I’m a financially independent, 50-something, UK based, man who wants to share what I have learned. It’s one year on since I started this blog. I’ve been a bit quiet lately because of some distractions in the rest of my life, but I’m hoping to write more soon.
I’m pleased that I have kept it going for a year and have been able to express my point of view on certain topics. I’ve written 26 posts and garnered over 3,000 views. I’d like to think my writing has been of interest and has maybe been helpful to some readers.
On the theme of getting minted I’ve suggested vision, and commitment , and have discussed millionaires (twice ).
On personal finances I’ve discussed being minted , being a family, giving up work, owning a car , paying for utilities, and buying my first property.
On investing I’ve covered generating investment income, investing a lump sum, index tracking, the safe withdrawal rule (twice), stock market falls, manager risk , and where to invest.
I’ve reviewed my own investments at the end of June , August and December .
I’ve discussed my changing investment approach to Brexit, to the UK, to going global, and coming back to the UK.
I’ve struggled to write as much as I feel I should say, and as much as I feel I have to say. I feel I have been on the path to financial independence and beyond for over 35 years now so I have formed many views on these topics which I will try to put into words in future posts.
Congratulations on your first anniversary.
IMO there is plenty room for writing like yours that is wholly based on real, lived experiences.
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I had over 29 years on the path to financial independence, and have now had 6 years of being beyond that.
Yup, there is no substitute for real experience!
This is why I particularly like the following US sites:
http://www.theretirementcafe.com/ retired since 2005; and
https://retireearlyhomepage.com/ retired since 1994 – and a somewhat under-celebrated pioneer
I am sure in due course we will catch up, but presently rather a lot of the UK FIRE writing seems to be penned by a younger team. This may be due to DB pensions having hung on much longer in the UK.
Thanks for your comment and the links.
My favourite US sites include:
https://www.caniretireyet.com/
https://esimoney.com/
These both feature real life experience in the US.
Keep up with the testimony.
Good to see you compared your portfolio returns to an index : did that myself this year, and found that I was not quite the master investor I had hoped myself to be, and more of an averagely lucky monkey.
A query – you seemed to be comparing to the index, when you should have compared to the total return. Such as you can get from here: http://www.swanlowpark.co.uk/ftseannual
Or, have I just misunderstood?
Thanks for your comment. Yes, reviewing against the index is a good test and a reality check.
In response to your query I can confirm that I review my total return against the FTSE All Share total return (19.17% for 2019) as shown in your link. Please see the Total Return part of my previous post where the growth columns represent total return:
https://gettingminted.com/financial-review-at-31-december-2019/
Congratulations on the one year anniversary.
Still not gotten round to catching up on all your posts – need to set some time aside for some binge-reading!
Thanks for commenting. All my posts have a link in this one post. Handy for a binge-read.
Congratulations on reaching the one year milestone! I’m only four months into my blogging journey, but I can already relate to never having enough time to express all of your ideas.
First time checking out your blog. 35 years is a wealth of personal finance knowledge to be shared.
Thanks for commenting. Best wishes with your blog, lemonadebudget. You look to have seventeen posts already, which is good progress in four months.