It may be too late for Christmas shopping; however, I thought it would be of interest to note some of the investment magazines and websites I like to peruse for ideas.
No. 1 is Barron's. I read it cover to cover almost every weekend (while the weekly paper's date is Monday, it mostly arrives at my mailbox on Saturday, a good thing). If you are member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP), you can get it delivered for peanuts — check the SFSP website.
The rest of the pack includes Smart Money. Behind the fa?ade, it has the same owner as Barron's and the Wall Street Journal, and it's a good publication to get down and dirty overviews. Like Barron's, it periodically publishes the results of its picks, a very good idea and more prevalent these days in most all publications. Kiplinger's is good, too, as is Money. Each has some terrific writers.
Money,for example, had Jason Zweig, now with the Wall Street Journal, who edited an edition of Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" and wrote "Your Money and Your Brain, both reviewed in Broker's Bookcase.The truth is most of the publications have come a long way in the last 10-15 years.
The Wall Street Journal is the first name in investing publications. I love it and fear it. Why fear? Because if I read it cover to cover every day, I won't get any work done.
Fortune has gotten pretty good at prognosticating, and Forbes has some good stuff, too. Forbes, however, tries to sell you newsletters. If you are going to buy newsletters, Barron's has a weekly one on stock picks that is reasonable and good.