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Money Magazine Review

Cost:
1 year: $

Published: monthly

Web site:
www.money.com

Money Magazine is a personal finance magazine published weekly by Time and was first published in 1972. They spend about 2/3rd of their time talking about personal finance and 1/3 talking about investing. Their focus areas are listed below (the share of their content in each area is in parenthesis):

Personal Finance - Money (55%)
These are articles that deal with financial issues, like: saving, budgeting, retirement, taxes, and credit cards. This also includes any content related to spending money on items that: are necessities (your gas bill), require financial planning (e.g. college, healthcare, real estate), or are products that protect or enhance your wealth (e.g. insurance, real estate).
Personal Finance - Spending (10%)
These are articles that profile discretionary consumer products which people don't really need and don't benefit your wealth.
Investing - Outlook (15%)
These are outlooks, analysis, or specific recommendations for different markets or investments.
Investing - Method (20%)
These are profiles of different investment strategies and investment products that investors can use. Some topics they have covered are: looking at stock buybacks, how to estimate the amount of risk you can take, etc.

My Opinion

Overall the articles are not as advanced as a better magazine like Kiplinger's. Too often, they have obvious advice when it comes to investing ("think long-term") and personal finance ("use excess cash to pay down debt"). The difficulty level of the articles is equivalent to the kind of personal finance issues you would see someone talking about on the evening news. There are articles that bait you, like: "Time to Buy a Slice of Buffett?", "The Best Investment Ideas You Have Never Heard Of", and "High Returns, Low Risk." Another article, about a foreclosed house in Detroit entitled, "Is this a $6,900 bargain?" These kinds of articles seem designed more to pique the readers interest rather than educate. I don't think many people really have an interest in foreclosed real estate in Detroit.

When it comes to making more money, they had 3 articles that I saw that recommended: selling your gold, monetizing your hobby (i.e. selling your hand-made jewelry at trade shows), and checking to see if you have any unclaimed money with the state. These are very amateurish approaches to maximizing your income.

My Recommendation

You don't need Money Magazine for anything. Kiplinger's is a better personal finance magazine.

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Resources > Publications > Magazines > BusinessWeek

Money Magazine Review

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