Author Topic: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs  (Read 6724 times)

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Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« on: November 19, 2014, 04:35:26 PM »
It is done. After years of putting it off I have finally bitten the bullet and set a goal for myself to be retirement-ready in 10 years.

I am considering creating a blog to document my progress, inspire me to keep trying new things, and maybe even generate a few bucks on the side (yes I know it’s not easy to make much money blogging I’m researching that too).

My question is: has anybody written/read/heard of a blog like this before? Would you read one? Good idea? Bad idea? I am open to any and all constructive criticisms and advice.

Fuzz

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2014, 05:37:10 PM »
My question is: has anybody written/read/heard of a blog like this before? Would you read one? Good idea? Bad idea? I am open to any and all constructive criticisms and advice.

Dude, there are zillions of them, many of them featured on this blog or the forum. Some people find them really helpful. Others don't.


HairyUpperLip

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2014, 01:38:37 PM »
My question is: has anybody written/read/heard of a blog like this before? Would you read one? Good idea? Bad idea? I am open to any and all constructive criticisms and advice.

Dude, there are zillions of them, many of them featured on this blog or the forum. Some people find them really helpful. Others don't.

lol - I'm not sure if this is a serious thread or not...

iamadummy

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2014, 02:14:49 PM »
i did not know that.

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2014, 03:44:30 PM »
@ HairyUpperLip

It's serious though perhaps poorly phrased. I've been trying to find blogs like this and I've found a few but not nearly as many as I expected so I figured either I had found a huge niche (highly unlikely) or I'm just doing a bad job of searching for them.

Any suggestions?

Future Lazy

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2014, 03:51:30 PM »
@ HairyUpperLip

It's serious though perhaps poorly phrased. I've been trying to find blogs like this and I've found a few but not nearly as many as I expected so I figured either I had found a huge niche (highly unlikely) or I'm just doing a bad job of searching for them.

Any suggestions?

I like them a lot. I enjoyed Brave New Life's blog, even though he was fairly wealthy from the start of his blog. I also really like Afford Anything, since she does a lot of different varieties of investing and talks about opportunity costs and stuff in real life scenarios. Both of those blogs inspired my own blog, where I am starting out at basically nothing now and plan to be FI in 10 years and retired shortly after that. I like ambitious goals! I find that having a blog gives me an outlet to talk about finances and life vs. money, since I can't really talk about it with any of my friends - most of them don't even have paychecks. It keeps me on track and gives me a lens to scrutinize myself and others. Nobody reads it regularly besides my DH and a couple friends - so I am also partially writing it for those friends, who ask me questions like "How do I make an autopayment?" and "How do stocks work? My money won't magically disappear, right?" Bleh.

If you start one, you should definitely share - it's fun to root for people! :)

Beric01

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2014, 04:33:29 PM »
I should start one of these progress blogs myself. I'd call it "FIRE'ing Single" or something of the ilk, since that seems to be pretty rare in the blogosphere.

h2ogal

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2014, 04:53:33 PM »

Hi there.  I ran across this blog:  http://www.1500days.com/

I found it very inspirational, it inspired me to actually set my own goal (1000 days to Free at Last) and although I don't blog about my progress, I have been keeping a personal journal daily.  I'm at day 949!  If I follow my savings and budget plans, and the market continues to cooperate I can 'retire' in the summer of 2017. 

I shared my 1000 day goal with some friends and colleagues and now 2 of my friends at work also have 'count down' goals. 

I say go for it!  Putting it out there in the public eye may motivate you and keep you on track.   

JoshFire

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2014, 05:20:58 PM »
In addition to the other positive comments, I think it is nice to read blogs by others in similar situations as my own. As much as I like MMM, I did not "discover" that I was FI with a paid off house at 30. I am 32, have two young kids and a mortgage.

It's nice to have other blogs that I can relate to.

RichMoose

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2014, 10:38:55 PM »
Million Dollar Journey used to be a fantastic blog with a Canadian perspective. He reached his goal earlier this year and the blog posts have really slowed since then. Achieved his goal at age 34!

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2014, 07:03:48 AM »
@ HairyUpperLip

It's serious though perhaps poorly phrased. I've been trying to find blogs like this and I've found a few but not nearly as many as I expected so I figured either I had found a huge niche (highly unlikely) or I'm just doing a bad job of searching for them.

Any suggestions?

I usually stop reading most of them. They get dull pretty quickly. 

Make one though, obviously people read them.

I just wasn't sure if this thread was serious because this forum is a part of a financial blog.... so, you know..

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2014, 07:02:17 AM »
@ HairyUpperLip
Yeah, I see where you're coming from and it didn't help that I really wasn't specific enough in my first post.

@ Everyone
Thank you all for the suggestions. I've got a much better starting point now.

Ricky

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2014, 07:21:21 AM »
@ HairyUpperLip

It's serious though perhaps poorly phrased. I've been trying to find blogs like this and I've found a few but not nearly as many as I expected so I figured either I had found a huge niche (highly unlikely) or I'm just doing a bad job of searching for them.

Any suggestions?
Overall, personal finance blogs are very niche. They generally attract certain personalty types and already financially minded people. There are so many people who need to read these blogs but never will.

mr1500

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Re: Thoughts on Financial Progress Blogs
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2014, 02:04:09 PM »

Hi there.  I ran across this blog:  http://www.1500days.com/

I found it very inspirational, it inspired me to actually set my own goal (1000 days to Free at Last) and although I don't blog about my progress, I have been keeping a personal journal daily.  I'm at day 949!  If I follow my savings and budget plans, and the market continues to cooperate I can 'retire' in the summer of 2017. 

I shared my 1000 day goal with some friends and colleagues and now 2 of my friends at work also have 'count down' goals. 

I say go for it!  Putting it out there in the public eye may motivate you and keep you on track.

Thanks for the shout out and I'm glad I inspired you to do the math! The math will set you free; it really will:
1) Figure out how much you need to live on by writing down every single expense for a year.
2) Multiply the figure from #1 by 25.
3) Tell your boss what he or she can do with the job as soon as you hit the number.

OK, it is slightly more complicated than that, but that is 95% of the battle.