Financial Magazines - Look Elsewhere to Improve Your Knowledge

When I first started out, I subscribed to a variety of magazines with the thought that I could learn a lot by way of organizing my financial affairs.  With experience, however, I found it far more productive to read books.  In this regard, there's no better book than The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton.  It is now out of print but copies are readily available.  

The main attraction of this book is that it provides a robust framework - an extremely valuable tool as you can proceed in a purposeful way as opposed to a disorganized, peripatetic scramble.  Although it is outdated in parts, it is a simple matter to search the web to update recent developments in each of the areas he addresses.  All in all, a superlative book without equal.  More recent pretenders simply fail to reach the standard established by St. Chilton. 

My experience with financial magazines has been somewhat less satisfactory.  A case in point is The Canadian Money Saver, a publication which I once praised in earlier editions.  It has deteriorated and in some instances, amounts to not much more than an advertisement for the services or products of some of its authors.  I will not be renewing my subscription and will not recommend the publication to others.  The one saving grace of a subscription is that it provides access to a wonderful collection of web sites which have been suggested by readers over the years - one of the best references anywhere.  I don't know if it can be accessed by non-subscribers. 

In recent years, I have diversified by investing more in American companies and US-based multinationals which derive a significant part of their income from international markets.  In this regard, the American Association of Individual Investors has been quite useful.  I mentioned the Association in a previous posting on stock screeners and my appreciation for the organization has grown even more.  The screeners have facilitated the search for companies in sectors of strategic interest and the articles are well written and insightful.  Highly recommended.