10 Bloggers That You Should Follow As An Investor

The biggest resource for retail investors is no doubt the internet: forums, threads, podcasts, and blogs. Blogs are the best bet, as they’re credible and rarely anonymous. This means the background of the person giving advice is taken into account, as well as a history of their comments to see if they’re contradictory. In general, you want to follow various blogs and not just one, so you can diversify the information you’re getting, which can help diversify your investments.

Here are the top 10 blogs to follow:

Crossing Wall Street – Eddy Elfenbein

Website: http://www.crossingwallstreet.com 

This is perhaps the most market-focused blog on the list. Eddy focuses on providing insights into companies and markets, which is greatly helpful for those equity investors. Eddy is a buy-and-hold investor and has consistently outperformed the market.

Portfolio: Eddy’s 25-stock Buy List has beaten the S&P500 by 50% over the last 13 years.

A Wealth of Common Sense – Ben Carlson

Website: https://awealthofcommonsense.com

Ben likes to point out that if you can’t explain something to a six-year-old then you don’t understand it yourself. Well, practicing what you preach seems to be another box ticked for Ben as he writes in an incredibly easily digestible way. Difficult concepts are broken down into layman English.

Tip from Ben: Markets do not care about the news. The goings-on of President Trump and his job will seldom make a significant impact on the stock market. Instead, it is the expectations that matter. Therefore, “markets move based on relatives, not absolutes”.

The Reformed Broker – Josh Brown 

Website: http://thereformedbroker.com/ 

Josh runs a fun and vibrant blog and has some great all-round insights.

A great piece of advice form Josh is to not get too caught up in time series data, especially economic data, as you cannot predict how long the trends will materialize for.

Tip from Josh: “Trends can persist for much longer or shorter periods of time than what you may have gotten into your head is reasonable or rational. They can also reverse at any time or dematerialize into trendlessness. There are no formulas to determine these turning points in advance. If there were, we’d all use them.”

The Simple Path To Wealth – Jim Collins

Website: http://jlcollinsnh.com

Jim runs a great investment blog to follow because he equally ventures into financial independence. After all, most retail investors are investigating for reasons such as to retire early or gain financial independence. For this reason, Jim is accessible and keeps his investment strategies simple.

Tip from Jim: Recognize property as, on paper, literally the worst investment. It is illiquid, it requires constant maintenance and repayments, it costs an awful lot to buy and sell, it usually generates low returns, it yields no dividends, it’s geographically limited and it consumes a lot of our time.

The White Coat Investor – Jim Dahle

Website: http://whitecoatinvestor.com/ 

Jim’s blog appears to be a niche one, but it isn’t. The idea was to target investment advice and issues that high-earners face, but in reality, the topics covered can be applied to most of us. Articles on this blog tend to be long-form, going into great detail.

Tip from Jim: DIY. Jim claims you absolutely should try and have full control over your investments and perform them yourself. This will not only be more fun, but it will save you lots of money.

Oblivious Investor – Michael Piper

Website: http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/ 

Michael is a very well-known author and blogger. The reason for his writing success is down to his ability to articulate practical advice for the everyday person. Much of his advice is investment and diversification focused but loves to explore personal finance such as reducing expenses.

Tip from Michael: Index funds win. Choose index funds over actively managed funds. It’s easy, and as they only match the market’s return, you pay less on expenses (0.2% instead of 1.5%, for example).

Re-inventing the way you invest – Roger Montgomery

Website: https://rogermontgomery.com/ 

Rodger is an Australian investment manager who has seen success as an analyst, strategist, fund manager, and finance author. His website covers a wide range of topics and not about investments (for example, whether the Australian government should be increasing their debt).

Tip from Roger: For Australian investments, keep in mind the profoundly growing middle-class in China. Many Australian products are sought after in Asia, particularly in health and beauty, vitamins and infant formula.

Natalie Bacon

Website: https://nataliebacon.com/ 

Natalie is the first, but certainly not the last female blogger mentioned on the list. From lawyer to a financial planner to entrepreneur. Her focus is on helping high achieving women to maximize their lives. Much of this comes through how to manage money and invest. Natalie has a podcast and takes a holistic approach to her advice and is greatly motivating.

Tip from Natalie: Set financial goals first and foremost. Ask yourself why you want to invest? Is it for short term gains, to afford something, or to retire early? This is necessary before you start throwing money around.

Afford anything – Paula Pant

Website: https://affordanything.com/

Paula is a very entertaining financial blogger who aims to tell her story as a successful real estate investor and is honest with her mistakes (so you can avoid them!)

Tip from Paula: Follow the 4% withdrawal rule if you’re planning on retiring on index funds, but the same amount of wealth/assets may equate to 6% if retiring on rental properties.

Nerd’s Eye View – Michael Kitces

Website: https://www.kitces.com/

Michael is an author, speaker, and partner at Pinnacle Advisory Group, who have over $2 billion assets. Michael’s technical approach to how the financial planning industry works is extremely enlightening, for both, consumers and investors. He covers financial products, the system itself and how the latest regulations affect your investments.

Tip from Michael: Financial planners should consider monthly fee models, instead of upfront fees, to get custom from young high-earners with low assets. If this is taken on board, keep an eye out for financial planner companies offering monthly fees. 

Final word

A key take-away here, or disclaimer, in fact, is to not rely on these bloggers. Use them each as different viewpoints and resources to inform your own decisions. You can just mirror one of their portfolios, but you should still take responsibility. If you get too comfortable and reliant on others’ portfolios, then you will make mistakes. You will certainly not understand how to invest yourself if that blogger stops putting out tips, too.