I write about personal finance journalism quite frequently. I've praised the Wall Street Journal, panned Kiplinger's, and highlighted articles in various local and national publications.

Yesterday I had a chance to review the Orlando Sentinel's "Your Money" section (the Sunday, October 23, 2005 issue), and was very impressed with what I saw. On the front page there were loads of tips that you could use to save money on health insurance and telephone service, plus a prominent pointer to another page where all the local bank rates are listed. The phone recommendations were particularly interesting. I'd heard of Skype (a free Internet phone service) but didn't know about two other services listed by the Sentinel, 1-800-FREE411 (a free directory assistance and calling service) and www.celltradeUSA.com, which lets you transfer a cellphone contract to someone else for a $20 fee -- a great service for those that want to back out of a long cellphone contract.

The Orlando Sentinel also dresses up the front page of Your Money with graphs, charts, and bullet points to illustrate trends in the marketplace. This is ripping a page from USA Today, but it's very effective.

Old-school investors who prefer the long-form personal finance articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Boston Globe may cringe, but the editors at those publications need to realize that lots of people don't have the time to read a 1000-word article, and they want to get useful information fast. This is especially true of younger people, who may be used to getting news and information in short bites, a la the Internet and television news.

The Orlando Sentinel archives a lot of tips and articles at OrlandoSentinel.com/yourmoney. I highly recommend checking it out.mortgage calculator