This is the second of three posts I’ll be sharing this weekend about personal finance in other countries. While my U.S. readers are spending their Thanksgiving holidays eating turkey, watching football, and visiting with family, it’s the perfect opportunity to perform my annual roundup of personal finance sites from around the world. As usual, if you have a favorite non-U.S. personal finance site, please let us know in the comments.

Canada
For additional Canadian financial sites, check out Canadian Capitalist’s lists of Canadian financial blogs and Canadian financial links.

• Four Pillars — “We specialize in investing, real estate, personal finance and even some frugal posts too.”
• Canadian Capitalist — “I used to record down my thoughts and observations and actions about credit cards, loans, investing etc. in a spiral-bound notebook. When I discovered blogging, I thought some of this stuff might be interesting to other people.”
• Canadian Dream: Free at 45 — “Saving to retire by the age of 45. I started this blog because I thought the world could use a bit more coverage on retirement planning than it normally gets in the media.”
• Million Dollar Journey — “I hope to grow my net worth to at least $1 million by the time I’m 35. Is the goal too high? Am I naive? I don’t think so but only time will tell and this blog will be here to keep track along the way.”
• A Dawn Journal — “A blog on personal finance, investing, entrepreneurship, and more.”
• Canadian Financial DIY — “Personal experiences, analysis and assessments of a mid-50s Canadian. I take a do-it-yourself approach, covering taxes, investing, ETFs, portfolio and asset allocation, insurance, annuities and related book reviews in Canada and the UK.”
• Michael James on Money — This blog bills itself as “an amateur’s clear explanations of personal finance and investing.”
• The Dividend Guy Blog — “One guy’s journey to passive income through dividend investing.” I’ve been reading this blog a little lately — I’m fascinated by dividends, and am weighing them vs. index funds.
• Canadian Personal Finance Blog — “Personal finances and consumer concerns, essays, stories, examples and how-to articles with a distinctly Canadian point of view.”
• Canadian Money Review — “This is a blog that cares and advises you about growing and safeguarding your money: personal finance, investing, consuming, saving, etc.”
• My Money — A big-name Canadian personal finance portal, sponsored by Canadian Business Online.

Latin America

• El Blog Salmón — “El Blog Salmón es un weblog colectivo dedicado a la economía, las finanzas y el mundo de la empresa, sin olvidar la economía doméstica.” Or, according to Free Translation: “The Blog Salmon is a collective weblog dedicated to the economy, the finances and the world of the business, without forgetting the home economics. “
• Ahorro diario — “Ahorrodiario es un weblog colectivo dedicado al ahorro: compras y hábitos inteligentes para gastar menos y sacarle más partido a nuestros recursos.” Which, in J.D.’s translation, means roughly: “Savings Diary is a group weblog dedicated to savings: shopping and smart habits for spending less and removing the things that part us from our resources.”
• Dinero.com — Based in Colombia, this is a companion site to a Spanish-language personal finance magazine.

Australia/New Zealand

• Sorted — This is a New Zealand government-sponsored site about saving, budgeting, and other finance topics. Great stuff.
• Simple Savings Australia — Recommended by a GRS reader. Most (all?) of the content is “for-pay”, but it looks like there’s a lot here.
• Cheap as Chips — “A personal finance blog with an Australian spin…. I am just a simple person trying to save a few cents here and there.”
• Debt Diet — “Working hard to eliminate $56,722 of consumer debt and become debt free by May 2010…”
• Retire at 40 — This personal-finance blog from Andrew Chilton is based in New Zealand, and features some excellent discussions of topics like budgeting, lifestyle inflation, and financial independence.
• Money Minded — “MoneyMinded consists of two adult financial education programs developed to help people build their financial skills, knowledge and confidence. The development of the MoneyMinded programs was initiated and funded by ANZ with contributions from community sector and education experts, including the Australian Financial Counseling and Credit Reform Association.”
• Finance Viewpoint — “I am just a regular investor trying to make a buck. I have lived and grown up in Australia and for now working in the states. This site provides a way to share my views and keep in touch with the Australian finance scene.”
• Enough Wealth — “How much is wealth is enough? How do you get it and keep it? How can you pass it on to future generations? An Aussie’s thoughts on all these topics and more.”
• My Journey to Eliminate Debt — “My goal is to pay my $152,377 mortgage in 5 years: 30th June 2012. I started this blog to stay motivated and I would love to hear from other pf bloggers out there!”
• Good Returns — A finance blog out of New Zealand.

United Kingdom (and Ireland)

• Plonkee Money — “I’m Plonkee, I live in England and have absolutely no personal finance qualifications whatsoever, except a little personal experience. I love to write about personal finance, especially thinking about why I and others do things in a certain way — including those times when it’s not exactly the best way.”
• Notes From the Frugal Trenches — “When desperate times call for desperate measures - British woman in her 20’s who used to love handbags, shoes, days spend @ the shops & nights @ restaurants and bars - instead now I’m on a journey in eco, frugal living while living in London and somehow getting in control of my finances instead of letting them control me; it’s about time!” This blog makes me long to return to England.
• The Student Finance Blog — “Here at studentcashflow.co.uk Goldie will show you the way on important issues such as student banking, budgeting, saving, and even making more money.”
• This is Money — A sort of U.K.-based MSN Money. “This is Money’s simple aim is to help you save money and make money in all aspects of your life. We do this through our award-winning news and advice-packed features which can help you fight back against profit-hungry financial companies.”
• Rob Thomas Blog — A U.K.-based property blog. “If my blog stimulates you to action, makes you a more savvy investor, opens up ideas for new approaches I will have achieved my goal.”
• Moneywise — I picked up a copy of Moneywise at Victoria Station &mash; I thought it was great. This magazine (and web site) offer a great balance of information for people at all levels of money management.
• You and Your Money — This is the official web site for an Irish money magazine. I think this is a great choice if you’re looking for Irish personal finance advice.
• The In-Debt Net — A great blog about fighting your way out of debt. Excellent stuff, Annie!
• The Simple Pound — “SimplePound is a blog about personal finance from the perspective of a recent graduate. The recent graduate - you might have guessed - is me. My name is Kirsten, I am 21 years old and about to move to London to start my first job in the City. I am determined not to waste (most of) the money I’m earning but to learn how to make it work for me instead.” Dormant?
• Money Saving Expert — “The aim is to help you save money on anything and everything by finding the best deals and beating the system…UK’s most popular independent money site with over two million visits per month.”
• Simple Savings UK — Recommended by a GRS reader. Most (all?) of the content is “for-pay”, but it looks like there’s a lot here.
• Moneywell.co.uk — more personal finance advice from a U.K. perspective.

Europe

• La parole est d’argent — The Word is Money is a French weblog about personal finance and small economies. (Ugh. My ability to translate French is terrible.)
• Plus Riches — A French money blog, and a good one from the looks of it. I can’t actually read French, so I’m going of the look and feel of the place.
• Espirit Riche — “Changez votre point de vue sur largent.” In English: “Change your point of view on money.” This blog recently reviewed a book I’m reading now: The Magic of Thinking Big. Unfortunately, I cannot read the review, and the free translation sites aren’t really useful for big articles like this.
• Banche, risparmio, investimenti & trading — An Italian personal finance blog! I love the free translation of the blog’s about line: “Opinions, you comment on and reflections on economy and finances, confront and tables of synthesis of the offers of the banks and of the online accounts of depot, discussions on the investments for the small savers.” Right. Enjoy!
• A fin de mes — A Spanish money blog. “A Fin de mes es un blog sobre economía familiar, donde ofrecemos trucos, guías y recursos para ahorrar mes a mes. También hablamos de buenas ofertas que podemos encontrar para que nuestras compras salgan más económicas.” Or: “A fin de mes is a blog about family economy, where we offer tricks, guides, and resources to save from month-to-month. We also discuss good deals so that we can make more economic purchases.”
• Sin Dinero — From Spain: “A modest website that seeks to fight against consumerism and to promote free things over things that cost money.”
• Finanzas — Another personal finance blog from Spain.
• Milionarul Mioritic — Last year Luca shared his Romanian personal finance blog, which he says is about learning to make money.
• Geldsligkeiten beim Journalistenbüro Stroisch — A German money blog! And if my German were not so rusty, I might be able to tell you a little about what it says.
• Konsumfreiheit — Another German money blog.

Asia

• KC Lau’s Money Tips — An English-language blog “about personal finance topics from a Malaysian’s point of view. Hopefully with better financial education, you will live a better and balanced life.”
• Financial & Legal Matters — This blog offers a mixture of financial, insurance, and legal-related tips and advice. It’s written from an Asian (Malaysian) perspective.
• Wonder, Wealth & Wisdom — A Malaysian blog that focuses on three topics: developing purpose, building wealth, and striving for personal development.
• MoneyLIFE — Published in India, but written in English, MoneyLIFE is “is a fortnightly magazine with unique features and powerful pedigree. It empowers the individual to invest and spend wisely by offering hard facts, insightful opinions, wider options, useful tips from the world of money.”
• Personal Finance 2.01 — “Welcome to India’s first online weekly on personal finance. The purpose of this site is to increase our Financial IQ. This site aims at organizing information on personal finance.”
• GalaTime — GalaTime is a little more specialized than most pfblogs I link to. It’s specifically about Indian capital markets.
• Moneylando.com — This site is written in Chinese. (It may be based out of Taiwan.) I have no idea the nature of its content, but somebody e-mailed it to me when I asked for foreign-language personal finance sites.

While compiling this list, I also stumbled across Gumtree, which is like craigslist for the rest of the world. Finally, for Americans serving in the armed forces, Money for Military is a daily blog about personal finance, investing, taxes, etc. as they apply to military members.” Cash Money Life also shares stories about “military money“.

Things have changed a lot in the past year. International personal-finance sites have become much more organized, and networks have appeared. Each network contains a blogroll listing many other sites, and I don’t have the time to look at every one. (It used to be easy because there were only a handful!) As a result, this list is losing much of its utility. I’m not sure I’ll publish it next year.

(I still haven’t found any African personal finance websites, and the only one recommended to me (Today’s Naira) seems to have gone dormant. If you know of one, drop me a line.)

This article is about Tools  Thursday, 27th November 2008 (by J.D. Roth)