The ongoing financial crisis is making people go mental. We haven't seen accountants jumping out of buildings yet, but a lot of people around me seem to be responding quite irationally all the same. During times like these, knowledge can be a great boon, or it can make you go crazy with stress.
I'm going to post a few of the resources that I've been checking out on a regular basis that have helped me keep my cool, and feel like I'm staying educated. If you haven't started using one, the first thing that I would recommend is using an RSS feed reader. The easiest one to start using is Google Reader. Google Reader is already enabled for you if you have an existing GMail, or any other kind of Google account. An RSS reader will allow you to subscribe to sites that you visit on a daily basis, and then view all of the updates to those sites since you last loaded up the reader. This will significantly save you time, and actually makes the notion of keeping up with a large number of websites a feasible thing to do. In my Google Reader account, I subscribe to about 40 different sites, including financial blogs, skepticial website, and friend's personal blogs. I would never be able to check these out with the regularity that I do if I didn't have a feed reader to help me.
Okay, one last great thing about Google Reader. By adding friend's to your account list, you can share items that you think are worth showing to your friends. Items that you share will automatically show up in all of your friend's readers, and vice versa. This social aspect makes Google Reader an especially handy RSS reader. Anyhow, onwards.
First up is the Get Rich Slowly blog. Lots of people have heard of the book called The Wealthy Barber - this blog is based on the same concept. I'm a big fan of small changes that affect you in a big way over time. Sneaking healthy food into recipes, setting aside small amounts of your paycheque every two weeks into a savings account, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. This blog is based on these kind of ideas for finance. J.D., the author, also provides lots of helpful advice, and links to many other valuable financial resources.
Next is I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The author of this blog is much more outspoked, but sometimes that's what you need to hear. He's written some great articles on being intelligent with money, and managing your finanaces throughout the economic downturn that is ongoing. He's currently got a great article up related to what we're not being told by McCain and Obama, which is less relevant for us Canadians, but still relevant, and interesting to read nevertheless. The author Ramit also links into a good number of other relevant financial websites.
Third, The Long Run Blog is a good source of skeptical analysis of ongoing financial issues, including Multi-level Marketing scams (think Amway), election promises, and more. I find that some of the writers can sometimes grate a little bit on me, but in many articles the material is great, and it's certainly worth checking out on a daily basis.
The last two things I would absolutely recommend are two podcasts by This American Life. The first podcast can be downloaded here, and discusses how the entire situation that the global economy now finds itself in came to be. It's quite astonishing listening to how far up and down the entire chain of lending the problem has pervaded.
The second podcast is available here. This second podcast details what exactly is currently going on now, and what on earth that bail-out we keep hearing is all about.
Arming yourself with a bit of knowledge will go along way towards helping you deal with times of crisis. The worst things any of us can do in times like these is make rash decisions without properly educating ourselves. Read up, or talk to people that you trust. Above all, don't listen to people that tell you things like "Hey, cash is the only safe way to store your money right now" - these people are idiots.
I'm going to post a few of the resources that I've been checking out on a regular basis that have helped me keep my cool, and feel like I'm staying educated. If you haven't started using one, the first thing that I would recommend is using an RSS feed reader. The easiest one to start using is Google Reader. Google Reader is already enabled for you if you have an existing GMail, or any other kind of Google account. An RSS reader will allow you to subscribe to sites that you visit on a daily basis, and then view all of the updates to those sites since you last loaded up the reader. This will significantly save you time, and actually makes the notion of keeping up with a large number of websites a feasible thing to do. In my Google Reader account, I subscribe to about 40 different sites, including financial blogs, skepticial website, and friend's personal blogs. I would never be able to check these out with the regularity that I do if I didn't have a feed reader to help me.
Okay, one last great thing about Google Reader. By adding friend's to your account list, you can share items that you think are worth showing to your friends. Items that you share will automatically show up in all of your friend's readers, and vice versa. This social aspect makes Google Reader an especially handy RSS reader. Anyhow, onwards.
First up is the Get Rich Slowly blog. Lots of people have heard of the book called The Wealthy Barber - this blog is based on the same concept. I'm a big fan of small changes that affect you in a big way over time. Sneaking healthy food into recipes, setting aside small amounts of your paycheque every two weeks into a savings account, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. This blog is based on these kind of ideas for finance. J.D., the author, also provides lots of helpful advice, and links to many other valuable financial resources.
Next is I Will Teach You To Be Rich. The author of this blog is much more outspoked, but sometimes that's what you need to hear. He's written some great articles on being intelligent with money, and managing your finanaces throughout the economic downturn that is ongoing. He's currently got a great article up related to what we're not being told by McCain and Obama, which is less relevant for us Canadians, but still relevant, and interesting to read nevertheless. The author Ramit also links into a good number of other relevant financial websites.
Third, The Long Run Blog is a good source of skeptical analysis of ongoing financial issues, including Multi-level Marketing scams (think Amway), election promises, and more. I find that some of the writers can sometimes grate a little bit on me, but in many articles the material is great, and it's certainly worth checking out on a daily basis.
The last two things I would absolutely recommend are two podcasts by This American Life. The first podcast can be downloaded here, and discusses how the entire situation that the global economy now finds itself in came to be. It's quite astonishing listening to how far up and down the entire chain of lending the problem has pervaded.
The second podcast is available here. This second podcast details what exactly is currently going on now, and what on earth that bail-out we keep hearing is all about.
Arming yourself with a bit of knowledge will go along way towards helping you deal with times of crisis. The worst things any of us can do in times like these is make rash decisions without properly educating ourselves. Read up, or talk to people that you trust. Above all, don't listen to people that tell you things like "Hey, cash is the only safe way to store your money right now" - these people are idiots.
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