Just over a year ago, we wrote a controversial post about personal finance bloggers. Since many of you may not have been reading Aridni then, we thought we’d share this classic blog post with you below. Be sure to check out the comments that arose in response, and let us know your thoughts on the issue.

Confession: I go crazy whenever I discover another finance blog updating the world on that person’s net worth. All of the pie charts, ratios and data comparisons, and growing bars indicated dollars held—AHH!

Instead of counting the fluctuating pennies in our Coca Cola stocks, we should, as financial bloggers, be looking for a way to make investments toward the future. The greatest investments cannot be calculated TODAY—owning a successful and growing business, owning a home that’s in an under-valued market, buying stock in an undiscovered beast like WalMart in 1995, etc. But when you cash in on those investments in forty years at retirement, prepare for the specific $ sign in your net worth to leap upward. Some of that money exists TODAY, yet you cannot show it on a net worth statement. Well I guess you could spend $400 to get your property reappraised every month. Think that’s silly? Not if you’re counting your net worth to the penny—might as well be accurate.

We should be finding ways to establish money-generating avenues that can multiple for the future, not necessarily for today.

And yes, I do make a monthly net worth update that is nowhere near accurate because most of my money goes toward future expectations. I like to chart spending in our personal lives and investments to make sure we’re keeping on track . If you truly aim to be a successful $$ man, I don’t see how you can know your exact worth.

I think that showing the world my net worth updates every month online and throwing a virtual party when I’m up $500 is off the track. Yeah it all sounds cool… yet shouldn’t we be aiming for financial freedom not X dollars in the bank?