Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 Edition

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:17:55 +0000

@Jason L, I have over 100 PF blogs in my reader and each of them has had a more than a few posts which are much better than rubbish…

@!wanda, the choice of words confused me as well…Trent’s isn’t actually the best PF blog (IMO). Top 10, I think. I don’t put myself in the top 10, but there’s some real quality out there. :)

By: Jason L

Jason L — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:33:18 +0000

The “rubbish” comment gave me pause as well. I think the part we’re missing, is the quantity of blogs Trent solicited. If he asked a very large number of blogs to submit, then I can understand his comment. There are not a very large number of quality finance blogs out there. In that context, his comment makes sense. He was pleasantly surprised to find diamonds in the rough, so to speak. Though their sites and/or writing may need work, the quality of the submissions suggests they have merely to hone their talents.

By: Joshua H

Joshua H — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:31:01 +0000

thank you for returning to reviewing pf books, that was my favorite part of this blog

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:16:20 +0000

REVIEW SUGGESTION:

The Science of Getting Rich by William Wattles.

I’d like to see your take Trent.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:58:56 +0000

I’ve been thinking the same thing !wanda commented ever since I read this post this morning–why would you expect that the best posts from blogs that you specifically asked for articles would be “rubbish”? I’m genuinely curious, because that I took that as a fairly arrogant (albeit off-hand) remark, and that’s the sort of thing that’s been turning me off to your blog over the past few months.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:58:56 +0000

Why did you think best posts from these blogs would be "rubbish"?!

By: chris

chris — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:21:32 +0000

Trent: Then you should totally read it. Your rants are pure entertainment!

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:07:51 +0000

After viewing those other sites I can say for sure that Trent’s is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of organization and layout. Some of those other ones are difficult to read and there are ads everywhere. Putting ads between an article title and the article’s content is ridiculous.

By: Mac

Mac — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:59:23 +0000

In the past you have mentioned an interest in starting other web sites. Maybe the two camps as far as reactions to the “Born to Buy” series provides an idea in this regard. Some of us would be interested in a site that provided more in-depth book reviews than most of the readers here are interested in, and perhaps that type of site could attract its own niche as far as advertisers too.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:47:22 +0000

I enjoy the rent vs buy arguments as well. I currently side with renting as the better alternative in my situation. The deciding factor to me seems that buying costs so much more because you are wasting the majority of the money on interest payments, so would the best idea be to rent until you have a really large cash balance to put a huge down payment on a home 50% or more? Would that save enough money on interest to make buying more proitable?

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:32:28 +0000

Chris: that’s not it. I’ve never even read that one (though there’s a good chance it could lead me straight into a rant).

By: chris

chris — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:12:29 +0000

I have a suspicion i might know the book that pissed him off. I didn’t pick it up, but i saw at sam’s club yesterday that kevin treadau (author of health cures they don’t want you to know about) wrote financial cures they don’t want you to know about.

based off the reputation of his other books it’s probably pretty bad.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:44:29 +0000

These are all solid articles. I think I remember reading most of them when they were published, but they are good enough to read again.

As for the book reviews, I prefer the one off review, vs. a series. However, a series can lend itself to interesting conversations/debates more easily than a one time review.

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:03:57 +0000

Thanks for the mention!

I can’t wait to hear about what ticked you off, too! And after doing a few weeks of discussion on a single book, I sometimes wonder if I should have done a one or two part review. But I’ll see it through until the end and reassess.

By: mbhunter

mbhunter — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:03:16 +0000

Thanks Trent for including my post on disorganization!

I revisited that post and I’ve fixed a couple of them, but I still have a ways to go. Being organized about one’s finances is the way to go.

Again, I appreciate the mention!

By: Pinyo

Pinyo — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:21:40 +0000

Thank you for the mention. I agree with your assessment. Even as I was writing the article, I felt that all the points made is practical for all time (not just during an economic slowdown).

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:16:26 +0000

Great roundup this week, Trent. Thanks for including my “4-Quarters” article.

As for the book review series – I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the twice weekly reviews on personal finance/personal productivity books. Maybe it is my short attention span that craves something new every few days. Glad to see you are returning to the old system – and thanks for listening to your readers.

By: Ro

Ro — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:15:05 +0000

I can’t wait to read about the book that ticked you off! :)

By: jim

jim — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:11:21 +0000

Thanks for including my post about Rent vs. Buy, it’s a pretty hot topic nowadays and it’s always good to read people’s comments about it.