6 Financial and Retirement Planning Blogs You Should be Reading

The more you read, the more you know, and the more you read about retirement planning, financial planning and personal finance the better off you’ll be. You could do a quick Google search and unearth more financial planning blogs geared toward retirement than you could shake a stick at. But financial advice is fairly sensitive, and even somewhat subjective.  You probably want to find a useful retirement planning blog, not a retirement planning blah blah blah…. Financial guru, Jean Chatzky, recommended some of her top picks at AARP. Here we suggest our top 6. Each of these financial and retirement planning blogs has a different focus. That way, you can get a little flavor of something different. Here they are, in no particular order:

#1: Squared Away Blog

As the title blog implies, Squared Away Blog helps you get your finances squared away. This blog is devoted to both early retirement planning and retirement issues, so there’s a little something for everyone. Authored by economics and finance reporter, Kimberly Blanton, and supported by Boston College, this resource talks about issued that are relevant for people in the planning stages and those already retired, says AARP‘s Financial Ambassador, Jean Chatzky. You’ll find zero ads, which is a relief, and the topics range from what’s going on in the current job market and how reverse mortgages are changing to Medicare and Social Security issues. There’s an extensive archive, too, dating back to May of 2011. So there’s plenty of reading material.

#2: Retirement Researcher

If you’re looking for something a little bit different and a lot more serious, Retirement Researcher might be for you. Author Wade Pfau, has a nice set of credentials. He has a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton, he’s the Director of Retirement Research for McLean Asset Management and Professor of Retirement Income at The American College. At Retirement Researcher, you’ll find scores of blog posts inspired by his, you guessed it, retirement research. Current topics include longevity insurance, annuity pricing, how to make your savings last without staying in the workforce, and the importance of getting financial advice. Pfau’s blog is just about as straightforward as they come. You won’t find any cartoon figures or nonsense. What you will find is a lot of information about planning your retirement the smartest way.

#3: Freakonomics

If all this blog had was its name, it’d be worth a click. Fortunately, it’s got a lot more than that. Freakonomics is an irreverent, smart financial blog that’s authored by economist Steven D. Levitt and writer Stephen J. Dubner. Spawned by the book of the same name, then SuperFreakonomics, then When to Rob a Bank (that’s a real book, by the way), this New York Times bestselling duo created their award-winning financial blog that focuses more on money in general. But as Chatzky says, their musing on “seemingly random things” is well worth the read. Trending right now are podcasts and posts on the economics of sleep, the healthcare revolution, the World Bank, and whether early retirement is bad for your health. This is a random blog with a lot of podcasts, and you never know what they’ll talk about from one day to the next.

#4: Get Rich Slowly

Get Rich Slowly was founded in 2006 by J.D. Roth, and is still going strong. It began with Roth’s stories about getting out of debt and investing, and then grew into the mammoth brand that it has become. With several staff writers, you’ll find a wide range of topics from different viewpoints. Roth has a 12-point philosophy on getting rich slowly. And while posts focus on a wide range of topics, such as investing and getting out of debt, there’s also a great foundation of retirement topics. For example, recent posts include using Social Security to boost retirement savings, how much you should save for retirement, the most important factor in retirement savings and retirement life decisions.

#5: Cat I Retire Yet?

As Darrow Kirkpatrick’s tagline, “Save More – Invest Smart – Retire Sooner,” implies, Can I Retire Yet? is about getting retired as soon as possible. Kirkpatrick combines his Eagle Scout values and live simple philosophy with a clear eyed view of retirement resources to offer advice and insight to help you retire early, but securely.  With retirement calculator reviews and advice that covers everything from leisure activities to deep dives into investment portfolios, the mission of Can I Retire Yet is to help others become financially independent.

#6: Boldin

Of course we want to mention a little something about ourselves. Boldin was founded because our own parents needed straightforward advice about how to make retirement work and we realized that there was no one resource talking about all of the various retirement planning strategies: from tapping into home equity and finding a retirement job to exploring the best ways invest to maximize retirement income or get rid of debt.  We have grown to have hundreds of thousands of readers and users of our award winning retirement planning calculator. Our team applies our deep knowledge of personal finance and decision support software to provide articles and tools that enable you to discover strategies for improving your emotional and physical health, happiness and retirement wealth.