On December 12th I celebrated the three year anniversary of this blog’s creation. Although still nothing fancy or glitzy (and probably never will be), I’ve settled into a weekly post routine that generally provides a monthly recap, occasional buy post, strategy brainstorm and/or general meanderings on topical subjects including taxes and or politics. The common thread tying all this together has been investing in general with an emphasis on dividends.
Over the years, I’ve seen blogs come and go, most recently Income Surfer. Some announce their closure and others just fade into the sunset. Of the 447 DGI blogs I encountered since I started, 257 remain active – perhaps less once I audit. That attrition rate (14.2% annually) is greater than I would have expected. The reasons, when known, range from losses in the market (generally high yield issues), lack of patience while the process takes hold (desire for instant gratification), realization of the time involved blogging and the inability to successfully monetize their efforts.
The other end of the spectrum includes the likes of Dividend Daze who embrace the opportunity for success without any illusions of grandeur. Happy Blogiversary by the way!
I would guess I reside somewhere in between. My start was literally therapy. Prescribed during rehab to assist in my recovery from a series of strokes. I visit – and read – a significant number of blogs weekly. I usually comment only when I feel my viewpoint is not redundant to other comments – and I have something worthwhile to add. This due to the effort required to type – what I could do before in 5 minutes now requires 20. You will not find stock analyses in my blog as I did lose most mathematical reasoning. The weirdness is, I can still do Algebra (ROI calculations for one). You will find strategy assessments albeit with a slightly jaundiced view.
A friend of mine calls a couple of times per month to run business ideas off of me (Devils Advocate scenarios). He claims that I can take a shine off an apple even better than I could before the strokes. Apparently there are some benefits – or perhaps I choose to see the positives in life (maybe both?).
Anyway my focus remains providing a map for my wife to follow when the time arises with a reduction in breadth and an emphasis on the central investing thesis. To those who have shared – and perhaps enjoyed – this journey I thank you for your support. To those I offended (unintentionally) I apologize and will attempt to be less offensive going forward.
As the season is upon us I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and an even better 2018!
Seeking Returns 
3 year is pretty awesome – I should look back and see when I started mine – I’m probably somewhere into my 2nd year right now.
I do agree that a lot of blogs kind of fade out because people think they can monetize this easily but it takes ages to get a readership base big enough to support any sort of income generation, not to mention luck and a ton of good content. Results matter too and maybe some people just didn’t like what they were seeing either and/or they just wanted to live their lives and didn’t care for the writing part of it. I do wonder what’ll happen when we hit the next recession and the results start looking ugly.
My whole purpose with my blog is to keep track of my progress and keep me honest when it comes to my expenses, asset allocation and the like and I think it’s done a great job in that regard.
Here’s to another 3 years for us.
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I agree … for each Jason Fieber there are dozens that have failed. Though I have a handful of followers/friends, my style is probably a little crusty for some. My guess is more blogs will drop during the next downturn as well.
I don’t track expenses as you do but otherwise we’re similar. When you veer a little off-course the write-up becomes the great equalizer! Here’s to a great third year for you (you started 5 Nov 2015) 🙂
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Congrats on reaching your milestone! I’m coming up on my two-year blog-i-versery on the 1st of this year and I will be the first to admit that there have been trying times. The toughest for me was finding a direction. I struggled with the question of “how do I create value?”. I would blame this for a lot of blogs closures that I have seen during my time blogging.
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Appreciate the visit and an early congrats on yours. Value is a tough one by definition – yours, your audience, potential advertisers? Then the next rabbit hole is alienating none of the above which in my case resulted in writers block at times.
My suggestion (to any blogger) is to stay true to yourself and your beliefs first and foremost. Don’t ignore the comments you receive. Read opposing viewpoints (I tend to learn at least something from the other side). Then (like Field Of Dreams,” build it and they will come”) 🙂
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3 years is quite the milestone. I recently celebrated it myself. Perseverance is an important part of being a successful blogger. It’s much tougher than many realize it is.
Congrats on making it this far. You’re doing better than 99% of bloggers out there just for not folding after six months!
Sincerely,
ARB–Angry Retail Banker
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Hmm … I thought it was stubbornness rather than perseverance. Thanks for the enlightenment 🙂
I had to take an even closer look at the percentages and my initial pre-audit take is apparently low. But I think you flatter me with the 99% complement! Thanks for the visit.
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Congrats on the milestone! And thanks for the shout out. Blogging means a lot to different people. You are right, some are looking for the instant gratification or quick buck. Others like myself, use it more as a creative outlet and an opportunity to network with like minded individuals that you may not get the chance to otherwise. Guess there is no right or wrong way to go about it. Just like personal finance and dividends, it is all about the journey. Might as well try to have fun with it. Congrats again on your 3rd year!
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Thanks and the shout out is well deserved. You’re right on with it being about the journey. Take 100 0f us and we will have 100 views on DGI. We are all heading to the same endpoint but following different paths to that end. I have to admit my path is probably a little more circuitous though with 195 current holdings (hence the reason for the guidebook for my wife).
Thanks for visiting!
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3 years is quite a long time in the blogosphere. The key to successful blogging is just consistency. Plugging away year in, year out. Here’s to a great 2018!
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First congrats on YOUR recovery, rehab can be a pain. And here is to a great 2018 to the both of us – though (from a blogging perspective) I have doubts mine will be nearly as prolific. 🙂 Thanks for the visit.
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Charlie, There is so much I could say here, but it would just seem trivial in the big picture. I will just say I really enjoyed this post and the perspective it brings to life, work, change, blogging, health, relationships, investing…… Congrats on your accomplishment. Tom
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Let’s suffice with the quote from the great philosopher, Forrest Gump … “was like a box of chocolates …“. Seriously, investing (even savings) provides a buffer against the twists and turns that life has in store but one can’t forget to live life in the present.
Thanks and here’s to the next four!
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Season Greetings!
Happy Blog Anniversary!
Some of the bloggers who has a lot of money (>$500K) are also dropping off or stop posting real number. I guess, after awhile, everybody feel a bit “vulnerable” per se. I guess, I speak from my own experience, I feel like I’ve already reach financial independence, so I’m less motivated to keep myself “on track”.
Yes, a lot of bloggers dropped out because some of them sold off their stock to buy their primary residence, then to buy the stock back at higher price seems … over valued. LOL 🙂 I guess, that’s why this year, I’ve only buy the losers like GE, TEVA, TGT, or stock that’ve been beaten down so bad.
Relationship changes is another thing. I got married, so I’ve been spending more time with the husband than the blog. haha! LOL 🙂 it’s kinda crazy to spend tons of time online, and not enough time with your love ones. So, naturally I’ve scaled back.
But I’ll keep writing to make sense out of this crazy world.
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Thank you and you raise some good points. I’ve never posted ‘real numbers’ myself – only percentages – primarily over privacy concerns. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure in which tier I’d reside given my age and some of my comments.
Buying ‘losers’ may not be a bad idea especially this year. In fact, the Dogs of the DOW theory has been getting renewed press as well. I would hope life changes would be the biggest factor as these are most important by far (congrats on yours – both hubby and cycling). Let me know when the world makes sense again 🙂
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Hi again SR. I put together the Dividends Diversify blogroll this week and of course included your site. I see you have a pretty small/exclusive blogroll, but thought I would ask and see if you would add DD to it? Thanks for considering. Happy New Year. Tom
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You’re in my master list of blogs (under Blog Stuff) already. At the start of each year I reassess my more concise blogroll which are basically the ones I go to most often. I will be changing it next month and yours is on the short list for promotion. And a Happy 2018 to you as well!
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