Hello, my friends! I’m Roger, the proud (and slightly crazy) writer and creator of The Amateur Financier blog. Go ahead, feel free to check it out; I’ll wait.
Are you back? Great! As you can see, I’ve been blogging for nearly two years now, and I’ve written nearly five hundred posts in that time. But I wasn’t always an eager, semi-successful personal finance blogger; in mid-2008, in fact, I was pretty oblivious to the issue of managing my personal finances in general. I was working at a reasonable paying job, earning a healthy income, saved most of it, and even invested some in the 401(k) plan being offered.
I only invested 5% of my income into my 401k, and all of it was dumped into a stable value fund. I wasn’t very knowledgeable about personal finance or managing money at that point. What changed, you ask? Well…
My First Personal Finance Experience
I picked up an audiobook version of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I was starting to date my now fiancée, traveling more than six hours across the state to see her about once a month, and wanted something to listen to on the trip. While I hadn’t given much thought to personal finance or money management up to that point, there was something about this audiobook that made me decide to give it a chance.
As I listened to the audiobook, I started to think; I hadn’t given much thought to my finances to that point, beyond making sure I earned more than I spent and putting the rest in a savings account. But here was an audiobook suggesting that my practice of working and saving would take decades to allow me to retire, if I was ever able to. It opened my eyes to the importance of making my money work for me to reach my financial goals.
But…it was also a bit discomforting. Kiyosaki’s writing style, and the information he relayed in his book, seemed rather risky, even to someone with almost no financial backing. I did some online searching to find a second opinion or two, and found Trent of The Simple Dollar (among other sources). After reading a few posts, I was hooked. I was following his blog on a daily basis, and started to read and comment on several other blogs to boot.
Because of everything I read, I made quite a few changes to my financial life: I bumped up my 401(k) contribution and shifted to investments in stocks, I started a Roth IRA account, I found a credit card with a lower interest rate, and a bank account with a higher interest rate. I was sitting pretty as 2009 started to wind down.
The Turning Point
Then, I lost my job in November, 2008. I was surprised; it came out of nowhere, and in spite of all the assurances that ‘it wasn’t my fault’, I was still upset by the change. Although unemployment kept my head above water, I was still much more strapped for cash than when I was fully employed.
All of my reading had encouraged me to do one thing in such a situation: start a sideline business to generate some passive income. Given my interest in personal finance (and ever increasing level of knowledge), I decided to opt for a PF blog, starting The Amateur Financier in February of 2009. In the time since, I’ve learned a lot about building up a blog, mainly about the difficulty of doing so. In fact, I probably would have stopped my blog, either offering it for sale or simply no longer posting, if I hadn’t gotten some unusual encouragement.
Enter the Yakezie
I read about the Financial Samurai’s Yakezie Alexa Challenge, challenging us (that is, personal finance bloggers) to work as hard as we can to increase the visibility and influence of our blogs. It was one of those things I had never even considered before (or would have known how to, even I wanted to), trying to work to increase my visibility to people looking for personal finance information, and building up a group of like-minded individuals for mutual help in doing so.
By joining, promoting others as much as possible, and doing my best to keep my own blog growing and changing, I managed to greatly improve my online standings. From an Alexa score of 750,000 or so and almost no audience, I managed to get my score down to a respectable 150,000 or so, and greatly increased the number of commentators I had regularly. Plus, I got to follow a number of other interesting bloggers so all in all, it was a wonderful experience.
Unfortunately, I’ve let my blog slip a bit in the time since; since I started graduate school in the fall, I’ve pushed off some of the tasks that I’ve needed or wanted to do with my blog. I let my Alexa ranking fall, and haven’t been as diligent as updating it as I should, but I will!
The Future of The Amateur Financier
But all of that is in the past. With encouragement from my fellow Yakezie members, I’ve promised myself that 2011 will be the year when I improve my blog and turn it into a world class source for personal finance information. Part of that includes sharing my knowledge with those of you here on the Yakezie network, so I can hopefully help others as well. Here’s to an excellent 2011 for all of us!
Hey Rog! Congrats for making it through! Remember, if you can speak forever, you can blog forever, so don’t ever give up unless someone has kidnapped your fiance!
Welcome to the Network!
Sam
I won’t, my friend; and I can assure you, my fiancee would give any would be kidnappers more than trouble than she’d be worth (to anyone but me, that is)!
Roger,
It’s about time the biology folks got some props! Every other member is an engineer. Us bio geeks need sto stick together. :) It’s fun to read your story. Welcome aboard.
Hey, does that white coat look like something an engineer would wear? If it wasn’t for biology, there would be no engineers, or anyone else for that matter!
Heh, it is a rarity to find another person in the bio field running a personal finance blog; I guess everyone else must be out saving the whales. Thanks for the encouragement!
Yup, there’s always room for more bio geeks! Thanks for the welcome, my friend!
Roger,
The site looks pretty sweet! I’ll have to add it to my list of finance blogs to check out. Keep on writing! :)
I’m definitely planning on it (although, my other obligations might have something to say about that). Thanks for the compliments; I happen to like my blog’s look, myself!
Great job Roger on creating a wonderful blog. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for 2011!
Thanks, Elle. I will definitely do everything possible to make this year the best one ever!
Thanks for sharing your story Roger! Looking forward to seeing how The Amateur Financier blog grows in 2011! Keep it up!
Tim
You’re quite welcome; I intend to do everything I can to keep The Amateur Financier growing in 2011 (and beyond)! Thanks for the encouragement!
Thanks for this thoughtful and engaging story, Roger. You ought to be very proud of how your blog has grown and what you have accomplished in two years. I hope I can be half as successful when i hit my two-year anniversary in the blogsphere!
Denise @ The Singer Saver
I’m very flattered, Denise; goodness knows, I have much more that I need to do. If you want to pattern your blog’s growth off of anyone, I’d take a look at Sam (aka, the Financial Samurai); that guy’s blog growth has just been stupendous (to say nothing of starting this whole Yakezie community).
Rodger
It’s great to hear your story, and I’m excited to see what all the others in the yakezie beta class have to say. Good luck in 2011 – if you need anything, you know where to contact me.
Thanks for the generous offer, Jeff; I’ll have to see if there’s anything I’d need to take you up on it. I look forward to what my ‘classmates’ have to say, as well.
Terrific story. Guess we both have Rich Dad, Poor Dad experiences. :) Hope to see more from you in 2011!
Thank you much; I imagine that Rich Dad, Poor Dad has inspired more than its share of people to take a closer look at their finances. I’m definitely planning to make 2011 a year to remember on The Amateur Financier!
Congrats on the turn around and welcome back. The blog looks nice. Interested in learning more about the correlation you saw between Alexa and actual unique visitor hit count. All the best
Hum, I hadn’t given too much thought to the correlation between unique visitors and Alexa rank; I’m not too much of a stat watcher, in all honesty. I might have to keep an eye on that in the coming months, though. Thanks for the welcome back!
I thought I was going to lose my job at the end of 2008 as well (but thankfully I was spared). I think this downturn was life changing for a lot of people in the PF community.
I look forward to getting to know your blog.
It definitely has impacted people (particularly younger people who were just getting into the job market) and not always for the better. If nothing else, it did seem to cause people to pay more attention to their money (and where it goes), which is certainly a good thing.
I feel like I have been reading your stuff for a while…your posts are always more than the simple ways to save a few bucks and I love them for it.
Well, Evan, either you have been reading my stuff for a while or someone’s been posting using your name since late 2009! I do try to make my posts interesting, and I’m glad they are appreciated by my readers. Thanks for reading, and for all the compliments and comments you’ve shared over the years!
It’s interesting how a difficult hurdle, like losing a job, can motivate you to change courses. The company I work for is going through a workforce reduction and yours is solid story of encouragement in a difficult time for my co-workers and peers.
There is something about a tragedy that forces us to either overcome it or succumb to it; either way, we tend not to be the same people afterward. (I might be cribbing someone’s famous quotation there, but the sentiment is my own). I like to think that what I’ve gone through has made me a better person. Thanks for the compliments, and I hope my story helps out some others, as well!
I understand the frustration of being suddenly unemployed. I faced that situation myself in Jan 2010, unfortunately I am still in that situation but in the meantime while I’m waiting to be gainfully employed I decided that this time things will change that this is the year that I turn things around and begin to focus on the life that I was meant to live and have buried myself in PF blogs in the hope of becoming just like you’s.. keep up the great work I’ll be following your progress over the year. Take Care.
Sorry to hear about the unemployment situation; I can relate, it is no fun at all. Good luck getting another job, and in the meantime, learning and growing your money management and other skills is great way to spend your down time. Good luck, and I hope to hear more from you soon!
Great to hear your story Roger! Keep up your energy and your positive attitude, and you will go far!
Will enjoy working with you here.
Thank you very much; I do my best to keep a positive attitude (having a fiancee who refuses to let me be sad is a great help). I look forward to working with you and the rest of the Yakezie as well!
Congrats on completing the challenge! I also had a life changing moment after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. It’s amazing how one small book has impacted so many lives. Good luck with graduate school and keep writing!
Thank you very much, LaTisha. It is a rather powerful book (although, not for everyone, as I noted). I look forward to learning more about you, and all my compatriots in the Yakezie!
Great to virtually meet you. I read your post on Tiger Mother’s with great interest. My husband is Asian (though not Chinese) and thank goodness he does not push our children that hard! I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Thanks for the compliments, Melissa; the more I kept hearing about ‘Tiger Moms’, the more I had to write something in that vein. I think there are ways to push your children to be the best they can be without having to go full out ‘Tiger Mom’ (or Tiger Dad, for that matter). Here’s hoping we get to interact a great deal more soon!
Hi Roger, I’ve visited your site quite a few times and enjoy it! I always enjoy the backstory. Good luck with grad school. Education is the best financial security!
Thanks for the compliments, and the visits. Education is great, although a little more time for blogging (or resting, eating, showering…) would be nice. I’ll do my best to keep providing the best articles that I can!
500 posts shows some real dedication and hard work. Welcome to the Yakezie, and keep aiming for the long run! Sam’s got it right.
Kevin, thanks very much; it sometimes seems that I’m screaming into the night with my posts, but being a part of a community like this reminds me of the potential there is to reach out to people. I appreciate all the encouragement you (and everyone else who’s come to my blog) have given me!
Hi Roger. Nice to meet you. Awesome job sticking with it for 2 years. It’s great to have you on board.
Thanks much; it’s always nice to know that I’m appreciated. It’s great to be on board!
Thanks very much, everyone, for all the kind words and eager welcomes. I appreciate them all, and hope I can return at least a small fraction of the kindness you have shown. Thank you again, and Go, Yakezie!
Hi Roger! I’m so glad you’re back in action with your blog. Two years strong is no small feat :) Good luck with graduate school!
What a life changing incident, so I guess Rich Dad Poor Dad (though controversial) helped you after all (in a weird way) :)
I
Yup, although it’s been tough to keep up with it at times, I can’t seem to resist the siren call of blogging. It is quite true that I certainly wouldn’t have my blog if it weren’t for Rich Dad, Poor Dad (and who knows where my finances would be right now), so I suppose I owe Robert Kiyosaki a thank you for that, if nothing else.
That’s an encouraging post. You have continually rebounded and rededicated to your site over and over again.
Yes, I do keep trying, no matter what life seems to throw at me. Thanks for the kind words.
I’m sure that your journey through school will steal some of your time, but it should also give you a lot more topics to write about!
I think that ‘some’ is probably an understatement, but yes, school has been a good fount of interesting topics, as well.
Good to hear you coming back in force! I’ve enjoyed reading your past articles, and I’ll look forward to your futures one now too…
Thanks for the encouragement; that’s just the sort of thing that keeps me going. I appreciate the kind thoughts.
Congrats on the comeback and good luck!
Thanks very much; I certainly hope to keep on improving my blog (as well as my guest posts here and elsewhere).
Roger, I’m glad you got your groove back and am looking forward to future articles. The number you’ve published so far is amazing!
Thank you very much, Kay Lynn. I do try my best, although it’s sometimes hard to balance blogging with everything else I need and want to do. I do keep trying my best, though!
Welcome Roger!
I also lost my job in 2008, which is when I originally wrote the inaugural 6 sample frugal confessions columns (I originally had intended to become a columnist). It seems like a lot of us here lost our jobs in 2008:)…but what great outcomes!
What will your degree be in?
Thanks for the welcome. It does seem like 2008 was quite the spark for most of us; not surprising, given the horrible economy at the time. My degree will be in chemistry, which will hopefully be in demand when I graduate; I would definitely prefer not to have to search quite so desperately when I graduate this time around. And yes, it’s definitely good that so many of us managed to pull off a good situation from our job losses!
Losing your day job back in 2008 was a blessing in disguise to help you create your website. Your website is great! I like the simplicity and how it’s organized. That’s a lot of blogs, btw. :)
Thanks very much, Nunzio. I appreciate the kind words. I probably wouldn’t have agreed if you told me so in 2008, but losing that job did a lot to shape my life since, mostly for the better. Here’s hoping I can keep up the good work and continue to grow my blog.