WSJ vs. Economist vs. FT vs. Businessweek
Hey monkeys!
I've recently freed up a bit of cash, and I've decided to subscribe to a newspaper. I have enough money to subscribe to one, max two different publications. If you were my position, which publications would you subscribe to and why?
PS. I'm a student
How to Choose a Financial Paper Subscription as a Student
Firstly, as a student you should check with your school to see if they offer any free subscriptions to these different publications. You should check with your school's library. With that in mind, below our users offer their thoughts on the various financial subscriptions.
If you were to select one paper, as a student it would likely be wise to select the The Wall Street Journal which is a daily publication that covers all the basics of the US markets and economy.
The Wall Street Journal Subscription
The Wall Street Journal is the most widely circulated of the papers listed in this post and covers a wide range of topics with a great online system with constant updates. However, our users shared that sometimes it can be a bit fluffy, especially compared to papers such as the Financial Times or the Economist.
User @LeggoMyGekko" well summarized the opinions of commentators:
- Americas focused (both cover markets quite evenly)
- Sometimes misstated facts (later corrected)
- Too long (filler words)
- Watered down (allows average Joe who took micro/macro-econ to understand)
I'm going to vouch for a WSJ subscription. You get 16 weeks I think for a really cheap rate as a student. The daily delivery is awesome and you get that 6AM newsfeed of all the important things that are going on. It's actually really useful when coming up with investment ideas and provides you with updated economic data every day.
Subscribe to The Economist?
The Economist is a more European focused paper, based out of the United Kingdom. It is widely regarded as a source of in-depth global journalism. It is published weekly – not daily.
The Economist is a brilliant magazine which I love to read, but its drawback is that in my opinion the business and finance section is too short for a magazine called 'the economist'. I don't really care about all the political stuff and there's a LOT of that in the Economist. That said, the articles are still the highest quality you'll find.
The general feedback on the Economist is that it is arguably the most in depth business/current events publication at the moment.
The Economist Vs. Wall Street Journal
Often times, users are considering choosing between the Economist and the WSJ. Our users shared their comparisons below.
I'm a student too, and I like reading WSJ and The Economist of the choices you listed.WSJ is daily and covers a fairly broad range of topics. What I like about The Economist is how it hits so many different countries in each issue and what's going on in them. I get free access to these publications online via my school's Digital Library System; check with your school first before subscribing - they may offer it for free too.
Financial Times - FT Subscription
The FT is a paper that is written in a style similar to the WSJ with real time updates and coverage of economics, business, politics, and among other things but has a somewhat more European focus. Due to its similarity to the WSJ it is not wise to subscribe to both the WSJ and FT as users pointed out that the FT is on the expensive side.
User @LeggoMyGekko" well summarized the opinions of commentators about the FT:
- Euro focused (both cover markets quite evenly)
- Rarely misstated facts
- Very concise
- Intellectual read - (i.e. connect textbook theories with markets - sometimes at very high levels)
- They assume you're very well educated in finance, accounting, economics, politics, legal, markets - so when you don't understand something, you're influenced to go look it up via google
FT is superior. Concise, intellectual, global, accurate, and relevant. Also, I like the size a lot better, I don't like how thin the WSJ has become. And in addition, the color really stands out in my mind, and when I see that pink I crave some Martin Wolf, what a genius.
Depends on where you live. You're better off reading the WSJ in NYC/America and the FT in London/Europe. While the FT is consistently good, the WSJ can either be great (Buffett writes an op-ed) or awful (columnists who are blinded by their own conservatism, don't understand a thing about the markets).
FT Subscription and Discount
Source: https://sub.ft.com/spa2_5/
FT Student Subscription
While the FT is considered to be more expensive than the WSJ, FT offers a student subscription for ~$166.
Source:https://sub.ft.com/spa_stu/
Should I Get Businessweek Subscription?
Businessweek is a considered to be a more general, summary level review of things happening in the financial news. The subscription is relatively affordable as seen below. Businessweek is more valuable for individuals without a business background.
Source:https://subscribe.businessweek.com/pubs/BW/BWK/Site_Page.jsp?cds_page_i…
Businessweek is a great read for the overall business landscape. Nothing too in-depth, just good info.
BusinessWeek is too light for me. It's like a business magazine that "anyone" can read; for that you may as well just read the online stuff.
Businessweek Subscription Discount
The student subscription is the same for the first 12 weeks at $12 a week. When the normal subscription increases to $15 for 12 weeks, the student subscription will continue to be a $1 a week for the first year. After that - there will be no student discount.
Source: https://subscribe.businessweek.com/pubs/BW/BWK/RL_US_12_for_12_students…
Check out another thread on this topic on Wall Street Oasis.
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Businessweek is a great read for the overall business landscape. Nothing too in-depth, just good info. I'd read the Economist also. As for papers, I think the FT is superior, but it is also a fortune. WSJ is fine if you just read a few sections of it.
As a student, I think snag WSJ and Businessweek. Also, both have student subscriptions so make sure you get that
I agree with TNA, Economist is probably the "smartest" of those publications (however, more periodic i.e. weekly). I myself like FT more than WSJ because it seems more condensed and doesn't have as much of the social fluff.
I'm a student too, and I like reading WSJ and The Economist of the choices you listed.
WSJ is daily and covers a fairly broad range of topics. What I like about The Economist is how it hits so many different countries in each issue and what's going on in them. I get free access to these publications online via my school's Digital Library System; check with your school first before subscribing - they may offer it for free too.
I like the Economist (listen to audio) and Foreign Affairs (very well written but only 6 issues per year). These are good for broad economic and political topics.
I use WSJ online but mostly for financial and econ data.
Definitely WSJ. Constant updates. FT is second.
So, go WSJ or FT (too similar to get both) and Businessweek.
The Economist has tanked lately and is nothing but a liberal politicized media outlet.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!!!
Keep'em coming
I'm going to vouch for a WSJ subscription. You get 16 weeks I think for a really cheap rate as a student. The daily delivery is awesome and you get that 6AM newsfeed of all the important things that are going on. It's actually really useful when coming up with investment ideas and provides you with updated economic data every day.
I enjoy the FT, but don't think it's worth the price. WSJ is much cheaper and provides similar content.
BusinessWeek is too light for me. It's like a business magazine that "anyone" can read; for that you may as well just read the online stuff.
Well currently, WSJ has that $1 a week for 12 weeks, so it's sort of a trial. I'll probably access the publications through my Ipad, so the delivery is a non-issue for me.
From what I've researched from sources 2-3 years ago, it seems that WSJ has really fallen off over the last 10-15 years. With that in mind, is FT generally the best business newspaper?
The Economist is a brilliant magazine which I love to read, but its drawback is that in my opinion the business and finance section is too short for a magazine called 'the economist'. I don't really care about all the political stuff and there's a LOT of that in the Economist. That said, the articles are still the highest quality you'll find. I also have a subscription on the WSJ (European version). It's pretty good, but I like the FT more. However, the FT is 3 times as expensive, therefore I chose the WSJ over the FT. Businessweek I don't know too much about, it's probably good, but if you're from Europe, always be careful with American media cause they might really focus on the US and not give much attention to business-news from other parts of the world (don't know if thats the case with BW though!).
Definitely get student subscriptions. Does your school offer any deals where you get them real cheap?
At my school all of the newspapers that students subscribed to would get placed out on a stand by the entrance to the mail room where no one could watch them. My roommate would stroll by early every morning and swipe some poor bastard's WSJ. Best student discount right there.
ProjectSyndicate.com is a great website in the same vein as Foreign Affairs/The Economist.
Agreed... many resources from top economists.
Correct link is project-syndicate.org
^Thanks for the link. I've read some articles and they're really interesting.
In the end, I've decided to go with the the Economist and WSJ. The general feedback on the Economist is that it is arguably the most in depth business/current events publication at the moment.
Now I picked WSJ over FT mainly because of the price. WSJ would cost me around $100 for the year, while FT would cost about 350. As a broke college kid, that difference is huge. However, some of the "news" on WSJ is ridiculous. For instance, there was an article about the death of a sex researcher in today's edition. I mean come on! That's barely worthy a mention in a tabloid, yet WSJ feels compelled to let it's audience know of this tragic passing.
Anyways, thanks everyone for their input
Hi Yignificant,Sorry for bumping a year-old thread. Just wondering how you are doing with your two subscriptions?I'm presently subscribed to WSJ and Time magazine. WSJ for financial news and current headlines, and Time because it's informational while also fun to read. I used to subscribe to the Economist because of all the hype about it being well-written and being a must-read for the elite and all that, but stopped as I felt it's not worth the time. I found that most of the articles read more like college essays rather than works of seasoned journalists who are actually familiar with the topic. Plus there was a cover piece on the concept of hell, and also an article about the political activism of a Japanese porn star, which don't really strike me as being high-brow. Do you actually find the Economist useful? How many % of articles are you able to cover on a weekly basis?
I ended up dropping the WSJ in Nov. and switching to the FT. To address your question about the Economist; I do find it still informative. I only read about 60% of the articles (the business/finance/other region specific news I find interesting), but I still find that it's quite a lot of material to read.
only do FT regularly. We have free online subscription from business school. I also like CNBC's weekday shows.
WSJ vs FT (Originally Posted: 01/21/2011)
Which would you rather go for? I've been reading WSJ for a while but just finished my 1 year online subscription and was wondering what you guys think I should now subscribe to.
i get both on my kindle. i like both for different reasons.
Can you expand on this? For awhile I had both but I felt that they would often both cover the major stories so it seemed kind of repitive to re-read articles already discussed in the other.
if you can only get one, ft for sure.
i would agree wih with this, my only caveat would be that on the day of any interview id pick up the wsj...from what ive heard you can get the random interviewer who will ask you things about that days wsj (what is on the front page, etc)
All it comes down to is where you're located. If you in the states then the WSJ. The only reason I could think of that someone would choose FT over WSJ in the US is that theyre on a macro focused desk. The FT is all about the global environment where the WSJ will give you the US news in depth and the important global news. The FT is better written but who gives a shit, its a paper not a book, you get your news and its in a garbage pail.
The journal is a well rounded paper where the FT is business only. Not that its bad but I like knowing whats up in the NYC area, quickly check sports, etc.
.
you can get wsj for free online, not so sure about FT.`
You can't get all of WSJ's articles without a subscription though. Granted, you get nothing more than a 120-character teaser from FT, but WSJ is gated too.
If you google the article...you get full access to the article on WSJ.
FT
Yea, you get the WSJ article. For example go to WSJ.com and on the right hand side you'll see an article titled "Schmidt to Sell $335 Million of Google Shares"....click it and you'll see that it's locked...now if you google the article's name and click on the WSJ link, you'll get to read the whole thing.
Silver banana for you
I agree, I have subscriptions to both but if I had to pick one id pick FT every time. The quality & content of the articles are better in the FT. Especially for a fixed income person FT is miles ahead of WSJ. If you arent in the fixed income world then they are both good, wsj has a larger base in the US but I find the FT more relevant and to the point each and every day. I also love the lex column, very good information and food for thought :)
Although I have a subscription to wsj.com, I recently find myself buying the ft more and more. I think that they have much more financial articles than the wsj, which is also a lot about politics. However, The Economist beats both by a mile. It's the perfect supplement to your daily newspaper. The articles there are very sophisticated, funny and a delight to read.
WSJ for a quick read but the FT is just a superior paper.
100% agree.
You're a banker. You can afford both ;) Get both subscriptions for the heck of it and feel smart :D
Another vote for FT. For WSJ, I find myself picking up the paper, keeping Money&investing page and dumping the rest of the paper on my way to subway.
agree with the reasons to choose ft that others listed above. the quality is really unmatched.
and as someone said, if you google the wsj article title, you can read the entire article (for now). plus many blogs will link to popular must-read pieces in the wsj, which means you can have access to popular pieces there too
Ya, just google the article and you can get the whole thing.
For both online subscriptions, WSJ is $1.99 a week while FT is $7.49. Is FT really worth the additional 5.50?
Call them up. I pay about $2.50 a week for the FT. FT also has AWESOME weekend supplements, things like "How to Spend It" and "Wealth" or "Big Boats"
Having subscribed to the Economist, WSJ and Business-week in the past, I can say that FT is nothing short of stellar.
Bulge, just found out there's a student option for $2.50 a week.
FT print hands down is better than WSJ. FT print doesn't have "skip to page 10" like a WSJ article does. Plus its a leaner paper, since its only two sections.
ft is way better, especially for information about currency and commodity movements
Lol, googling wsj articles is one of those things that many are aware of, but few speak of due to the risk of the method being blocked.
FT for daysssss. Much more concise than the WSJ.
But you gotta think about who the WSJ competes with - The New York Times. That is why they have Main Street and Sports. I'd get WSJ for a daily newspaper, but for straight finance FT is the way to go.
Who has time to read both the WSJ and the FT at 6 AM assuming that both are delivered on your doorstep before heading to work during the day? The FT is superior, but say I spend 30 minutes reading the WSJ, then try to read the FT, I will have spent an hour before showering and getting dressed to go to work....
Does anyone read the WSJ/BusinessWeek/Economist etc. on their iPad? (Originally Posted: 01/24/2011)
I love reading the newspaper in paper form but it seems so much more convenient on the iPad. Anyone else have success with this? Is it worth it? Share your experience please
Yeah I do and I love it. I read the NY Times, WSJ, Fortune, Business week, GQ, and all my books on my ipad.
yea i have the economist app on the ipad its pretty easy to flipthrough / read. def recommend it
I read the FT, WSJ and Economist religiously on my Ipad and love it, I tell people its my single most use (reading news/books). Combined with the kindle app for some finance and some fun books, it makes reading and staying up to date with everyone so much easier. While the economist app is great, it doesnt save my place and that pisses me of. However, overall definitely worth it in my mind.
Pointless to pay for WSJ online? (Originally Posted: 04/04/2012)
I was thinking about getting a subscription for WSJ online. It seems, though, that Bloomberg.com basically offers the same thing for free, so it would be pointless to pay for the WSJ. Am I missing something?
Thanks
Meh. I don't think it's worth it. They usually show you the first 2 paragraphs on subscriber articles. You can always Google around for more information if interested. If you have some money to put down I'd recommend a subscription to The Economist, as it provides in-depth global analysis.
If you are still a student you can get a great rate at http://www.studentmags.com
If you gotta have a newspaper though, also consider the Financial Times. I think it's better value for the money.
if you see a wsj article you want to read but you're only getting the preview just google the title of the article try it
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