Middle Round of "Twelve Blogs"--Mostly Personal Finance

Tax Mama Tips for Business Downturns

Ebates Fatten Our Wallets

Homeowner Bailouts Destined to Fail

What Do You and a Credit Card Thief Have in Common?

Perhaps I should have included the "Accounting WEB Blogging Crew" in the Accounting group yesterday, but I definitely wanted it in the "Twelve Blogs." There are about 20 bloggers, including well-known bloggers like Michelle Golden, Eva Rosenberg (her "Tax Tips for Business Downturns" is linked above) and Brian Tankersley and newer names such as Dave Burt (Shirtsleeve Accountants Blog), Linda Cavanaugh (Plugged In) and Scott Heintzelman (I recommend his recent 'Family Finances--Managing Family' post as the Exuberant Accountant).

After including the Bloggers Crew, it seemed like too much to include a blogger who skirts the line between tax and personal finance in much the same way as "Don't Mess with Taxes," so taxguy (he prefers being noncapitalized) now will be considered in the tax blogger area (which happpens to be quite competitive already). Among the remaining nominees, FIRE Finance, Tough Money Love and Wise Bread were ultimately chosen, with Wenchypoo just missing out for the second year running.

FIRE Finance does a nice job of spicing up its posts with visuals, but there is substance as well as style in their posts. Two good examples are "Ebates Fattens Our Wallets" (12/10, linked above) and "Retirement--All is Well if Your HEART is Well" (12/8 or 9).

Tough Money Love pulls few punches in exhorting careful money management, both personally and by our governments. Two examples of his posts are "Homeowner Bailouts Destined to Fail (12/10, linked above) and "Sad Worlds Collide: The Unretired versus the Unemployed" (12/7).

Wise Bread, yet another member of the mighty "Money Blog Network," is a rarity, a personal finance group blog, with at least ten bloggers posting. The format is to provide a snippet on the main blog, with a link to a longer post and any comments. Sample posts include "What Do You and a Credit Card Thief Have in Common?" (12/10, linked above) and "Flexible Holidays are Much Cheaper (and Less Stressful) (12/4).

Congratulations to the awardees. Dare I hope to get the tax awardees in by Saturday?