Announcing the Winners of the 1st Annual 2017 Golden Nameplate Awards!

I don’t like beauty contests. Not a big fan of award shows. I DO, however, like to judge. In this case, “Best Personal Finance Blog.”

This post is a way of honoring my favorite reads in 2017. And because AbandonedCubicle.com is such a well-respected stalwart and GIANT in the personal finance field, what better platform from which to recognize talent? A-hem…

A few disclaimers: One, there’s a very fine margin of quality in our vast community. Everyone’s voice is unique and worth taking the time to read. The trouble is, with over 2,000 bloggers in our space, it’s mighty hard to get acclimated with them all. Thank goodness for Rockstar Finance! Regardless, when I come across a gem of a blog, I’m darn sure to come back often for more.

Criteria and such

There are five total nameplates awarded. Thanks to Canva, for helping me craft a nice little dimestore graphic for this illustrious occasion.

Each of the five awards have these things in common:

1. Their content is engaging and often (if not always) unique. Even if it’s a common subject, they write from a unique point of view.
2. Each of these fine writers have “found their voice” and inspire me to do better. You know what to expect.
3. You’re left feeling good about having read what they wrote.

There are some aspect where they differ:

1. Some have more of a minimalist feel to their sites, others are a little busier, but not so busy as to distract from good writing.
2. Some swear openly, some swear with substitute symbols (like “$hit”, “a$$hat”, etc.), while some don’t swear at all. Just goes to show that you don’t need to swear to win a Golden Nameplate award. But a little salt sometimes helps to make the meat taste better.
3. Some write often, some don’t. Pictures may or may not be key to their content and storytelling. Again, each winner uses his or her own style to convey the message, and I dig that.

Bottom-line: Each of these winners is strong in his or her own way. The one common thread? They write good shit!

Without further adieu, here are the 2017 winners of the more-prestigious-than-Plutus Golden Nameplate awards!

In no particular order, the winners are:

DonebyForty.com was one of the first blogs I stumbled upon after gorging on MMM’s posts a few years back. You can immediately tell this guy knows how to write. Check out this ditty on Sunk Costs if you’re not familiar with DBF’s work. (Something is amiss if you’re familiar with my work and not his at this point, but oh well…)

The topics have depth and the posts are succinct. I know that when I’m all read-up on how to save money on cat litter, I can stop over to DonebyForty.com for some meaningful prose. (Tweet THAT!)

BitchesGetRiches.com is one of my newer faves. At first, when I picked them up on my Twitter feed, I was like “Are you serious?!? That’s awesome! Why didn’t I take that name for my blog???”

Sigh… Well, I’m sure as F glad I didn’t, because Cubert comes nowhere close to the combination of crass, sass, and civic class that these ladies bring to the table. Plus, I’m not a woman, and can’t justify using the “B word” flippantly and in jest. As my wife educated me after publishing this post, leave the “B word” to the ladies for reasons X, Y, and Z.

And they’re all good reasons. Bottom-line, I’m glad to have these two fine co-bloggers in the field for inspiration.

Take this recent extract from Bitches to see what I mean:

If only there was some kind of helpful venn diagram that broke down anti-consumerist attitudes about gift giving…

Oh wait! Silly me, I’m a graphic designer! I’m paid to eat data and shit venn diagrams!

Fritz is, quite simply, the BOMB. If you’re looking for “the all around package”, TheRetirementManifesto.com deserves a bookmark in your browser. Not only is Fritz an excellent writer, he’s also a stellar photographer.

And get this, he knows a thing or two about personal finance! What I most appreciate about Fritz is his positive attitude. He wears his love for his family on his internet sleeve.

I’m glad to have virtually met this guy. The Manifesto is like a cup of hot cocoa on a sub-zero winter’s day.

When it comes to entertaining stories with a personal finance twist, look no further than MissMazuma.com. Granted, you need to practice some patience, because she takes her sweet time between putting out new posts. The Ms. must be too busy landlording to satisfy us greedy readers, or, she’s off on some excellent hiking adventure…

I love her style. Only MM can write a post about how to dye black jeans and make it entertaining. But her best work is when she takes on epic fails, head-on with a self-deprecating sense of humor (that we blogger hacks all strive for.) If writing were edible, Miss Mazuma would be Good Eats.

FreedomisGroovy.com has a kick-butt logo, a spit-and-polished website, and some mighty fine writing to round out a complete package. I sometimes give him shit for being such a crackpot about “too much government this” or “too much government that”, but he means well. *wink!*

We do agree on a couple of things: Cubicle jobs suck, we’d rather be hiking in a national park, and pro sports are a waste of time and money.

Mr. Groovy, and his equally talented better half, Mrs. Groovy will keep you guessing. There is some serious brain-power at play, but it’s accessible content written with some potent sarcasm and humor. Make this blog a regular in your rotation!

Looking ahead to the 2018 winners

Hopefully you’re all inspired by this collection of talent. It wasn’t easy to exclude heroes like Mr. Money Mustache, J. Money, and Mr. 1500, but they’ve got the lifetime achievement nameplate already etched.

For all of you bloggers out there who stumbled on this post today, go get inspired by the mighty five 2017 nameplate winners. Let me know if I should keep an eye on you in 2018. Nothing says “success” like having that little golden badge on your right-nav bar! *double wink*

Happy New Year!