Money magazine = worth it really?

[Orchidflower]

I love Kiplingers, but am not sure Money is worth buying even for the sr. $10 a year rate. I seem to never look or take Money's advice. Am I wrong for thinking this? :confused:
Kiplingers does have a magazine you buy separately on the 2008 Mutual Funds. I bought it on the net, since it doesn't seem to be coming to my house. Curious as to what it says. Anyone else get it?

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower I love Kiplingers, but am not sure Money is worth buying even for the sr. $10 a year rate. I seem to never look or take Money's advice. Am I wrong for thinking this? :confused: Kiplingers does have a magazine you buy separately on the 2008 Mutual Funds. I bought it on the net, since it doesn't seem to be coming to my house. Curious as to what it says. Anyone else get it?

Money magazine has some excellent contributing writers, like Jason Zweig, Michael Sivy, Walter Updegrave, among others. check out their website at Business, financial, personal finance news - CNNMoney and surf for free.

my only complaint about the hard copy magazine delivered to my house is it's too thin. i read it quickly and wish i had more. so off i go to the website.

[audreyh1]

No. Money magazine is pretty worthless trash IMO. Fluffy "feel good" stuff and rather superficial. I found it no help at all as I planned my retirement and structured my investment plan. I got the really helpful stuff from financial web sites.

I mostly go to Morningstar for mutual fund stuff.

Audrey

[TeeRuh]

O-flower, I'm about a 2 year Money subscriber. Would definitely admit that a lot of the material is "same ol-same-ol" and articles tend to become somewhat redundant. But, of several magazines we take it's still the one I look for each month and usually read cover-to-cover ... (Think I like the "reinforcement" I get... kind of like reading on here or over at Boglehead's ...)

t.r.

[Art G]

Absolutely not worth it. Somewhere I once saw a collection of Money magazines cover stories from years past on funds you must absolutely own. The returns were a negative number going forward. They tend to recommend buying high from what I've seen.

[Marquette]

It's worth it if you feel the $10 rate provides more than $10 in entertainment or enjoyment. For heavens sake, though, don't use it for investment advice.

[poboy]

I used to subscribe but grew tired of reading about the couple of the month who were 1. freelance poets 2. writers of childrens books. Invariably they wanted a review by the financial folks who would suggest options, ie, sell the chalet in the mountains that was inherited by hubby, sell the oceanfront condo inherited by the wife, pay bills and travel from the trust proceeds set up by dad. They would continue to live on the farm that was also inherited and would consider getting a one day a week postion reading stories to kids at the library. I realized quickly Money mag folks were in a different league than I.

[Sarah in SC]

We call it Money porn around the office. I like reading Kiplinger's and Smart Money and I do read Money when they come rolling in each month, but I'd never pay for them. Fluffy money porn!

My bosses read Bank Credit Analyst and The Economist. Those would seem to be way more worthwhile!

[Midpack]

Does anyone think any of the financial magazines are worth a subscription? I'm not sure I do. I have subscribed to Forbes, Fortune, Worth and Smart Money and dropped them all. Money is flashy but like a lot of magazines, all genres, they seem to repeat themselves every year with a few updates. IOW, once you've had a 1 year subscription, there's not much value added after that. And I've never seen a financial magazine that promotes the type of investing I believe in (Four Pillars and the like). If there is one, I'm all ears.

[aida2003]

I'm OK to read Money because they tell personal stories. SmartMoney is totally worthless, IMO. Kiplingers? Well, it's OK maybe.
None of the above is good to creating your own plan. They're for entertainment, IMO.

[W2R]

I haven't subscribed to a magazine (other than professional journals required for my occupation) since 1964.

That one was Seventeen Magazine, and I cancelled the subscription when I turned sixteen.

I don't even subscribe to pay websites. Little regular payments will eat your budget alive. Besides, I have always felt that the internet should be free, and that I wouldn't pay for a website just as a matter of principle.

[Art G]

Investors Business Daily

[maddythebeagle]

I wouldnt pay for any magazine...I do get a few free ones and the financial ones are full of fluff and look at for 10-20 minutes and done....

[samclem]

Money is definitely financial pornography. It's not the worst stuff out there, but still gravitates toward the "10 Greta Mutual Funds to Own Now" type of stuff, with predictably bad results.

Kiplingers is much better, in my opinion, but I still don't subscribe to it.

I don't subscribe to any financial magazines. What an investor needs to know is available in better form in books and online--the magazine format just breeds sensationalism and repetition (how many ways are there to say "spend less than you make, invest in low cost funds, learn enough about the tax code to avoid unnecessary costs") . The laws and things that do change usually get mentioned right on this board with a link to an article with more info.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

When I read Money and the like, I can see how a young person might get sucked in. There is always a hint of get-rich-quick though they don't say that; instead they lean toward "beat the market" and "These managers outpaced the market by 100%." The couples profiles all read like fantasyland.

I don't like their look and feel, and I find the "advice" to be really fluffy.

[youbet]

I subscribe to two daily papers, the Financial Times and the WSJ, and one weekly magazine, The Economist. Being an old fashioned geezer, I still enjoy the paper format and the cost is negligible as long as you shop for bargain rates. (I sometimes let subscriptions lapse until the next cheaper than dirt offer comes along.)

I do find the populist-appealling mags such as Money or Kiplinger's fun when I'm at the library. When reading the articles, I try to imagine who the author is, who is the target audience and what the author is trying to accomplish with that audience. Reading these mags to see what they're saying and who they think they're saying it to and why is different than actually reading the articles with the intention of directly incorporating the (mis)information into your plans.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Does anyone think any of the financial magazines are worth a subscription? I'm not sure I do. I have subscribed to Forbes, Fortune, Worth and Smart Money and dropped them all.

I'm with W2R-- it's hard to find a magazine worth paying for when you can read it on the Web.

The ONLY financial magazine that I enjoy reading is Highline Media's "Wealth Manager". It's free if you lie claim to be a financial professional. (The reality is that they're begging you to receive their junk mail bulk up their mailing lists & advertiser rates.) The reason I enjoy reading it is because it usually has the unvarnished truth about how you're perceived by financial-management firms along with a rational discussion of their expenses & concerns. It's a great "know thine enemy" insight into what's running through their minds while they're talking to us. They get into the nitty-gritty of financial products, taxes, and estate planning without sales talk. And if someone does something slimy or sleazy it's usually exhaustively analyzed for a summary of how to reassure the customers and how to avoid being taken the same way.

We ditched Business Week because I'm presbyopic I've usually read it all on their website before the magazine arrives 4-5 days later. The same problem is becoming readily apparent with Scientific American (let alone their tendency to see political conspiracy everywhere). I'd ditch Family Handiman if it wasn't for their ads new-tool articles.

I keep a subscription to the U.S. Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS monthly because I bought a life membership in 1982 I get an illicit thrill from deciding not to read articles instead of worrying that the chain of command would want us to be able to discuss them. I subscribe to the alumni magazine, despite their mailing-list problems, because I like reading the history articles and looking at how fat & old my classmates are getting our class photos.

Otherwise we'd be magazine-free.

As for those real-life retiree articles, let me tell you about mine. Fortune's reporter, who is actually pretty good compared to other interview stories I've heard, spent about 30 minutes on the phone with me and a couple of followup e-mails through an assistant. If she understood why military retirees want a high-equity portfolio, she didn't ask about bonds or volatility. If she understood the concept of SWR, she didn't ask about it. For all she attempted to engage on financial issues, if I'd blathered on about beever cheeze futures it would've shown up in print without any sort of credibility check or common-sense filtering. If she made any attempt to verify any details other than spelling & military terminology, I was unable to tell. While the fact-checking was minimal, the verification was absolutely unidentifiable-- I could've been a 14-year-old from Missoula convicted felon or even H0cus. And that's the best conversation I've had with a reporter from a financial magazine.

As for "value reporting", the money they spent on me was absolutely bewildering. I could've e-mailed JPEGs for them to include in their article, although admittedly most people's photos aren't suitable for that use. I was interviewed by phone from Manhattan about two weeks before I was actually scheduled to be in Manhattan, so they could've easily snapped a mugshot in their lobby. Instead they flew two freelance photographers to Hawaii for one photo. To get that one photo we spent four hours in Waikiki surf and another two hours at my taekwondo dojang and snapped at least 800 film exposures. Every roll was developed (via overnight express to FORTUNE) and most of it was printed. I was just one of five people interviewed for one article.

I don't know how they charge enough in advertising to stay profitable, let alone pay their reporters enough salary to tempt them to do a proper job of research.

[Goonie]

I 'spent' some of my old airline miles on several different magazine subscriptions, just to 'check them out'. When it came time for renewal, I only renewed Kiplinger's and Money. I enjoy perusing both, but definitely like Kiplinger's best. I also picked up Kiplinger's 'Mutual Fund' issue to read while I'm basking in the FL sunshine, but thus far haven't had time to open it up yet......too busy basking!

[mn54]

Barrons is the only mag. I find worthwhile. Has insights into what the fund managers are thinking and buying, and has good in depth reports on individual stocks. I've never heard of Wealth Manager. I'll have to check that one out.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poboy I realized quickly Money mag folks were in a different league than I.

Indeed. Some people had to work for it....