Over the last few years — particularly since graduating from University — I’ve spent a lot of spare time reading personal finance blogs and sites like Moneyville.ca. A year ago today I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be neat if I had an excellent personal finance blog by next New Year’s Eve? I’ll try that.” While I didn’t write it down or broadcast it, I think that counts as a resolution.
Whether I succeeded, of course, depends heavily on your definition of excellence. TimelessFinance now gets hundreds of hits from Google every day. This site has an Alexa ranking that hovers down near 100,000. (Sunday update: TF’s Alexa rank broke below 100k for the first time today!) And TF even generates acceptable amounts of revenue from several sources.
None of those things, in my mind, constitutes success. My day job and other ventures pay me more than I could hope to earn for my company through this blog alone. An Alexa rank is just a number and, barring doing something stupid, Google PR isn’t that tough to build over time with consistent, good quality content. I love what TimelessFinance has become because:
- it’s a reliable source of pro-wealth advice;
- it includes the thoughts of wise, extremely high-quality writers (Adina and Sara) rather than just me;
- it has an active community of intelligent readers; and
- it gets respect from writing peers (well, the ones who are actually “peers” in the sense that they produce good quality content).
I started this site with the hope of distilling my thoughts for my new daughter (not to mention many future kids), but I think it’s even helped me chart her own biography until she can do it herself.
I’m looking forward to 2013; I’m sure it’ll be another successful year. Here are some goals I want to accomplish:
Pay off 25% of my mortgage
I’m only doing a 20% down payment on my house. If I cashed out investments, used all of my liquid TFSAs, and demolished my emergency fund, I could have bought my house in cash. That would have left me highly illiquid, however, and that’s not a place I want to be. I like the idea that, even when I own a house, I could take a few years of unpaid leave and still live comfortably. (And that’s entirely ignoring my partner’s potential to earn income. Financial independence is its own reward.)
Get moved and put some sweat equity into my house
Well, before I can slum it in the Hammer I need to move there to join my downtrodden proletariat brethren. The house has a new roof, and updated wiring and plumbing. It’s in darn good shape. (Dare I say I got a deal?) There are a bunch of little cosmetic and quick fix issues that I’ll need to take on during the coming months. I plan to use my own labour wherever possible to keep the costs of this work low, while leveraging that work into the largest possible additions to the house’s equity.
Get a Reclining Leather Couch
OK so this isn’t a typical goal for a year-long time-frame. But I’m hoping as the housing bubble continues to burst, that cheap credit will evaporate, people will cease buying with abandon, and furniture salespeople will stop pretending that they’re selling water to residents of hell. Who knows? It could happen.
Invest
I want to start putting more money into equities. Now that my cost structure will be largely fixed and my income will be skyrocketing back up when I’m not on parental leave, I’ll have even more money to save. I’ve already got a massive emergency fund so, unless I decide to retire for a few years, I’ll need to invest my money somewhere. Look for me, particularly during the year’s second half, to be doing a lot more “stock analysis” posts like I did for Automodular.
Improve TimelessFinance
In the summer and fall, I went gungho at various times improving TimelessFinance. As I move to my new house and get ready for my return to work during the year’s Q1, free time might be scarce. But I think I can create more free time; for example, when I add value to my house with some basic repairs, it’ll be easy to knock out simple posts (and hopefully they’re not dreadfully boring). While I improved the site’s usability, social integration, and monetization, I can do more — particularly in regard to performance optimization and attractiveness.
I want TimelessFinance to break below 100,000 on Alexa rank. Short of downloading the Alexa toolbar and installing the widget, I’m not doing an awful lot to game the site’s Alexa rank. It doesn’t mean much, unless you’re looking for a metric to brag about on an ad rates page, but it’s a number. I like tangible metrics and, if Alexa breaks below 100,000 organically, it’ll be a positive sign for TF’s momentum.
Create a new stream of income
I’m not sure what form this project will take. I usually shy away from discussing other business interests on TF but perhaps I’ll make a more concerted effort to regale you with tales of entrepreneurship in the New Year.
I wish you increased wealth in the New Year and the discipline to achieve it. Happy 2013.
“Pay off 25% of my mortgage” – What’s the deal with the Smith Maneuver (or is it ‘maneuvuere’ up there?). Does it work out that your mortgage is the low hanging fruit? I’m headed for a re-fi once my kitchen is done, but as a Californian taxpayer, 4.25% is sort of a joke.
Even without a write-off (assuming there was a deduction cap or something in a deal next year) and a failed re-fi I’d probably invest first.
I just don’t like debt and, now after being plunged into debt, I’ll want to get out asap.
“You really don’t need leverage in this world much. If you’re smart, you’re going to make a lot of money without borrowing.” – Warren Buffett Now, that’s kind of an unfair quote because, of course, he uses the massive cash stockpiles of GEICO et al. But, in all seriousness, I feel like we’ve been building sufficient wealth without leverage that I don’t need to risk our excellent trajectory.
Yeah, don’t sacrifice the good thing you’ve got going of course, I was just getting a read on your philosophy on that matter. If you’re getting good enough returns without the leverage you’re better off paying it down than getting greedy. I guess I’m just greedy, ha.
I also know (from what I’ve read on the Smith) that the Smith is pretty complicated anyway.
Joe – Did I hear you say you have assets in excess of your home mortgage? Have you considered selling off your investments to pay off your mortgage then using a Home Equity Line Of Credit ( HELOC ) borrowing the money back to buy your investments? This would make your debt tax deductible and also your emergency fund would become available cash ( in the form of a line of credit ) but not just sitting there. You have probably already considered this option and had a good reason for why this is not a good fit for you. i.e. Capital gains during a high income year etc.
I just wrote this post about this if you think it would help your readers – http://freeat33.com/saving-on-taxes-like-smith/
PS. maybe you will get your premium tax payers card too! (Joke from the post)
Private investments can’t simply be cashed out. As for my equities, I know selling wouldn’t affect parental leave EI but goodness knows I don’t need some ServiceCanada Fool failing to see the difference.
But the real reason I’m not interested is risk. Currently my fortunes will be more heavily tied to Canadian real estate which is going down; I only bought because it’s convenient and so inexpensive that any hit is going to be under my equity from day 1. I recognize, however, that with this purchase I am increasing risk (I have a low tolerance). As soon as I pull the Smith Manoeuvre, I am betting on the markets and setting a minimum return (below which I lose money) with leveraged money rather than enjoying a guaranteed return from paying off the loan. I’m all for leverage for investing; I’m just not ready to bet the farm.
Joe – It is good you know what is right for your risk level. Some people would follow their Financial Planners advice and have sleepless nights worrying. I agree about Service Canada too.. haha!
I disagree about the risk though. The asset would move the same whether it had debt or not, which is the same with the home. The debt itself would have to be paid off even if the stocks became worthless, which again is the same if the debt was on a home mortgage.
It just feels different. (Hurts more)
Good for you for knowing your tollerance though. I don’t worry much
BTW – Have you written about your private investments? I would like to read that!
No, I don’t write much about entrepreneurial endeavours, although I think it could be great fun (per the resolution). Just like my day job, I’ve kept such things completely separate from this blog.
You’re right — debt is debt, and the difference is that the interest paid (as a HELOC it’d be higher than my 3% mortgage) is deductible from my gross. But I don’t intend on paying much in interest (less than $7k over the life of the mortgage); the Smith Manoeuvre seems better suited to folks who will be in mortgage debt more than four years. And, again, in the end the house is still securitizing the debt which is at a higher interest rate albeit deductible.
Alexa is a useless metric. For example, TF and Million Dollar Journey have roughly the same ranking, yet MDJ likely reaches your daily traffic total before he wakes up in the morning. Then there are blogs that get less traffic than you do who rank in the low 30,000′s. Meaningless.
A better metric would be to grow subscribers by x, or to grow your Google organic searches by x.
I’m not sure what the fascination is with the SM. When I read about it on MDJ it seemed like everyone was jumping on board, but that was in 2007/2008. I’ve heard many people abandoned the strategy when they saw their portfolio lose half its value.
I’m sure I have the temperament to hang on, but I wouldn’t advise the average Canadian to do the SM.
Google organic searches are huge. It seems like the majority of posts add another 1 or 2 hits a day, with the occasional post meriting massive long term traffic so I think I am doing well on that front. You’re right about subscribers being a better metric; that in itself is an indication that the blog is really being read. Any suggestions on growing that count sustainably?
Agreed on the SM. I can absolutely see the benefits and I’m a strong believer in “fortune favours the bold”. But the fact is that there are risks and a person always needs to contemplate the possibility that SWHTF. I don’t want my home to be on the line if it does.
@Joe – The easiest way to grow subscribers is to install a pop-up plugin. Yeah, I know…most bloggers hate the pop-up, but it’s really the most effective way increase subscribers. I’ve used Opt-In Pop for about 18 months. When I started using it, I had about 500 subscribers. Now I’ve got about 6,500. Adding 333 subscribers a month is pretty ridiculous.
You can set it to only show once for repeat visitors (unless they consistently delete their cookies or use different browsers). I have it set to show on a delay, 20 or 30 seconds after reaching the site. This is effective because it captures those search visitors and referrals who might just read one post and then leave.
I’ll send you the code for mine if you’re interested.
Yeah, I’m so anti-pop up but, on your site, it’s never been obnoxious. I’ll send you an email; thanks Robb!
If you’re going to do pop-up, please make it so it doesn’t appear on mobile browsers.
I get hit by Robb’s pop-up every time I visit his site since I switch browsers, computers, and operating systems quite often and one of my browsers completely clears my cookies when I close it… To the point that I just never go to his site. It would be really cool if hitting the ‘Esc’ key got rid of the pop-up. That would make it far less annoying.
(Sorry to side track the post and rant about pop-ups.)
Happy new year, Joe! Do we get to see pictures of the house?
Thanks Leigh, happy New Year to you, too. After I move in, I’m sure I will post pics at some point.
Nice resolutions, Joe! Though I have to say… reclining leather couch? Yuck! Though I suppose attractive furniture is all in the eye of the beholder. Lol.
hahahah. And when I get it, I think I’ll SEO the post to get people searching for PETA.
Congrats on the accomplishments this year! It looks like you’ve got some great things lined up for next year and you’re in a position where you don’t need to optimize every decision (like doing SM or investing instead of paying down your mortgage) to do well. You could even buy a couch at close to full retail price. We’re guilty of that and can now seat 5 people in reclining leather seats with 2 couches + 1 chair.
+1 for writing about your private investments even if you have to change a few details. I’m much more fascinated reading about things like that than stock analysis, which is still very interesting. It might teach / inspire a few others to take steps in the right direction too. There’s a lot of opportunity the likes of which the best stock pickers can never match and getting started isn’t as hard as it seems. A few stories could be great education to show how simple it can be.
Did you notice Air Canada’s subtle dig at your housing choices? They’ve now moved Hamilton to the middle of the Atlantic ocean on the in-flight maps so that no one has to pass over it!
Thanks VI for the congrats and the feedback. Now I need to make sure I don’t get too busy and can actually follow through on more business income. Re: AC, I didn’t notice that — on the flight from Calgary to TO, we were on a super old, uncomfortable jet. Their seats have the WORST touchscreens. Happy 2013!
I prefer to use the term “goals” rather than resolutions. Simply because it seems that resolutions are made to be broken! I’ve set my financial goals for 2013 and I think that the fact that I made them public by posting will keep me that much more diligent in achieving them!