Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
IMHO, There’s none better on a daily basis than the WSJ for financial news. And provided you read all the copies, subscriptions are cheaper. But for the occasional reader, why limit oneself? Here’s what I do (and suggest others consider):
1. Get a Kindle reader or download the Amazon Kindle App (free) to your existing device.
2. Purchase a gift card at Amazon for $50 or $100.
3. Whenever you want, purchase that day’s single copy of what you’d like to read. Can be downloaded instantly. The charge comes off your card balance.
I used to love Barron’s. But in later years it started (mostly) to feel like the “same old ...” - Different managers being interviewed. Different voices giving advice. All good at what they do. But it seemed almost like you could take the current parade of people and funds or management companies and “overlay” them on top of interviews you read 3 or 5 years ago. The names have changed. But the underlying messaging hasn’t. Perhaps that’s because good investing skills and practices don’t really change much. Many like Barron’s for the charts (something I’ve never cared about). Kindle is not good at chart display. For access to Barron’s charts, purchasing directly from the company is likely better. - Just noticed @Charles‘ reference to “newsletters.” I’ve always enjoyed reading Bill Fleckenstein’s unorthodox market views. He’s essentially “dealing” from the position of a market timer & short seller. I pay a bit over $100 a year to subscribe / read his daily market rants. Sometimes the give and take part with readers is better than his commentary. His is one that you need to take with a large grain of salt. Not for most here. Should say that I derive more wisdom, insight and understanding from Ed’s monthly remarks in the MFO Commentaries than I do from Fleck’s ramblings. (I guess it’s time to send MFO another donation.)
The only specifically investing subscription I have is with Hedgeye. It fits the style I adopted when I retired and has helped a lot with strategic positioning, and it's very much data-driven, also my style. Of non-subscription sources, Bloomberg seems to offer the best content for my style and situation.
I keep a cheap, $10/yr subscription to Kiplingers b/c every now and then there's some interesting food for thought on general finance/investing stuff. To wit: through a Kip article years ago I learned about lost asset sites -- and as a result I located, claimed, and received over $1000 in unclaimed Treasuries from my late mother.
Used to read FT until they threatened to change the format, and their customer service was quite goofy in responding to my enquiries, so I cancelled. Still think they're the best financial news site, though...and may well go back at some point.
Was a longtime M* Premium user until they redid the site a few years ago, and I couldn't justify paying more than $99/yr given their *many* problems ... IIRC they were asking $200 or more per year, which was crazy. Plus the new site is less helpful (to me) than their old one was. (I'm finding Seeking Alpha offers many of the features/data I want with better formatting and convenience, btw.)
I'd been a Business Week subscriber since high school in the '80s but when Bloomberg bought them several years ago I cancelled b/c it got too graphic-novel-esque and sensational as they tried to pander to a far younger crowd and failed miserably at it.
I also am a long-time legacy subscriber to the weekly Kelly Letter ... and of course, subscribe to MFO Premium.
We currently subscribe to NYT, WSJ, SF Chronicle, Washington Post, and The Economist.
The WSJ, SF Chron, and The Economist are both print & internet; the WaPo & NYT internet only.
From a strictly financial perspective, I'd have to say the WSJ and The Economist, with occasional good input from the SF Chron. The Washington Post and NYT tend to approach financial issues from a political standpoint, so care needs to be taken in evaluating their reporting.
They are useful however, to occasionally rile the one or two MFO members who consider them to be agents of the devil, communists, or maybe both.
I've had a Barron's print+online subscription for +10 years. My current "annual" subscription I have stretched to +4 years by constantly placing vacation holds on the print edition. Even when on vacation, I have online access, which is all that I use/require.
The editorial quality of that paper is now a shadow of its former self. A lot of the old guard contributors have left/retired/died. They have been replaced with snot-nosed millenials who often pen "social justice" type articles masquerading as personal finance. Contributors Matt Klein and Reshma Kapadia do this all the time, apparently with editorial assent. The Managing Editor seems to be an "attention wh..re", and has her face splattered over every article she writes. Who does that? The whole publication was systemically used as a political weapon against Trump in 2016-2017 -- I suspect offending a lot of their subscribers has not helped their circulation. I will probably allow this subscription to lapse.
I subscribed to the Forbes/Lehman monthly Income newsletter. They seemed to have a very limited number of "go-to" securities. I got the sense they were "sitting on their analytical laurels", and just recycling the same ideas, collecting subscription fees. Cancelled it after 1 year.
I "mooch" a 2nd hand WSJ at the office. When I retire, I may subscribe to the digital version, though the price of ~ $20/month seems steep, given their marginal cost to deliver electrons to me is nil. Its an admirable paper, great national/intl news, financial and otherwise, but I seldom (never) been able to translate anything into investment leads/profits from it exclusively.
I find SeekingAlpha.com & Youtube wonderful places to generate ideas from. The content is inexhaustible, and thus very diverse. Its free. Beats all the other sources I paid for, combined. Those are the 2 info sources I might be inclined to pay for and they are free.
I have a paid subscription to the NYTimes (Weekender, including full online access). I was able to uphold the family tradition once the Times went national.
I have an unpaid subscription to Morningstar (thank you T. Rowe Price, grandfathered).
Years ago I subscribed to the WSJ, but Murdoch seemed to have ruined it by letting several senior writers go (that's the kind way of saying it). These days I read individual articles online via my university library. Flipping through the print edition in my dentist's office or at Fidelity, I don't find enough of interest to entice me to resubscribe.
Years ago I subscribed to Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. Cheap, fun. But ultimately dispensable. Must be, they've even quoted me.
Every few years, Consumer Reports does a write up on mutual funds. Does my subscription to CR count? In a broad sense, I do consider it a financial publication, as it covers topics like credit cards, health insurance, 529 plans, etc.
Through my university I have access to WSJ, NT Times, and Washington Post. The public library in my town also have both the printed as well the electronic version of the above plus Morningstar - great use of the property tax dollars. Used to subscribe to Barron's and Kiplinger but gradually found other resources. Thinking about Bloomberg but they are fairly expensive. Most of all, I subscribe to MFO Premium for detailed analysis on MF and ETF.
Morningstar; Baron’s; Stockcharts.com; The Chartist Mutual Fund Letter; and NoLoad FundX Newsletter. Apple’s News+ gives me access to numerous articles and magazines for 9.99 a month. I also subscribe to N Y Times and Washington Post.
About the only thing I subscribe to now is FIDELITY MONITOR and INSIGHT. As @Edmond stated all the good writers have passed on or retired. Most every thing published these days is filler paid for I suppose is by the word. About every thing referenced to on here is fishing for subscriptions. I need to put my efforts into finding and reading some good books!!
Thanks everybody, very much appreciate your insights here. I did add Barron's to my subscription list, but have mixed thoughts so far. Like a couple articles, did not like the data section ... so far, anyway. c
@Charles is a data guy, for which we are grateful. When I subscribed to Barron's I found the data pages were perfect for getting the kindling and logs going in the fireplace.
@Charles is a data guy, for which we are grateful. When I subscribed to Barron's I found the data pages were perfect for getting the kindling and logs going in the fireplace.
I’m thinking the same thing. Charles likes data - in which I hear Barron’s excels. I learn from reading interviews. And for many years enjoyed Barron’s for that feature. Occasionally now they tempt me with a $52 annual rate and I bite. But the last batch piled up mostly unread. Like @BenWP, they’re also handy here for starting fires on cold days.
PS - Nobody’s mentioned the loss of Alan Abelson who was reason enough to subscribe. “Wickedly penetrating” and to the point. A great loss.
I subscribe to The NY Times and their financial coverage is decent. However, I get most of my financial news from free sites. The Fidelity website’s news section is particularly good in this regard as they run selected articles about investing and the economy from a range of other publications. The Apple news app also has a lot of financial articles and you can select topics and publications that are of the most interest to you.
Agree with Hank on Alan Abelson, a master of wit and humor, sadly missed. I read the NYT, WSJ and Barrons. The Value Investor Insight can have an exceptionally good article but they are expensive.
Comments
Regards,
Ted
Dow Jones:
WSJ
Barron's
MarketWatch
Bloomberg
1. Get a Kindle reader or download the Amazon Kindle App (free) to your existing device.
2. Purchase a gift card at Amazon for $50 or $100.
3. Whenever you want, purchase that day’s single copy of what you’d like to read. Can be downloaded instantly. The charge comes off your card balance.
Some prices for single copies:
WSJ - $1.99
F/T - $0.75
IBD - $0.50
Kiplinger's - $2.00
Forbes - $2.49
Bloomberg Businessweek - $2.99
Barron’s - $4.99
I used to love Barron’s. But in later years it started (mostly) to feel like the “same old ...” - Different managers being interviewed. Different voices giving advice. All good at what they do. But it seemed almost like you could take the current parade of people and funds or management companies and “overlay” them on top of interviews you read 3 or 5 years ago. The names have changed. But the underlying messaging hasn’t. Perhaps that’s because good investing skills and practices don’t really change much. Many like Barron’s for the charts (something I’ve never cared about). Kindle is not good at chart display. For access to Barron’s charts, purchasing directly from the company is likely better.
-
Just noticed @Charles‘ reference to “newsletters.” I’ve always enjoyed reading Bill Fleckenstein’s unorthodox market views. He’s essentially “dealing” from the position of a market timer & short seller. I pay a bit over $100 a year to subscribe / read his daily market rants. Sometimes the give and take part with readers is better than his commentary. His is one that you need to take with a large grain of salt. Not for most here. Should say that I derive more wisdom, insight and understanding from Ed’s monthly remarks in the MFO Commentaries than I do from Fleck’s ramblings. (I guess it’s time to send MFO another donation.)
I keep a cheap, $10/yr subscription to Kiplingers b/c every now and then there's some interesting food for thought on general finance/investing stuff. To wit: through a Kip article years ago I learned about lost asset sites -- and as a result I located, claimed, and received over $1000 in unclaimed Treasuries from my late mother.
Used to read FT until they threatened to change the format, and their customer service was quite goofy in responding to my enquiries, so I cancelled. Still think they're the best financial news site, though...and may well go back at some point.
Was a longtime M* Premium user until they redid the site a few years ago, and I couldn't justify paying more than $99/yr given their *many* problems ... IIRC they were asking $200 or more per year, which was crazy. Plus the new site is less helpful (to me) than their old one was. (I'm finding Seeking Alpha offers many of the features/data I want with better formatting and convenience, btw.)
I'd been a Business Week subscriber since high school in the '80s but when Bloomberg bought them several years ago I cancelled b/c it got too graphic-novel-esque and sensational as they tried to pander to a far younger crowd and failed miserably at it.
I also am a long-time legacy subscriber to the weekly Kelly Letter ... and of course, subscribe to MFO Premium.
The WSJ, SF Chron, and The Economist are both print & internet; the WaPo & NYT internet only.
From a strictly financial perspective, I'd have to say the WSJ and The Economist, with occasional good input from the SF Chron. The Washington Post and NYT tend to approach financial issues from a political standpoint, so care needs to be taken in evaluating their reporting.
They are useful however, to occasionally rile the one or two MFO members who consider them to be agents of the devil, communists, or maybe both.
I've had a Barron's print+online subscription for +10 years. My current "annual" subscription I have stretched to +4 years by constantly placing vacation holds on the print edition. Even when on vacation, I have online access, which is all that I use/require.
The editorial quality of that paper is now a shadow of its former self. A lot of the old guard contributors have left/retired/died. They have been replaced with snot-nosed millenials who often pen "social justice" type articles masquerading as personal finance. Contributors Matt Klein and Reshma Kapadia do this all the time, apparently with editorial assent. The Managing Editor seems to be an "attention wh..re", and has her face splattered over every article she writes. Who does that? The whole publication was systemically used as a political weapon against Trump in 2016-2017 -- I suspect offending a lot of their subscribers has not helped their circulation. I will probably allow this subscription to lapse.
I subscribed to the Forbes/Lehman monthly Income newsletter. They seemed to have a very limited number of "go-to" securities. I got the sense they were "sitting on their analytical laurels", and just recycling the same ideas, collecting subscription fees. Cancelled it after 1 year.
I "mooch" a 2nd hand WSJ at the office. When I retire, I may subscribe to the digital version, though the price of ~ $20/month seems steep, given their marginal cost to deliver electrons to me is nil. Its an admirable paper, great national/intl news, financial and otherwise, but I seldom (never) been able to translate anything into investment leads/profits from it exclusively.
I find SeekingAlpha.com & Youtube wonderful places to generate ideas from. The content is inexhaustible, and thus very diverse. Its free. Beats all the other sources I paid for, combined. Those are the 2 info sources I might be inclined to pay for and they are free.
I have an unpaid subscription to Morningstar (thank you T. Rowe Price, grandfathered).
Years ago I subscribed to the WSJ, but Murdoch seemed to have ruined it by letting several senior writers go (that's the kind way of saying it). These days I read individual articles online via my university library. Flipping through the print edition in my dentist's office or at Fidelity, I don't find enough of interest to entice me to resubscribe.
Years ago I subscribed to Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. Cheap, fun. But ultimately dispensable. Must be, they've even quoted me.
Every few years, Consumer Reports does a write up on mutual funds. Does my subscription to CR count? In a broad sense, I do consider it a financial publication, as it covers topics like credit cards, health insurance, 529 plans, etc.
M* premium
Nate's Notes
Seeking Alpha
Crossing Wall Street
My list of dropped publications would be long and boring.
PS - Nobody’s mentioned the loss of Alan Abelson who was reason enough to subscribe. “Wickedly penetrating” and to the point. A great loss.