San Diego paper cuts local personal finance column

As part of its financial belt-tightening, the San Diego Union-Tribune is cutting its personal finance column, which Lynn O’Shaughnessy writes on a freelance basis for the Sunday business section. The newspaper plans to replace it with a syndicated column from the Washington Post.

The change has brought on an effort by some readers to save the column. Scott Dauenhauer of Meridian Wealth Management has started a e-mail campaign to get the paper to change its mind.

On his blog, Dauenhauer wrote, “Unfortunately, the San Diego Union Tribune feels that Lynn is expendable. We all know how local newspapers are having financial troubles and that they are having to make big changes to stay in business, but it seems that throwing out your best financial columnist won’t save you money – it will lose you money.

“I subscribe to the Tribune mainly because of Lynn, I could get delivered to me three other newspapers – I chose the Tribune because Lynn has consistently delivered Personal Finance columns that are edgy, right, and help the people of San Diego (not to mention the rest of the country that reads her).

“I don’t want Lynn’s column to be cut, it is too valuable and has saved countless people thousands of dollars over the years. Simply put, she will make you money if you read her column or prevent you from making stupid mistakes (which don’t always seem so stupid). It is now time to give back to Lynn and thank her for her service to us all these years, WE NEED TO SAVE LYNN.”

O’Shaughnessy is the author of “The Retirement Bible” and “The Investment Bible.”