Information is probably the most valuable asset of an investor, as markets are ultimately driven by fundamental factors.
Both institutional and retail investors would like to be the first to access meaningful insights that could provide relevant arguments for making quality decisions.
In this article, we present seven financial magazines that every savvy investor should know about. Most of them have built a global network of quality sources consisting of experienced journalists, business executives, government representatives, and expert analysts that have first-hand knowledge of current affairs.
According to The Economist, which we’re about to review below, “the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.”
Here are our picks for the best financial magazines:
1. Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) provides some of the most solid insights into financial and economic topics, mostly focused on the US markets. The New York-based newspaper has been around for over 130 years. While the WSJ is thought to embrace the moderate right bias, the journal provides a variety of opinions, but most importantly, it publishes regular analysis of financial markets, covering stocks, bonds, foreign exchange pairs, real estate, funds, and digital assets, among others.
The WSJ is part of Dow Jones & Company, Inc, which is a subsidiary of News Corp. Dow Jones is behind several other reputable financial media businesses, including Barron’s and MarketWatch.
While readers can go through a few articles for free, the online version of the newspaper is available to subscribers only. At the time of writing, the basic digital option costs about $10 per month, but the paper markets a limited offer of $2 per month for the first year.
2. Bloomberg
Bloomberg is an independent media business founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, businessman and former mayor of New York.
Besides the news site and the weekly BusinessWeek magazine, the company offers its Bloomberg Terminal service, which comprises advanced analytical software tools that help investors monitor financial markets.
Bloomberg offers factual daily analysis of all markets, and it can also share its take on various topics. Bloomberg has a crypto section that consists of regular updates on digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain.
Last month, Bloomberg a BusinessWeek issue covered a single story titled “the Crypto Story,” which was written by columnist Matt Levine.
One can access only a few stories for free. Bloomberg’s standard subscription option, Digital Access, is available for about $200 per year. There is also a Student Subscription option available for $10 per month. The Terminal service is aimed at professionals and costs about $20,000 per year.
3. The Financial Times
The Financial Times (FT) can be regarded as the London version of the WSJ in some way, as the two offer regular business and financial analysis and stories that use the most credible sources. Like the WSJ, the FT has been around for over 130 years. The paper is now run by Japanese media giant Nikkei, which purchased it in 2015 for over $1.3 billion.
As of 2020, the FT had over 26 million readers worldwide, a third of which operated in the financial sector.
The digital version of the paper is one of the most reliable business intelligence resources on the web. FT publishes news and analysis on multiple markets and assets. It also provides data and tools to monitor financial markets in real-time.
FT’s standard digital subscription option is available for about $40 per month.
4. The Economist
Another major economic newspaper based in London is The Economist. Founded in 1843, the news and analysis resource is more focused on business, economics, and politics, with a strong emphasis on expert opinion and data journalism.
The company behind the paper is owned by a group of shareholders that include the powerful Italian family Agnelli, as well as Rothschild and Cadbury.
Readers of the Economist are usually familiar with the fundamental concepts of economics and already understand terms like macroeconomics or the invisible hand. The writing style may include a lot of metaphors and allusions, and most articles usually don’t display the author or the editor.
The paper is also well-known for creating special edition covers each year that try to predict major events for the following year.
One can read several articles for free on the Economist page. For more articles, the paper offers a standard subscription that costs about $160 in the first year.
5. MIT Sloan Management Review
The MIT Sloan Management Review presents itself as a research-based magazine aimed at business executives. It is published at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by the university’s business school, known as the MIT Sloan School of Management.
The digital version is updated on a daily basis and focuses on long-form thought leadership and opinion articles discussing a wide range of topics, including economics, technology, and business.
Readers can either buy articles separately in PDF format or subscribe for a discount price of $45 per year.
6. MorningStar.com
MorningStar is a Chicago-based research and analysis platform that provides regular news as well as analysis tools and ratings to help investors make informed decisions. The platform focuses on stocks, funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and bonds, among others.
Investors can select from a wide range of tools to analyze the best and worst-performing assets, create a portfolio, monitor prices, and conduct in-depth analysis. Some of the professional tools include Morningstar Direct, ESG Investing Solutions, Morningstar Reporting Solutions, Morningstar Research, Pitchbook, Morningstar Data, and Morningstar indexes, among others.
MorningStar also provides personal finance resources to help investors become financially independent.
The service is aimed at both institutional and retail traders across the US and globally.
Access to MorningStar news and tools costs about $250 per year, with a seven-day free trial available to newcomers.
7. MoneyWeek
MoneyWeek is a London-based weekly online magazine established in 2000.
The magazine publishes news pieces and thought leadership articles covering UK and global markets as well as personal finance topics.
“MoneyWeek’s mission is to bring you news, analysis and information to help you make informed investment decisions as well as bring you the news that matters to your personal finances,” the site reads.
The magazine’s first six issues are available for free, with the next 13 ones being offered for a total of over $40.
