Finance Gets Personal

By SHELLY BANJO
December 23, 2007

Money: It's a subject most twentysomethings are wrestling with as they try to control their finances. But it remains a completely taboo topic in most social settings.

Then there's the world of personal-finance blogs, or online journals. In what's called an open wallet atmosphere, dozens of twentysomethings display their debts, savings, incomes and spending habits for everyone to see -- and learn from.

Blogging Out of Confusion

Moneyspeak can seem as foreign as Aramaic to recent college graduates who can navigate their way through Africa but struggle to manage a bank account. Wading through acronyms like IRAs and HSAs can be overwhelming, as can attempts to decipher tax laws. Still, a number of bloggers are trying to take control of their finances -- and are inviting you to watch and chime in.

When Eric, a 26-year-old writer, moved to New York, he was overwhelmed by nearly $40,000 in student-loan and credit-card debt. "I found myself living in an incredibly expensive place trying to make ends meet and my friends just didn't understand or worry about it," he says.

So in September he created a blog called The Captain is Out to Lunch (captainfinance.blogspot.com), where he tracks his debts, investments and net worth with clever graphs and discusses his daily financial follies and successes.

After a month or so, he noted that for the first time he saved more than he spent.

Eric, like most personal-finance bloggers, won't disclose his full name because of the personal information he posts and because friends and family do not know about the blog.

Twentysomethings can find inspiration in blogs. They can watch Mollie's progress toward financial independence at An English Major's Money (englishmajormoney.blogspot.com) or watch Krystal, author of Give Me Back My Five Bucks (at krystalatwork.blogspot.com) save $25,000 for a condo down payment.

For "Beachgirl," who has the blog beachgirlsbudgetblog.blogspot.com, reading other blogs helps her "learn from others' mistakes but also commiserate in the fact that you're not alone in making them."

She recalls a hectic move from North Carolina to Washington D.C. when she forgot to pay her credit-card bill. After reading others' experiences, she called her credit-card company and got the fees waived.

Juicy Diaries

Many bloggers, such as Nicole at Budgeting Babe (budgetingbabe.blogspot.com) and "Wanda" at Well-Heeled With a Mission (wellheeled.wordpress.com), weave personal finance through stories of their lives, making the blogs read like juicy diary entries or casual emails.

"We put the 'personal' back in 'personal finance', " says Krystal.

Comments posted by other readers can be equally helpful.

"If they see me making missteps they will chime in," says Eric from The Captain is Out to Lunch. For example, when he mentioned he didn't qualify for his temp agency's 401(k) plan because he didn't work enough hours, a fellow blogger suggested he ask about exceptions for new hires. Eric says the responses he receives "keep me in check."

For a roundup of personal-finance blogs and information about how you can start your own, visit PFBlogs.org.

Write to Shelly Banjo at shelly.banjo@wsj.com