I have been on a quest lately. Many people are running blogs about finances on the internet, but some of them are utter rubbish. If you follow some of the advice from these so called "experts", you'll be broke in no time - or worse, in jail! It's important to educate yourself about money, but make sure you're getting your education from somewhere useful.

Worth a look is this blog about pretty much all personal finance topics - credit cards, debt consolidation, refinancing advice, investment strategies and wealth building. The occasional post might be too specific to be of interest to a broad market, but most posts will be at least mildly interesting to the average reader, and there is an occasional gem as well. Make sure you check the archives, because you can find timeless material that is quite useful hidden in the depths.

It's particularly good on strategy, and thinking about your overall financial situation. Any individual tactic is just a piece of the puzzle, and without a co-ordinated financial plan you cannot possibly get the best benefit out of any given tactic.

I don't like to play favorites, but this new blog is shaping up to be one of mine, I think. It's pretty comprehensive, tackling saving money, investing, reducing debt, paying off credit cards, and creative refinancing ideas, and I am looking forward to seeing how it develops. I think you need a broad mix of topics to truly cover planning for financial independence, and a range including financial advice, personal finances, mortgage advice, financial news, credit cards, debt consolidation, refinancing advice, investment and wealth building is just the ticket.

I like the references to authors like Suze Orman - it's always good to see bloggers making references of any kind, rather than spouting opinions as though they have sone God-given right to give advice ex cathedra. And Suze's advice is good and solid, timeless no matter what chaos is breaking loose in the financial markets.

This is a variation in strategy, a blog about saving money, reducing debt, creative refinancing ideas, interest rates predictions, refinancing for debt consolidation, mortgage refinancing, reducing expenses, reducing monthly payments, and vehicle refinancing. Normally, I prefer blogs about a variety of financial topics, because financial independence requires a strategy across all aspects of one's financial life, so a blog about financial advice, personal finances, mortgage advice, financial news, credit cards, debt consolidation, refinancing advice, investment and wealth building is more likely to add value than a blog about one specific aspect of finances.

I am making an exception in this case, because the mortgage is usually the largest financial commitment a person makes, and managing a mortgage well can make the difference between financial independence and a lifetime of indentured slavery. Many of these posts are very educational, well-written, and easy to understand, and mortgage finance is one area where the average consumer could do with being much better educated - just look at the foreclosure rates!

I think that most consumers could benefit from reading about financial advice, personal finances, mortgage advice, financial news, credit cards, debt consolidation, refinancing advice, investment and wealth building on a regular basis. Money blogs are not the only way to gain this information, but they are convenient, provide bite-sized chunks of information, and if you choose well, provide reasonable quality information. Generally they are written in a readable style and break the information into small enough chunks that you don't get overwhelmed.

I would recommend keeping an eye on the blog at moneytalksabout.com/blog. This blog pulls together RSS feeds from several other good quality money blogs, which saves time and effort in surfing around the internet to each blog. There are good quality original posts from time to time, as well, and Money Talks has a good reputation for no-nonsense content.

As you can imagine, this handful of recommendations is not going to cover the full gamut of money blogs. Quite apart from the existing crowd, new money blogs come into existence every day. There will be hundreds of undiscovered gems available elsewhere. Please add a comment with the URL of your favorite blogs about financial advice, personal finances, mortgage advice, financial news, credit cards, debt consolidation, refinancing advice, investment and wealth building, and tell me why you like them. I look forward to hearing your thoughts - and learning something new!