Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Are Women Better Personal Finance Bloggers?


Having read a lot of personal finance blogs lately, I've noticed that some blogs written by women are more interesting than the vast multitudes of pf blogs. What I find "interesting" are blogs which are entertaining, unique, and which address different scenarios not already addressed by every single blogger. I should also note that this post is obviously guilty of over-generalization.

Here's my reasons why I think women make more interesting bloggers:


  1. Personal Narrative-They write in a more personal narrative, rather than as an omniscient drone capable of frugalling their life away.

  2. They have interesting problems- Blogs like Make Love Not Debt and others blog about their experiences with debt, the need to spend money on things as well as family and job-related problems that you just don't see from the omniescent frugaloid drones. Make Love Not Debt had a discussion about an Asian mother's expectations to be supported which was truly unique and interesting.

  3. They are more fearless- Women tend to post on topics men might not be able to get away with. I know there are a number of posts I have hesitated to make due to my wife's ability to smack me upside the head.

  4. Men tend to focus on the objective "right" way to do things- Blogs like this are a dime-a-dozen full of the drone narrative about what the right thing to do in every situation is. This tends to cause an echo chamber of monotonous redundancy.

  5. Women have more interesting blog layouts- Men, including this blog, tend to have unimaginative layouts (mea culpa).

Amongst the male bloggers, I tend to find bloggers who have "fatal flaws" like incredibly laziness, poor earning capacity, heavy debt-load to be more interesting reads than the omniscient frugaloid drones.

Of course the omniscient frugaloid drones are probably more helpful in providing insightful and intelligent saving and investing advice, but its hard to provide such advice if your readership is already asleep.


What do you guys think?


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know how many people voted -- maybe that's just mine!

Catchy headline. Thanks for the post.

Noma

Alex said...

Thanks for the post Noma!

So far we have had 5 votes, (all in voting in the women category)

Anonymous said...

1. Personal Narrative - I'm not sure if this necessarily a good thing. I've seen a lot of women post about the designer shoes or purse that they didn't buy. That's fine, but it addresses only a little more than half of their potential with these kind of posts. It's not often that you find a male post about a designer suit that he didn't buy.

2. Interesting Problems - I haven't really read a lot of interesting problems from either, but of the ones I read, I'd say it's about 50-50.

3. More Fearless - Women can get away with topics that men can't. Chris Rock can get away with jokes that I can't. It's just the way it is. I wouldn't call it "fearlessness", but more a double standard in America.

4. Men Tend to be more Objective - I'd argue that this is a great thing in the world of personal finance. Millions of people in America alone are making mistakes in managing their money. It seems they obviously don't know the right thing to do - or aren't doing it. Either way, reenforcing it is probably quite wise.

5. Interesting layouts? I find this is typically dependant on the blogging platform. I've noticed that when people go to Wordpress (as opposed to Blogger) they have more interesting templates to choose from. That has always been the difference from what I've seen.

Bonus: I've noticed that many women don't talk about making more money. Check out this list here and quite a few are men.

Alex said...

Thanks for your comment LMM. You are one of the interesting "fatal flaw" types.

Anonymous said...

@Lazy Man:

I beg your pardon, why just today I talked about that suit I didn't buy (okay, it was after I read your comment, but whatever). I think you have some great points.

Anonymous said...

Men vs. women aside, you get Major Blogger points for the phrase "Omniscient Frugaloid Drone."

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex,
I haven't noticed whether or not I've noticed better blogs from women or men. I personally like going to personal finance blogs in which the writers have a strong voice / good narrative and not just financial advice. If I just wanted financial advice I'd just stick to using my google reader and reading stories published in big mainstream publications by financial writers/advisors. The beauty of the blog is the ability to connect and also be a bit of a voyeur.

I personally wouldn't spend too much time on a blog in which anyone spent too much time talking about what purse they bought. But I do find it fascinating to see how much money people make and how they budget their money. Men and women in PF blogworld are doing this all the time.

I think some of my favorite blogs include that honesty and a sense of humor. I definitely think Basil from Bizarro World is as daring as any woman.

I also think frequency of updates makes a big difference too. Some of my current favorite blogs include the following:
1.) Blogging away debt (woman)
2.) Bizarro World (great husband and wife team)
3.) The Simple dollar (man)
4.) The Open Wallet (woman)
5.) Boston gal's Open Wallet (woman)
6.) Zen habits (man)

We're new to the whole pf blogging community. Thanks for the link! And I'm glad you left a comment on my poop story. I'm definitely going to spend some time on your site. I think the design looks great. I like the raiders image too.

Mutual Fund Advisory Services said...

MyfinPlanner prepare for a dependable income plan for your Insurance Advisory, Financial Planner, and Mutual Fund Advisory Services with the help of Estate Planning Programs in India. Individual Tax Planning, Estate Planning India, Stock Advisory Services, and Stock Advisory unexpected so you can look forward to a more confident retirement and Financial Planning and Analysis Programs.

QUALITY STOCKS UNDER FIVE DOLLARS said...

Theirs no really easy answer to the question. Most of the people in investment finance are men Of course that does not mean that men are better than woman when it comes to finance.