Oregonian personal finance columnist is retiring

Julie Tripp, the personal finance columnist for The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, has announced her retirement from the paper. She tells Talking Biz News that her last day is Nov. 30.

“Just like Miss Gooch in Auntie Mame, I’m going to live! Live!” says Tripp. “No plans to write anything, but who knows? May freelance a little later, do some travel writing. I’m trying not to commit to a darn thing. They don’t know yet what they’re going to do about replacing me.”

Tripp started reporting at The Oregonian on Sept. 18, 1978. She joined the newsroom’s business department in 1983, then began her “Managing Your Money” column in 1987.

Some of her recent columns have focused on topics such as municipal bonds, the state’s kicker tax refunds and how to make sense of the mortgage industry mess. She is one of the employees accepting the paper’s recent buyout offer.

Earlier this year, Tripp one first place in the business column category in the 2006 Excellence in Journalism competition from the SPJ Pacific Northwest Chapter, which covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

To commemorate her retirement, the paper is asking readers to send in the best advice she has given them and how it made a difference in their lives. Read more here.