What online mag/newspaper subscriptions do ERE-ers have?

[Allagash]

Hello, my first post. I'm 46 and early retired and live off passive income from real estate investments. I'm curious, what do ERE folks do for magazine/newspaper subscriptions? I currently read the WSJ.com and Economist Mag online and have subscriptions. I'm thinking of canceling both as I try to trim my expenses in retirement. WSJ.com is very expensive, $30/mo. I like reading it daily, but there is a lot of "noise" in the daily news and crap. Economist is OK but I think has gone down hill being too biased and not sure if I get value out of the time I spend reading it. Barrons and The Financial Times are two others I like but do not have subscriptions. I canceled my online subscription to my local paper. I have had a couple of investment newsletter subscriptions in the past that were very good, but the costs add up. I read a lot of economic & investment related blogs which are free. I mostly like reading business/investment type info, as I find political/current events and other articles just too much biased agenda based mainstream media crap in so many newspapers.

Over the years there have been some really key articles that I have read that have made me a lot of money (and one WSJ article helped lead me to change into a lucrative career a while back). So sometimes it's difficult to put a dollar figure on information like this. Curious what ERE views are?

[George the original one]

Library, if free internet options are inadequate.

[GandK]

+1. No paid subscriptions to anything. For investment information I use a combination of Morningstar for online research and the Seeking Alpha app for smartphone news alerts on my ticker symbols.

Politics is a barrel of fishhooks no matter where you go. Someone on this site pointed me to FiveThirtyEight.com for relatively unbiased political news. I'm enjoying that.

[Chris]

I subscribe to Wired @ $10/year. It's nice to be able to read not on a screen sometimes, and while traveling, I appreciate a magazine's rollable, foldable, disposable nature. I agree with Allagash that there are key articles that you sometimes find while reading, that you wouldn't have found by seeking it out.

Aside from that, my alma mater provides online access most national news sources, even to alums.

[Allagash]

Library is a good idea. I like the idea of going once a week to library to get rid of my daily news addiction which I think is bad. It will be very strange reading physical newspapers and mag's again as I think it's been 100% digital for me the last decade! For investments I no longer have any money in stocks/funds so no need for fund research on Morningstar for me.

[jacob]

I bought a $30/mt subscription to FT when I started as a quant. FT is more international than WSJ and it goes for less noise by trying to do follow-ups so you'll see the same story being followed over multiple days. This also means you'll see fewer stories. FT goes deep rather than wide. I canceled after one month.

If I happen to develop a new interest in something, I may pay $10 for a subscription. In the past 1.5 years I've enjoyed a sub to a couple of hunting and fishing magazines (xmas present). Magazines go in cycles though. This years March issue will be much like last years March issue. Also, the less you pay for a magazine, the more it's intended to get you to buy gear. I'll let these run out.

Mostly, the money is much better spent joining clubs or reading books. Magazines/papers are good for conveniently packaged information and/or "where to buy gear".

[sky]

None

[Dragline]

I have cancelled everything, except for the local paper that DW still wants. If you think you want a subscription to something, you can usually get most of their content by following them on Twitter and subscribing to their content in podcasts. The Economist's podcasts are good and to the point. They seem to believe they are encouraging subscriptions, but I think they are giving away the store.

I get FT at work, but would not buy it if I didn't . "If its free, its for me."

[Ego]

My library subscribes to Proquest Newstream which gives me access to several thousand newspapers online. I just sign in with my library card and read for free. They've got thousands of newspapers and news feeds listed but the FT has a one month lag and the WSJ sometimes has a 24 hour lag. They've got a lot of news feeds that are interesting.

http://www.proquest.com/products-servic ... tream.html

I got a quasi subscription to whatever magazine happens to be thrown into the recycle bin. Usually glossy women's mags. Also, I've got a real subscription to Outside.

[Did]

No nothing. I'm reminded of Jacob's warning that we may be nibbled to death by a thousand hungry ducks.

Or something like that.

[Did]

Having said that I did join a local home brewers club. Social plus hands on demos. I might not renew after 12 months.

[Seppia]

I had a scuba diving mag subscription but as Jacob states got tired of it after a couple years as it became repetitive.
To stay informed I use Bloomberg, they have an extremely well done app and cover mostly economics which is what I'm interested in.
I also recommend the awesome, awesome Masters In Business podcast by Barry Ritholtz, and his blog.
When it rains and I don't go out on Saturdays I buy the NYT in paper.
Other than that, no subscriptions.
I do spend money in ebooks though, as I like to read in English and my local library has very little choice there.

[ducknalddon]

I'l read the economist at the library, I used to have a subscription but stopped because there was too much content and as I paid I felt I had to read it all. Not sure I would agree on their bias, the seem to go out of their way to mention that any statement is opinion.

[Allagash]

Thanks for the responses.

One amazing thing I've done for the last few years is download audio books on my phone free from my library. Turn's my very "non ERE like" automobile time to a university on wheels. I don't even check out a book from library these days unless I can borrow it on Kindle or downloadable audio (if they don't have it digital I have to really want it to schlep to the library to get the physical copy and then schlep back to return it). So cool to be on vacation or at the airport and immediately download most any book I want from the library.

Bloomberg is a good suggestion for news. I've read Ritholz blog for many years but haven't had time for the MIB podcast which I'm sure is great. Only so much time in the day and can handle only so much info!

I mostly read a lot of business/economic stuff because I do a lot of active investing and try to spot trends. I wouldn't so much if I didn't actively invest. I've read a lot of books about Warren Buffett over the years and they always talk about that he has always been a voracious reader of newspapers, mags, books. Once you sift though most of the crap and noise, reading a lot of mags/newspapers can help spot opportunities as an investor and get the pulse.

[Scott 2]

If you're retired, why spend the time and energy to actively invest? Don't you have enough already? Can't buy time.

Usually if I'm interested in something, I use the internet to figure out who leading experts are, listen to them on podcasts/videos, then read a couple books written/recommended by the individuals who resonate with me. If it's a physical skill, I figure out how to learn from someone in person, and happily pay for the time savings. I don't screw with the library, too time consuming, especially when I want a very specific text.

I've found most periodicals are lowest common denominator and/or selling crap I don't need in ways that are hard to resist.

I tried a few subscriptions - Wired, MIT Technology Review, Harvard Business Review. The were fun to read, but I did not find myself acting on the information. For pure entertainment, there are a million other things I'd rather do, so I let them lapse. Wired lasted the longest, until they went all political. I'm not interested in bringing more of that into my life, especially if all it does is eat my free time.

[EdithKeeler]

I have a subscription to the Washington Post on my Kindle. I also have a intro subscription to the NYT, but now that I think about it, I probably need to cancel that.

I can be kind of a news junkie and sometimes get too caught up in it. I was relying on online, non-subscription sources before I got my WaPo subscription, and I was getting too heavy a dose of Kardashians and other pop culture.

I mentioned in another post that I have a magazine addiction, too. However, I've recently found a low-cost fix for that. Amazon introduced free select magazines with their new Prime Reading program. It's included in the cost of Prime, and I can indulge my desire to read light magazines for virtually free.

[Allagash]

If you're retired, why spend the time and energy to actively invest? Don't you have enough already? Can't buy time.

Actually I need something to do with my time so I don't mind actively investing:) I also like investing and reading about the economy, looking at the projects I invest in, etc... it's a hobby.

The reason I actively invest is I need a good return on my capital to pay my yearly living expenses. I've been in real estate a lot of my career and have an expertise in a niche of it so I am able to get a much better return on my capital through various ventures and have more personal control and safety of that return than I could get elsewhere allowing me to be retired in 40's.

I also have not yet reached the "black belt" level of ERE that many on this forum have. And as a single guy my living expenses are about $33k a year (and I'm more frugal than about 98% of the people I know!...I never eat out, no cable TV, zero debt, etc..). That $33k is every single last penny I spend including all recreation, amortizing car depreciation, etc... - no fudging on cheating. I live in an expensive part of the U.S.. I'm still blown away at how some people spend $7k a year on living expenses... I'm a long way from being at that level of discipline and austere living:)

I also think it's always healthy to continue saving money, even if you currently have enough return on your capital saved to just cover your bills. So at this point to stay retired and not work I need to generate a return on my capital annually of well above $33k a year to keep saving money and investing it. I have to actively invest to get a return well above and beyond $33k a year.

[Chad]

My only expensive subscription is Stratfor, which is a website/company that produces intelligence reports similar to what the CIA might produce.

I also have subscriptions to Men's Journal and Outside.

Though, the bulk of my information is attained from free online resources.

[Ydobon]

I recently discovered that my local council offers free online access to a number of general interest magazines, which was a nice surprise. Nothing too groundbreaking, but I will be taking advantage of the Economist and a couple of IT titles

They offer books as well, but it's mostly crap.

[Noedig]

Read the Guardian online because is free and provided you can ignore (or swallow) the perfusive PC lefty bias, worthy and often interesting. https://www.theguardian.com/uk

Read Financial Times as counterweight - have paid sub. Is more the 'How world really works as opposed to how you want it to work' view. Also the Portfolio feature is a great tracker consolidating a view across multiple broker accounts. http://www.ft.com/home/uk

Use Arts & Letters for culture: is kind of an upmarket internet aggregator/Reddit for literary/culture issues and info. http://aldaily.com/