "set it and forget it" ethos.
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mickeyd
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by mickeyd »

When I visit the public library every couple of months I generally pick up WSJ, Kipplingers, and Money and read a few articles, especially if they have been mentioned here.

I receive a number (5?) of those free industry mags that have an occasional interesting personal finance/ index investing story.
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bengal22
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by bengal22 »

whatever I can get free online: Forbes, Fortune, Kiplingers, business week, usnews and world report. read an article if i find title interesting
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Blue
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Blue »

Economist and Wall Street Journal
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nisiprius
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by nisiprius »

None, although I'll glance at whatever's in the doctor's, dentist's, or optometrist's office.

They're pretty bad. Whenever Consumer Reports chooses to run an article on a financial topic, which is maybe an average of two or three times a year, you can just see the difference instantly. All the personal finance magazines seem to me to be the captives of their advertisers and of the investment industry.

Have you noticed the tendency for Kiplinger's in particular to call everything it's writing about "great?" "Five great mutual funds that," "Six great stocks that will," etc. For example:

Image
Notice the absence of the past tense. The naïve leader would infer that there's something intrinsic to a fund called "greatness" and Kiplinger's can tell which funds have it.

This is funny: an entire dramatic arc in three headlines:
Image
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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SC Hoosier
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by SC Hoosier »

I love Kiplingers. Jeremy Siegel is my favorite writer. I like the personal finance stories about real people, personal consumer issues and some new info on retirement. Favorite mail day of the month.
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Van
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Van »

None...
Sam I Am
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Sam I Am »

Message deleted.
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tetractys
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by tetractys »

0. -- Tet
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by goldendad »

Money (since the early 80s) and Forbes. Of the two I prefer Forbes.
gvsucavie03
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by gvsucavie03 »

None, most are investing porn that run perpendicular to the concepts on this forum.

Consumer Reports occasionally runs a good one (like this summer's 401(k) article that did a great job promoting index funds and low costs).
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Angst »

I don't read any, but I do receive the Journal of Indexes magazine. It has some great articles, occasionally. The current issue is actually very interesting. It's all about "the new normal" that Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian coined, so to speak. You can read it at the website (below) or convince them you're in the industry and receive a free subscription. I always look forward to reading it. Often disappointed, but occasionally pleasantly surprised. And certain sections of it I always read through. News clips... so forth. Jack Bogle and Larry Swedroe give their 2 cents on this "new normal" too in this issue.

http://www.indexuniverse.com/publicatio ... ofindexes/
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sometimesinvestor
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by sometimesinvestor »

Business Week often has interesting articles but it is rare that an issue will provide useful investing advice.i think kiplingers is worth the $15 i pay providing me with hours of entertainment overa year and sometimes useful advice.The revised money magazine has reduced its investing advice and has an increased portion on personal finance like where to live. I find it less interesting on average.If you read fairly quickly I think all thee sources have some value. You only need one useful tip a year to easily save $20 even if the tip was about a useful coupon source..
umfundi
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by umfundi »

None.

I will pick up newspapers like the WSJ and FT when I get a chance while traveling.

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IlliniDave
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by IlliniDave »

None for the last 20 years.
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carolinaman
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by carolinaman »

i subscribe to Money and Kiplinger and find them informative although not as much from their investing articles as I used to. I read Morningstar and CNN/Money online daily.
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desertbandit442
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by desertbandit442 »

Money and Kiplinger. If I had to choose one, I would stay with Kiplinger.
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Sheepdog
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Sheepdog »

Mailed magazines: Consumer Reports, Money and Kiplinger.
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steve roy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by steve roy »

cflannagan wrote:
steve roy wrote:I used to read Kiplinger and Money faithfully and actually followed various articles' advice. (HUGE mistake.)

What I finally realized: the investing rags keep blatting out the same (contradictory) advice over and over. They jump on hot trends. They run away from cold trends. They are about stock picking, "smart and savvy" fund managers, and where the editors think markets might be going. What they're NOT about is smart, coherent investment strategies, but about the fad of the moment. (Let's face it. Some of those things crop up here. Remember when the Harry Browne Portfolio was all the rage? Me, too.)

As market sectors heat up, human beings get excited about the latest Highway to Riches and behave accordingly. What this site has taught me is, diversify over asset classes and keep your costs low. There is very little else that works as effectively.
That's definitely not the impression I got from reading Money magazine, but I guess as with everything else, I take things with a grain of salt and do my own research.
I was using a wee bit of hyperbole. All the mags contained good advice, also less good advice. In retrospect, I was too prone to chasing the less good advice. My issue, not theirs.

But the magazines weren't the big investing turning point for me. The turning point was the financial advisor to whom I was paying a small fortune. When I finally figured out that he was making lots of money to underperform the market, I told him it was time for the two of us to part company.

This was not taken well. And the warm and avuncular advisor I had known for twenty years turned suddenly frosty. It took awhile to disentangle myself from his embrace, but I've never regretted the separation. Paying 12 basis points to Vanguard is WAY better than shelling out 2% to a broker who can't keep up with the S & P 500.
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steve roy
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by steve roy »

Nisi said:
Whenever Consumer Reports chooses to run an article on a financial topic, which is maybe an average of two or three times a year, you can just see the difference instantly. All the personal finance magazines seem to me to be the captives of their advertisers and of the investment industry.
My impression also. But it certainly explains the articles and advice being all over the map.
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stemikger
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by stemikger »

Acesalad wrote:I know a common conception is that personal finance magazines give glorified views of financial strategies. I have been reading Kiplinger's for a few years. While I don't agree with everything I find some of the articles to be useful. I mostly gloss over the ones about picking individual stocks or even the best mutual funds (since right now I am only investing in my 401(k), so unless their picks are in my plan it's pretty useless to me) and stick to the ones that cover other aspects of personal finance, such as saving for college or best ways to research cars to buy. That being said I am starting to find the material to be less useful. Does anyone read any magazines that feel are more useful to the Boglehead approach to personal finance?
I know Warren Buffett spends 4 to 6 hours a day reading, but I think for the passive index investor this will be considered noise and for most people might make them less likely to Stay the Course. I mean, they would have a hard time selling magazines if every month the cover says: "Nothing new here folks, just keep dollar cost averaging in low cost index funds and Stay the Course". Kind of the reason why I have nothing to talk about at cocktail parties.
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MN-Investor
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by MN-Investor »

I get Money and Kiplinger's. Interesting to read, but I don't know that I've ever followed any of their advice.

Reading financial magazines reminds me of a Rita Rudner quote (btw, I also love buying cookbooks, but I don't really enjoy cooking) - “I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and say to myself, 'Well, that's not going to happen!'"
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

A hand-me-down Money from a friend. My cost is zero, it makes for a cheap read. :D I like to count the mutual fund advertisements.

Agree with the other poster about the exciting article headlines like "Find out what moves to make next" or the "can you retire" or the "if you do this you too can realize your dream retirement".
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by dickenjb »

I used to read Money, WSJ, Barron's and Investech.

Now I read none.
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Re: What Personal Finance Magazines do you read?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

I read the WSJ - but when did it get reclassified into a personal finance magazine, as opposed to the relatively long newspaper it is?
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