Burst Blog

Finance blogging is not boring.

You might not be interested in the economy, but I can assure you that the economy is interested in you. Finance and economy-relatied topics are, often as not, the story behind the story. Interested in Apple and all of its products? I can assure you that you’ll find something interesting about their story in the broader markets. Love your Google searches and applications? How about the high-quality food at Whole Foods? The blood-red excitement of Ducati motorcycles? These are all very interesting market stories, and the stories of the stocks behind these names (AAPL, GOOG, WFMI, DMH respectively) are equally interesting - in some cases more so. Do a quick news search for any of these names and you’ll see what I mean.

However, there is a much more pertinent reason to start to get your head around the markets. It involves your retirement - or your potential lack thereof. General sentiment among political figures (across both sides of the aisle) suggests that Social Security will likely not be around for the internet generation - at least as we know it. We will instead, in all likelihood, have to provide for our own retirement (or at the very least, supplement it ourselves) as best we can. As a general rule, even if your idea of investing is a generous donation to the Bank of Sealy or the Bank of Serta once in a while, you still have the corrosive efffect of inflation to deal with. That stash of cash will decrease in purchasing power over time - often in a much more serious way than you can conceive of. It wouldn’t hurt to put your money to work for you in some kind of market vehicle that you understand, if only to be able to fight the effects of inflation.

To do that, however, it behooves you to understand what you’re doing and there is no shortage of internet sites and blogs that can help you do just that.

Shifting gears here for a moment - let’s say you’re a finance blogger. I know that the above notes are not news to you, and that you might find them to be so basic as to be almost irrelevant. You’d rather talk about Forex trades or Iron Condors or cup-and-handles. However, I want you to think for just a bit about how you can serve a broader audience - the millions of people who genuinely need your guidance in figuring out market basics. If you could, spend some time talking about the basics of such topics as inflation. Talk about how money origination is really debt origination. Talk about the corrosive effects of inflation on purchasing power. Talk about the different types of price indexes (producer, consumer) and what’s included - and what’s not. Talk about the things that you think every person should know about the markets that surround and affect them.

I think your audiences will grow for it, and I know they’ll benefit from it.