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Do Finance Trends Matter?

Today I'm going to pose a simple question to you, the reader. Why do you read Finance Trends Matter?

Now, you don't have to answer this question, but thinking about it might help us all figure out what we're doing here on this blog. It may also help us understand why people spend time on any finance or investing blog, and what we hope to take away from our visits.

Do we visit investing and finance blogs in search of education, uncovering investment ideas, entertainment, or fellowship with other readers? What motivates us, the reportedly small percentage of web-browsing folks who count themselves as blog readers, to visit sites such as this?

In order to better understand this issue, I will point the question back to myself. Why do I write this stuff? What is the purpose behind Finance Trends Matter?

I started Finance Trends as a new outlet for sharing my thoughts and notes on financial news, world events and culture, and investing. Since I started writing the blog, I've found that it also serves as a journal that helps me record and clarify my thoughts on any number of issues.

The articles that I originally posted and commented on helped me to organize and record a growing stack of news clippings and article notes related to the economy, energy, commodities, precious metals, and the world's stock markets. The posts also helped me to hone my blogging and writing skills in between article submissions to Financial Sense Online and Safehaven.com.

Over time this blog has evolved a bit, from a kind of free-form journal of business and world events stories, to more of a "bigger picture", trend-focused site. The level of information available to us today is unprecedented; it's easy to get lost in the noise of daily events and a 24-hour news cycle. This is why we try to limit our intake of general mainstream news/gossip, and instead, focus on what's important to us.

As I mentioned in last year's radio interview with Financial Blog Watch, we find it crucial to selectively sift and choose the information we receive daily, and organize it in a way that helps us understand more about the markets and our world. That's what we try to do here.

You'll still find all the big news and off-beat, fascinating, and often-overlooked items that came before, only now I try harder than ever to connect these disparate stories and themes together so that we can step back and place these items into the grand scheme of things.

I think we'll also continue to branch out a bit, and look more at the non-finance side of life. You're likely to find more articles here on freedom, art, culture, music, and other great things. Of course, we'll relate these back to our main themes whenever relevant!

But enough about me and why I write this site. What I really want to know is: are you getting what you want out of Finance Trends Matter?

Tell us what you think we should be doing to improve the site. What would you like to see more of? Are there any special features we might add or topics you'd like to know more about?

Maybe you have some ideas on how we can create more value or reach others who haven't seen this site, or don't read finance blogs in general. I am always interested to hear what our friends and readers (in over 80 countries) have to say.

Thanks for your ideas, and for reading Finance Trends Matter!

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