On my recent trip to Russia, I had time (plenty of it actually -- 35+ hours spent on planes/in airports getting there and back) to think about where I'd like this blog to go over the next several months. I had been playing with several ideas prior to the trip, but I really had a chance to solidify them. Here are the "winners", the features/topics/series I'll be adding over the next month or two:
Resolutions -- I've always been a big New Years resolutions kind of guy, so I thought I'd share my 2006 plans with you and track them monthly. These will include my personal finance resolutions as well as my goals for this blog. How exciting!!! ;-)
Best Personal Finance Magazine -- As regular readers know, I name the best personal finance magazine every month. This next year, I'll be adding a few publications to the mix including BusinessWeek, Forbes, and Fortune. Granted, these aren't targeted personal finance magazines (they are business publications that include several personal finance articles) and it's unlikely that they'll beat reigning champion Money Magazine. But I think they may be able to keep up with the other two. It should be fun to track whatever happens.
Best Personal Finance Website -- In the same vein as "The Best Personal Finance Magazine", I'll also be tracking the best personal finance website -- the site I use the most to get articles and ideas for this blog. The following contenders will be in the competition: Yahoo Finance, Money (CNN/Money), MSNBC Personal Finance, USA Today Money, Smart Money, Kiplinger's, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, MarketWatch, MSN Money, and The Motley Fool. Am I missing anyone?
Net Worth Challenge -- My main personal finance measure is net worth (no surprise there, I'm sure) and I shoot for a 12.5% annual gain each year. This year, I'll be tracking how I'm doing versus the goal and giving details on my trials, successes, and challenges.
How I Got to 100,000 Visitors -- Many people have asked me how I was able to get 100,000 visitors to Free Money Finance, so I thought I'd make a series out of it. I can't promise that there will be a lot of new revelations (much of it is "basic" blog marketing), I'll let you be the judge of that, but I think it will be helpful to at least some bloggers out there.
The Bible and Money -- Many people feel that the Bible/religion should have little to do with money. However, the Bible actually says a lot about money -- how we should handle it, what our attitudes should be about it, etc. As such, I'll be posting every Sunday on what the Bible has to say about money.
Things More Important than Money -- All this talk about money, money, money can lead to a bit of a wrong focus and emphasis on greed. As such, I'm starting a feature that will pull us all back a bit and highlight those things that are way more important than money. (There are actually quite a few of them.)
Money Facts/Stats -- I regularly run into money stats that I'd simply like to share and maybe comment on in a sentence or two. That's what this new feature will be about.
One Year Ago -- In April, this blog will turn one year old. At that time, I intend to highlight posts from the previous year (to the day) that I feel are especially good. With lots of new people showing up every day, much of this will be new to most readers.
FMF Newsletter -- At some point in the near future, I plan to launch a newsletter. I'm still working on the details, but there will be a few bells and whistles that will make it something worthwhile to subscribe to.
So, how's that for a list? Like any of these? Hate any of them? Have any suggestions for other ideas?
I've been reading you for awhile, and I like your blog style. The list of things sound like a good idea. I noticed in your Financial Magazines piece you didn't mention Barron's. (Is it a magazine... Is it a newspaper... Ah, the great debate!)
A 12.5% annual return rate sounds okay, but I'm never a fan of hard targets. Especially since the market can go up or down. I like the idea of trying to outperform the market by some amount... Not easy to do.
Posted by: muckdog | December 01, 2005 at 05:06 PM