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Top 10 Best Money Blogs To Improve Your Personal Finance Knowledge

August 3, 2022December 29, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

Top 10 Favorite Money Bloggers To Improve Your Personal Finance Knowledge

As the holiday season is finally here, Fresh Life Advice is giving you all presents. I present to you my favorite top 10 best money blogs to improve your personal finance knowledge.

Collectively, these best money blogs incorporate topics on investing, retirement, estate planning, budgeting, saving, estate planning, mortgages, and many more money related subjects. Their articles are packed with information that keep you stimulated throughout your own personal finance journey.

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
-Isaac Newton, Mathematician

What was Newton referring to?

He had the brilliant idea of using knowledge bestowed upon him by great thinkers of previous generations and utilizing their fundamental principles to propel his own understanding to a higher level.

We can apply this same philosophy to personal finance. As you read about me, you know that I’m always looking to learn and advance. Consistent success and growth stem from constant self-improvement.

As you follow FLA through my expedition to early retirement, I will make plenty of mistakes. Inevitable mistakes.

The wise ones with plenty of experience are aware that the path to success is not a straight line. It’s a zig-zag, circular, loop-de-loop type of path that will lead to failure after failure after failure. But the successful ones do not succumb to such intimidating obstacles in their way. They continually battle and never give up. This has been one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.

As I’m always learning and reading, I would like to share with you some of my favorite finance and money blogs that I religiously read. Some of these people have already achieved financial freedom. They represent role models that show you early retirement has been done before or will be completed. Myth debunked.

Fresh Life Advice, on the other hand, is trying to give you a perspective of the beginning of the journey. I want you to learn from my mistakes so you don’t make the same ones.

Top 10 Best Money Blogs

Hopefully, I will be able to collaborate and work with these bloggers in some type of way in the future. The old adage claims that two heads are better than one. Without further ado, below are some of the best money blogs:

1. My Money Wizard – Sean

My Money Wizard commenced in 2015, and I’ve been an avid reader ever since. Sean works as a financial analyst so he does have a background in economics. Whether it’s touting index funds or analyzing the optimal order in which to invest your money, I see many parallels between FLA and The Money Wiz. Sean’s been tracking his net worth every month and is on track to retire by age 35. My Money Wizard is one of the most humble and down-to-Earth blogs you will see in the Personal Finance blogosphere.

2. Budgets Are Sexy – J. Money / Joel

J. Money was one of the first in the game to publicly track his net worth in 2008. With such transparency, this best money blog allows you to track your own net worth alongside J$ to see if you are on pace for your own goals. J. Money made downloadable Excel spreadsheets that will aid with budgeting and net worth tracking. In 2019, J. Money sold the attention-grabbing blog Budgets Are Sexy to The Motley Fool.

Joel has now taken over the blog in 2020 and is one of the most dedicated bloggers I’ve read. Joel wakes up every single day, weekday and weekends, at 5 AM to seize the day. Although this lifestyle may not be for everyone, including his own wife, Joel’s productivity in Los Angeles is through the roof.

3. Millennial Money – Grant Sabatier

Grant’s incredible claim to fame was going from being broke with a balance of $2.26 in his bank account to saving over $1 million in less than 5 years. Grant was earning $50,000 a year in his day job and saving about 20 percent, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. So he launched a side hustle building websites for law firms, and invested the vast majority of what he made in index funds. Now, Millennial Money has appeared on every major news outlet, and Grant has even gotten to hang out with Rachel Ray to promote his book Financial Freedom.

4. Financial Samurai – Sam Dogen

In 2009, Sam began writing Financial Samurai. Sam did not graduate from any Ivy League school, but he still managed to outwork his competition and got a job for Goldman Sachs out of college. In 1999, he made a $3,000 investment in VCSY and was blessed with a 5,000% return from the Dotcom Bubble. Part of it was luck, but he had done his research, and the big risk paid off immensely. From there, Sam never looked back. He worked his way up the corporate ladder and became a Vice President of his company by age 27. After saving more than 70% of his after-tax income, he was able to retire at age 34 in San Francisco with a net worth of over 2 million dollars. Sam now writes via Financial Samurai for an audience of over 1 million readers every single month. As an expert in negotiating and wealth management, Sam always generates profound posts that make you truly think.

5. Mr. Tako Escapes – Mr. Tako

Mr. Tako is one of the wealthiest bloggers that discusses money. Despite what you would assume, his wife and him did not work on Wall Street, receive a large inheritance, sell stocks before the financial crisis of 2008, or flip real estate. No, in fact, Mr. and Mrs. Tako have just been disciplined investors that have weathered the uneasy storm of harsh financial markets and have worked hard to retire at the age of 38. They now enjoy cooking delicious meals and homeschooling their 2 sons in their home in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Mr. Tako often provides insightful commentary and predictions about individual equities. His whole reason for writing Mr. Tako Escapes is to document financial independence and provide a resourceful guide for both of his sons to use when they grow older.

6. Early Retirement Extreme – Jacob Lund Fisker

Jacob is not only the creator of Early Retirement Extreme but also seems to be the founder of the FIRE movement altogether. Mr. Fisker is one of the most frugal people you will read about with expenses so low that he will make you question your own annual purchases. After living a thrifty life as a PhD astrophysicist and biking to all of his destinations, he was able to free himself of Corporate America by the astounding age 33. In his book Early Retirement Extreme, he explains how his smart financial choices and simple living brought him financial freedom at such an early age.

7. Get Rich Slowly – J.D. Roth

Another one of the best money blogs is Get Rich Slowly, authored by J.D. Roth. He is a self-proclaimed “professional nerd, accidental personal-finance expert, dog lover, and whiskey drinker.” With so many personal finance sites on the web, J.D. stood out by documenting his struggles to get out of debt in 2006. The idea behind Get Rich Slowly was to convey that there are no shortcuts to achieving wealth. Everyone wants a get-rich-quick scheme, but J.D. exalted the idea of delayed gratification.

8. Mr. Money Mustache – Pete Adeney

When people think of the FIRE movement and best money blogs, usually Mr. Money Mustache is the first person that comes to mind. Many note Pete’s blog as the first website that got them hooked into the pursuit of Early Retirement. MMM developed an iconic yet simple chart that showed if you started saving more money, you’d be able to cut down your working years by a significant amount of years. This, in turn, saved many people the headache of continually slaving away in the office. Pete was a software engineer who reached total financial independence at the ripe age of 30. After he promptly quit his job, he started a side construction business as a hobby. The man with the wacky blog name now enjoys his freedom fully with his wife and son.

9. Go Curry Cracker! – Jeremy and Winnie

Jeremy and Winnie were able to hit financial independence in their 30’s. Go Curry Cracker and his wife pride themselves on traveling and exploring the world. The Go Curry Cracker site has many travel hacks, tax tips, and great insight to get you the best bang for your buck. By saving and resisting the splurge on unnecessary purchases, this couple now enjoys more annual vacations than they could ever imagine. With a playful yet analytical tone, Go Curry Cracker shows you how you can make the world your adventure too.

10. The Simple Path to Wealth – J.L. Collins

J.L. Collins is a FI blogger that is most noted for The Stock Series. Starting out selling flyswatters door-to-door, he is now an accomplished consultant, speaker, and author of one of the best money blogs. J.L. is also an avid index fund investor and world traveler. Based off of his blog, he’s written a book The Simple Path to Wealth, which chronicles his rags to riches life. J.L. Collins discusses controversial dollar cost averaging (DCA) and other interesting investment strategies on the honest best money blog.

Moreover, the Internet is a vast endless space so this list is ever-growing as I read and find more interesting sites along my journey. I’m always looking for new recommendations because an important part of life is the continual pursuit of education and self-growth. With that being said, I cannot limit the list to only 10 websites, so I must also present the honorable mentions for the best money blogs.

Best Money Blogs – Honorable Mentions

11. Tic Toc Life – Chris and Jenni

The story of Chris and Jenni stems all the way back to middle school, when they first met. After going to high school and college together, they eventually got married with similar financial goals. Chris and Jenni reached FI at age 33 to retire early at 35. Their goal became a reality. Chris and Jenni offer principals they learned along the way that readers could adapt to their own lives. They even started a Reader’s Fund, which generously donates monthly to non-profits of the blog readers’ choice! This Donor-Advised Fund is something FLA hopes to start too and something other best money blogs should mimic for the greater good.

12. Impersonal Finances – IF

Impersonal Finances is written by a man in his 30’s living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Despite what you may have predicted, he does not work in the tech industry. His blog chronicles how it’s possible to live in one of the most expensive areas in the U.S. but still retire early through consistent investment and constant saving. IF has one of the best senses of humor around that makes personal finance enjoyable to read.

13. Happily Disengaged – Noel

Noel is 2^nd generation Chicano union carpenter with a lot of soul. He is not only a veteran of the Iraq War but also has backpacked around the world…twice. Is there anything this blogger can’t do? His travel has given him and his wife a taste of retirement. The site Happily Disengaged talks about consumerism, the corporate rat race, and anything to do with commuting on a freeway. With the eventual dream of living in Spain full time, Noel writes this blog to make both of his daughters proud.

14. Physician on Fire – Lief

If you have a career as a physician, then the Physician on Fire site is for you. Even if you are not a physician, you can learn so much from Lief’s approach towards money and his financial independence journey. He is an anesthesiologist by day, but he makes sure family comes first. PoF is definitely not afraid to speak his mind, and that’s exactly what you want in lieu of the slimy financial advisors that beat around the bush to make a quick buck off of your ignorance. All in all, Lief covers topics from income earning to credit cards and much more. You can look forward to his weekly series The Sunday Best, where he features other refreshing reads from around the personal finance blogosphere.

15. The Savvy Couple – Kelan and Brittany

Founded in 2016, Kelan and Brittany have a mission as The Savvy Couple to help families learn how to budget their money, organize their life, and unlock the freedom to do more of the things they love! This pursuit is simple yet very admirable. Once children are introduced into the mix, expenses and budgeting are thrown to the side, but Kelan and Brittany are there to keep you in line using tools such as the Eisenhower Matrix, automating systems, and outsourcing menial tasks.

16. Financial Fred – Fred

Financial Fred is written by who else, but Fred himself! As a millennial in these fast-paced times, Fred advocates that everyone should become more financially responsible. He loves to read and write about finance, economics, and how emotions affect our decisions. Currently working on his CPA designation, he’s had several management and executive roles within the field of finance. Thus, you can trust that Fred knows what he’s talking about.

17. Reverse The Crush – Graham

In 2016, Graham took a year off from working as a stock broker in Toronto, Canada. He mused and took time to prioritize his financial goals in life. From then on, Reverse The Crush was born. If you’re looking to build income streams through blogging and dividend investing to reach financial independence, then Reverse The Crush is the place to start.

18. Our Intentional Farm – Sean and Simone

No, Sean and Simone do not currently own a farm. But the name Our Intentional Farm is “about planting seeds of intention to reap a well-balanced and joyful life.” With the hopes to inspire and encourage others in similar financial situations, Sean and Simone show you how to keep track and rid yourself of debt. These are compelling articles that are not hypothetical situations. Instead, they represent real-life struggles to learn how to manage finances. The style is relaxed, while the content is rich.

19. The Working At Home Man – Matt

The Working At Home Man name is pretty self-explanatory. Matt has been working from home ever since 2017 only to discover that working from home has many more benefits to working in the office. If you’re looking to live a similar lifestyle, then Matt has plenty of resources to help you on your path to financial independence. The Working At Home Man also publishes monthly updates along with his portfolio progress.

20. Common Cents Lifestyle – Ashley

Common Cents Lifestyle came to life after Ashley found her passion in helping others with personal finance. She currently holds an MBA and has spent her expansive career in the world of finance. Ashley has a great understanding of retirement accounts, insurance, and general business. She even has a successful track record of growing several small businesses to medium-sized business. In her free time, Ashley loves to travel and ski. Not a bad way to spend your free time.

21. Max Out of Pocket – Max

Max Out of Pocket is not just a fun pun. In truth, Max created this blog with a wealth of knowledge from both the healthcare industry and the personal finance space. Armed with answers to every medical question you may have, Max shares information from his experience of working more than a decade in the American healthcare system. Knowing how the corporate world can be rewarding, toxic, and addictive, Max is here to help make your mental and physical life easier.

22. Divs4Jesus – D4J

D4J has one of the most creative names on the list. Some live and die by stock dividends. Dividends have yet to fail D4J. D4J writes the Divs4Jesus blog, including some pretty good stuff about investing. I’ve learned a thing or two from reading this blog, which means it definitely merits inclusion into the best money blogs honorable mentions. He shows how a diversified portfolio of 33 stocks and bonds can provide considerable passive income. For those of you who didn’t know, Jesus’ age at the time of his death was also 33.

23. GenY Money – GYM

GenY Money a fun site that’s chock-full of great material to help you manage your finances. As you probably have guessed from the site name, GYM is a member of Generation Y. She’s here to prove that Gen Y is not entitled, spoiled, and lazy after all. Gen Y can be very good with money, and GYM has all the tips for you to learn. In her 30’s and living in one of the most expensive cities in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, GYM shares net worth updates along the way to the target $1 million goal by age 40.

24. FIRE Your Own Way – Jordan

Jordan is the creator of FIRE Your Own Way. Discovering FIRE is life-altering for many, and the story was no different for Jordan. She was able to save over $200,000 by age of 30 and is now well on her way to retire by 40. As a fellow proponent of experimentation and optimization, Jordan continues exploring for different ways to Financial Independence. Whether you want to retire early or retire eventually, Jordan is there to shed light on the process.

24. Financially free in 10 years – Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot is not actually a robot. Artificial Intelligence running personal finance blogs may become the norm, but humans are still generally the faces behind these sites. Financially free in 10 years is exactly what it sounds like. A Dutch man in his mid-30’s using the pseudonym Mr. Robot works in IT by day and runs this blog at night. Mr. Robot aims to retire at age 55 to enjoy the most of his freedom with his wife Mrs. Robot and child Lil’ Bot in The Netherlands. Like FLA, Mr. Robot also enjoys sports and movies in his free time. Without fail, Mr. Robot is the go-to guy for an obscure movie reference or sound personal finance advice.

25. Poor Choices – Kevin

When I read Kevin’s story, what struck me was the mentality he adopted to take control of his money. That is, he decided to look at his personal life as a business. He looked for ways to lower expenses, increase revenue, and pay down debt. It’s inspiring to read, and he continues to write insightful posts.

Fresh Life Advice will keep a running list of the best money blogs that will be continually changing, as this list is not intended to be comprehensive.

Fortunately, I have come to known some of these sites’ creators on a personal basis. I can assure you these people truly do want to spread financial knowledge to as many readers as possible. Readers that are earnestly searching for personal finance knowledge. All of these best money bloggers have a passion for helping others navigate the often confusing world of personal and business finances.

The aforementioned blogs should make for plenty of reading material to keep you busy during the holiday season! I really hope you learn something interesting from reading all of those amazing money, investing, and personal finance blogs!

If you have any websites or niches that come to mind, please include them in the comment section below. I cannot promise to add them, but I can guarantee I will check them out and read as much as I can.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you and your family!

Which blogs do you frequently read?

Ideal Day of Retirement

December 14, 2021November 18, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

What does your ideal day of retirement look like? What’s the perfect day of leisure that you envision?

Early retirement, and retirement in general for that matter, is the dream we fantasize about every so often. Some even obsess over it. Guilty as charged…

The underlying idea is that we may be trying to escape from reality. Maybe it’s that soul-crushing 9-5 job or that abusive relationship or even that condescending boss. Whatever the case may be, you’ve most likely thought about retirement.

It’s human nature to stress over the future. We ultimately want to be happy, each and every single one of us.

But we generally overlook the present. If you were to retire right now, what would it look like? Yes, walk through the scenario with me:

You’ve just handed in your resignation letter to your boss [yes, in this hypothetical you’ve already given your 2 weeks’ notice].
Your coworkers celebrated with cake [yes, they enjoyed the cake more than the speeches about you].
You’ve said your final goodbyes [yes, you’ll only keep in touch with the people who truly matter to you].

Really take a second to imagine. What would your ideal day of retirement look like? Most have the cliché fantasy of lavish vacations to the Bahamas or extravagant parties on yachts. If you can actually afford those without putting yourself into debt, then you certainly do not need to be reading this blog.

A perfect day doesn’t actually cost millions to achieve or require much to make it happen. Contrary to popular belief and how most of the lottery-hungry population makes it out to be, you don’t need to spend money to be happy.

How would you spend your first day of early retirement? You’ve worked so hard in preparation for your financial freedom.

What’s My Ideal Day of Retirement?

Before we start, I’d like to disclose that I’m a night owl. 80% of the population find themselves as intermediate with minor preference for mornings or evenings while the remaining 20% of the population are either true morning people or true night owls. Night owls habitually get a bad rap for being lazy for sleeping in. To my fellow night owls, this is disparaging criticism does not hold much merit because night owls are awake just as long as morning people. The only difference is our body clocks are shifted a couple of hours behind. This stems from genetics, age, and environment.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

10:00 AM – Wake up after a full night’s sleep.

10:00 AM to 10:20 AM – Mediate and repeat some positive affirmations. Journal and jot down some goals for the day (i.e. write a new blog post). And of course, make my bed. This small accomplishment always propels the momentum for the day into full swing.

10:20 AM to 11:00 AM – I’m a firm believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I routinely rotate between French toast, eggs, and oatmeal with fruit.

11:00 AM to 12:00 PM – Cross off a couple of goals by crafting new FLA blog posts. My mind will be energized from a hearty breakfast so this should be relatively fulfilling.

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM – Work out. I enjoy weightlifting 4-5 times per week, even with a full time job. Without a full time job, I’ll be able to sleep and recover more to build stronger muscles. On this blog, we talk about money a lot… At the end of the day, money doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t healthy enough to live long and enjoy your luxurious life. Make your health a priority.

1:00 PM to 1:30 PM – As you’ve noticed, I eat quickly just by force of habit. I would take this time to eat an enjoyable lunch. Besides the quintessential bodybuilding chicken, broccoli, and brown rice meal, I frequently like to switch out the proteins and carbs for alternatives like salmon, tuna, steak, and sweet potato, butternut squash, chickpeas and black beans, respectively.

1:30 PM to 2:00 PM – I’ve really never been a big proponent of napping throughout my life. But I’ve come to learn the human body was meant to have a midafternoon nap, according to a new consensus among sleep researchers who are studying the biological rhythms of sleep and alertness. This stems from evolution, where our ancestors would take turns sleeping to always allow someone to be awake to keep the tribe safe from predators. Theoretically, I will be sleeping much more during early retirement, but I’ll just have to experiment to see if naps improve my quality of life.

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM – While the sun’s still out, I’ll go for a walk. Walking is an extremely underrated activity. Recent studies show that walking as little as two hours per week can help you live longer and reduce the risk of disease. You’ll clear your head, enjoy nature, and also burn calories without even breaking a sweat.

4:00 PM to 6:00 PM – Free time! I will most likely snack on some kind of fruit like an apple, banana, or kiwi while challenging my mind to a puzzle, game of chess, or even Sudoku. Whether it’s learning a new language, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or playing an instrument, I’d like to reserve this time slot for self-improvement.

6:00 PM to 7:00 PM – I enjoy cooking and would love to try out recipes I’ve read about in various cook books. A cook follows a recipe, while a chef creates a meal on the fly. I’d work on transitioning from a cook to a chef. This hour would be solely dedicated to dinner.

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM – As readers of FLA know, I’m a movie buff. I’ve seen over 100 movies in 2020 alone with newfound quarantine time. My favorite genre of movies is thrillers, but I’m always open to seeing obscure titles most people would never think of viewing. This would be classified as time to unwind.

10:00 PM to 11:00 PM – Some of the smartest people on the planet attribute to their success to the books they’ve read. This last hour of the day would be dedicated to reading anything off my book shelf. Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep ironically helps put me to sleep.

Will every day look like this? No, of course not. But it’s a day I am proud of and would be happy to live many times.

When I reveal my plan for early retirement, the number one response I hear from friends, family, and strangers is:

“Wow, I could never retire early. I would be so bored.”

Well, take a look at my ideal day. I don’t see any boredom. In fact, I see days filled with opportunity and freedom.

When I think of boredom, I think of number-filled spreadsheets, monotonous status update meetings, and microwaved lunches. This is synonymous with the 9-5 corporate life.

Hey, maybe the daily grind is for you. No judgement whatsoever. But I know for a fact that it’s not for me.

Cost of Ideal Day of Retirement

Did you notice how little I spent in my hypothetical perfect day of early retirement?

The small things in life consistently make us the happiest. Those mansions, yachts, and fancy cars will inevitably leave you empty on the inside. We wonder why celebrities develop drug addictions and have messy divorces. That’s another story, but the ones we idolize don’t have it figured out. I’m here to remind you to try different things in your own life to make you happy.

I started a list of all the things I would do with unlimited time and some money. I’m always baffled by people who say they are bored. Even with unlimited freedom, I still feel like I wouldn’t have enough time to do everything I want.

Here are some ideas to fill your early retirement days:

Teach your kids everything – math, science, finance, programming, hardware, woodworking, cooking, hunting, writing, art, music, etc.
Build businesses partner, friends, or even with your kids [I know what you’re thinking – No, I do not condone child labor.]
Vacation with your partner – luxurious ones that he or she deserves
Act in a play
Camp in the outdoors
Canoe trips
Hunt
Start a band – try out a new instrument whether it be guitar, piano, or clarinet
Volunteer to help disadvantaged youth
Get into woodworking
Build and ride old motorcycles
Try Brazilian jiu-jitsu – it’s never too late to procure a black belt
Work out every day
Enter a bodybuilding or powerlifting competition
Complete a triathlon
Take surfing lessons
Become a part time Little League Coach
Help any family that is struggling with your time, give them a leg up, but also stick around to guide them

Whatever happens after you achieve financial freedom is ultimately up to you.

It’s a tough question to ask yourself but absolutely necessary:

What will you do during your ideal day of early retirement?

What Should You Do With Credit Card Debt When You Are Laid Off?

May 16, 2023November 10, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

Welcome to the 1st FLA Guest Blog Post! Today we explore what you should do with credit card debt when you are laid off. Thank you to Bethaine from Debt Consolidation US for sharing these helpful answers to a frequently asked question.
She freely shares her magical money secrets to climb out of debt – which really aren’t too magical or secretive – that helped her build her net worth tremendously.

What Should You Do with Credit Card Debt When You Are Laid Off?

The first and most important matter is you need a good survival plan immediately when you are laid off and need to cope with the credit card debt.

In the case of the ‘Layoff’ scenario, the importance of a good survival plan is very necessary. Usually, the layoff order does not give you enough time to control your finances.

For the present condition, your goal must be to chalk out a survival plan for you and your family until you get a new job again. Along with it, you must check yourself from falling into a huge debt hole and take care of your credit score as well.

In this article, the intention is to brainstorm a plan for you so that you can survive your layoff as well as cope with your credit card debt.

1. You Can Pay Off Just the Minimum Amount Now

Usually, it is a bad idea to pay off the minimum amount on your credit card debt. Nonetheless, this idea will work for you when you no longer have a job.

Thus, the better option for you will be to pay off the minimum amount rather than paying almost nothing.

If you pay nothing, then the credit card companies may charge penalties, fees, and fines against you and it will most likely negatively affect your credit score.

It will be better for you to pay off at least the minimum amount for now. Further down the line when you can generate steady income again, you can then pay off more than the minimum amount.

By this strategy, you can salvage your credit score, get protection from late fees and fines, and won’t get any pesky calls from debt collection agencies.

2. You Can Negotiate an Agreement with Your Credit Card Firm

People often forget: everything is negotiable. After all, exchange of money is just a barter system.

You may contact your credit card firm and state your case to their representative regarding your present financial condition.

Nowadays, overseeing the current COVID-19 situation, many credit card companies are offering special assistance programs for those who are laid off due to Coronavirus.

With the special assistance program, you can come into an agreement with your credit card firm so that you can skip the monthly payment for a few months, waive your credit card interest and you may get other benefits also.

You have to get in touch with the credit card firm to get the special assistance that is only available in the pandemic time period.

3. You Should Try to Create a Family Budget and Continue Your Daily Expenses According to It

Creating a strict family budget and continuing your daily expenses according to the budget, can be a useful way to cope with credit card debt.

A strict family budget will decide for you what you need in your life now and where you can stop spending. This may, in turn, prove that some of your superfluous spending is surprisingly a luxury for you.

A budget may help you with some extra saved dollars that you can use to pay at least the minimum amount every month of your credit card debt.

4. You Can Consider the Credit Card Debt Consolidation Option to Tackle the Debt Burden

You can easily opt for the credit card debt consolidation to consolidate or merge all your credit card debts and make it into a single payment.

The balance transfer card can be another option for you that you can choose. You can transfer all your credit card dues to the balance transfer card.

With a balance transfer card, you may get a 0% interest promotional offer for 6 months to 18 months. You have to pay off your credit card dues with the benefit of a 0% interest rate and that is within 12 to 18 months.

Therefore, you can repay a major portion of your outstanding balance without paying any interest rate.

Thus, you can apply either the credit card debt consolidation method or the balance transfer card method to repay your credit card debt when you’re going through the inauspicious layoff situation.

5. The Wise Decision Will be to Shun Using Credit Cards for a While and Use the Cash Payment Option

In normal times, people use credit cards more than cash payment because, with credit card buying, you may get several rewards and points that are not possible with normal cash payment options.

But this restriction-free-buying mode has a negative side too. With the lure of rewards and offers, we sometimes spend more balance than our given necessity.

The ultimate result is you have to bear the debt burden on your shoulders.

So, when you are out of a job and your earning avenues are limited, return to the traditional cash-payment method.

It will keep you within a spending limit and you’ll be saved from any type of additional credit card debt burden.

These are the 5 ways that you can choose to take action when you are unemployed, concerned about your retirement, and the stress of how to repay your credit card debt is gulping you.

What Can Be Your Last Resort If You Are Completely Unable to Pay Off Your Credit Card Bill?

According to financial experts, when you are unemployed and don’t have enough savings even for paying off the minimum credit card amount, you can opt for the bankruptcy option.

You may get some immediate relief by choosing the bankruptcy option, but experts always recommend using the bankruptcy option as your last resort.

You may file bankruptcy under Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 under the bankruptcy act, but beware of the negative effect because bankruptcy may damage your credit for the long-term.

Final words:

The best option is at least you should try to pay off the minimum amount on your credit card debt. At this fundamental point, you can avoid any late fee charges, penalties, etc. You should not try to avail of the bankruptcy option as your first option. Later when your financial situation will improve again, the best course of action is to try and pay off your credit card debt in the standard way.

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5 Scary Halloween Spending Facts That May Spook You

February 16, 2021October 13, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

The unprecedented pandemic has certainly stunted our day-to-day activities and even our dearest holidays like Halloween. Health officials have forecasted a new surge in COVID-19 cases in the fall, as temperatures drop and the flu season approaches — all while celebrations, including Halloween, are due to kick off later this month. Below are 5 scary Halloween spending facts that may spook you.

Year after year, Halloween continues to be a highly anticipated holiday in America. But this year, we may have to proceed with caution with respect to trick-or-treating.

On the bright side, Halloween is usually an outdoor holiday as opposed to most other holidays celebrated inside of a relative’s home.

States across the country have either limited or restricted regulations for standard door-to-door trick-or-treating. That being said, residents have tried their best to lift spirits and continue longstanding house decorating traditions.

This blog has consistently been focused on how to save for early retirement, but often we forget to focus on the present. Of course it is imperative to save for your future, but every present day should not be taken for granted. Thus, give yourself permission to enjoy the holiday.

The National Retail Federation (NRF), in a partnership with Prosper Insights, surveyed 7,013 consumers about their Halloween shopping plans. The following 5 scary Halloween spending facts from previous years give me goosebumps!

Interpreting Spooky Halloween Spending

If you’re ever curious why you rarely receive a Halloween greeting card, it’s because most Americans are spending their October budget on costumes, candy, and decorations.

Spending in the past 3 years has hovered around the $9 Billion [yes, B, as in BILLION] mark. Due to the circumstances, I’d expect spending to be reduced this year.

Take advantage of this situation and your bank account will thank your unintentional frugality.

If there’s one lesson from the infographic, it’s that consumers spend money on things they are passionate about! Who doesn’t love Halloween?

And if Americans are spending $9 billion on Halloween, just imagine how many purchases are made in November and December during the holiday season peak.

Either way, this is no excuse to stop you from completely forgetting about Halloween. Dress up if it’s your favorite tradition. But make sure to enjoy yourself while staying safe.

Watching scary movies with jump scares [that you’re probably expecting] may also be an efficient way to practically quarantine yet still enjoy the spirit of Halloween.

If you’re looking to get ahead on shopping too, the Amazon Halloween Store has a variety of options for costumes, candy, and fun to celebrate the spooky holiday.

Just remember to not overdo it on the candy! This will save your waistline and your dentist unnecessary hassle! Cavities are never fun, no matter what age you may be.

May each of you reading this be lucky enough to eat a large candy bar this October 31st.

Let me know your favorite costume or trick-or-treat tactic below in the comments.

5 Foolproof Steps for Early Retirement

November 21, 2022September 21, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

Many of us would like to build enough capital to prepare for the future and enjoy an early retirement. However, this can feel impossible at times. What are the 5 foolproof steps for early retirement? How do we develop a solid plan?

Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can start taking today to help you achieve the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Early Retirement) you’ve always dreamed of.

There are no secret tricks and tips. It mainly stems from discipline and consistency. You don’t need to be a Wall Street investment banker or a PhD scientist to outsmart the market. Here are 5 simple steps that will put you on the right path.

1. Increase Annual Savings

Everyone has heard the trite advice of forgoing the precious cup of morning coffee at your favorite hip coffeehouse to save money. This simply isn’t going to get you to retirement though.

You need to build habits of saving. Let me let you in on a little secret; successful people do not have greater will power and determination than your average Joe. The high achievers just remove temptation and practice consistent habits.

Save as much as you possibly can now, and I promise you will not be disappointed by the results in 10 to 30 years from today.

2. Decrease Annual Expenses

It may seem like common sense, but so many of us struggle to grasp this basic concept. Expenses add up very easily and very quickly. It’s important you perform monthly audits of your credit card statements to see how your spending has changed month to month.

It is okay to splurge every once in a while, but be sure to not make it a habit. It’s the same idea of eating healthy. You can stop by the fast food drive-through once in a blue moon, but if you continually practice this bad habit, you will gain weight without a doubt.

Furthermore, avoid consumer and other forms debt like it’s the plague. Even if you are indeed in debt, it’s still easier than you think to rid yourself of debt with the power of positive habits. Again, it may be daunting to turn your net worth from negative to positive, but if millions have done it before, so can you.

3. Make Steady, Consistent Investments

Now, there are some factors here that you have little control over.

Investment Growth Rate: How much your investments compound annually.

Investment growth rate is sometimes at the mercy of the stock or housing market, depending on the year. But overall, you can expect a rate of approximately ~6-7% (with inflation accounted for). Your income from your job may not increase much year over year, unless you pester your boss for a raise or a bonus.

Your neighbor, your co-worker, and even your family may argue with you about which stock will provide the best returns, but one thing is for sure:

Time in the market is way more important than timing the market.

Investment and financial analysts will always recommend buying low and selling high, but the truth is, humans simply aren’t robots. We will never be able to flawlessly invest, but we can get the best bang for our buck by letting our investments grow for as long as possible. Let your money do the heavy lifting for you.

Raven Monkey Money Manager Foolproof — Source: Guinness World Records

Even our cute friend, Raven, can predict stocks better than some money managers that possibly bring home a larger annual salary than both you and I.

4. Diversify Income Streams

The wealthy often have multiple streams of income. Whether this is from stocks, real estate, I.O.U.’s, or even intellectual property, the rich know how to maximize cash flow going into their bank accounts.

The book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is a great fundamental novel that goes into detail regarding assets (things that make you money) and liabilities (things that lose you money).

Early Retirement Assets Liabilities — Source: Rich Dad Poor Dad Book by Robert Kiyosaki

Although we will not get involved in judging Kiyosaki’s character and other ventures, the financial community can agree the book is a vital tool to launch your net worth in the right direction.

Feel free to check out Fresh Life Advice’s Monthly Side Income Reports to see the current ways F.L.A. creatively supplementing a corporate paycheck. Again, there is no one-size-fits-all formula to follow, but hopefully this can supply you with myriad ideas to implement in your own life.

5. Use Money to Save Time

Ask yourself, “Self, what is truly the point of early retirement?” To most of us, the purpose of early retirement is to use our time for the things we truly care about. There is no doubt about it; we all have limited time on this Earth. That is the limiting factor that puts the rich and the poor on the same level playing field. What is the difference between the rich and the poor?

Well, the rich are using their hard earned money (or lucky inheritance) to buy back time for the things that truly matter in life: family, friends, hobbies, etc.

The poor, along with a great deal of the middle class, misleadingly think that spending their money on impractical status symbols, such as fancy watches, luxurious cars, and excessive wardrobes will make other people admire them more, and thus increase their happiness. This is, of course, a fallacy as we know that most people only really care about themselves and are often too busy with their own problems to be concerned with what car you drive.

For example, the modern wealthy folks now spend money on nannies, gardeners, maids, and other services that allow them to focus less on daily household chores and more on the mysteries and life experiences that awaits them.

Why Should You Have a Plan?

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
-Mike Tyson, Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion

To the contrary, Fresh Life Advice has a formidable rebuttal to this famous opposing quote. F.L.A. would like to emphasize the importance of planning – specifically the right kind of planning. Everybody does have a plan until they get punched in the mouth — the key is planning for what you are going to do AFTER that happens.

One of the biggest reasons why I created a blog was to organize my thoughts coherently and offer advice to the general public. Again, I don’t claim to know more than you. I just hope you learn at least one new thing from me. Moving to different states and taking several different jobs, I’ve run into eclectic groups of people. Oddly enough, I observed that there was a constant underlying accepted corporate dogma.

People in the public and private sector both seemed to accept the standard way of life was to work until you’re 65 and then retire. This antiquated way of thought was hardwired into their brains either via their parents, boss, coworkers, etc. At times, I often felt like I was alone until I reached out to the finance blogging community. FIRE is becoming a modern mantra.

The first law in the United States that called for an eight-hour work day was passed in Illinois in 1867. In 1926, as many history lovers know, Henry Ford — possibly influenced by US labor unions — instituted an eight-hour work day for his employees.

Now, we can see this divergent fork in the road caused by the Covid-19 global pandemic. The world’s workforce is now being split up into employees who can work from home and essential employees who must physically be present in the office, warehouse, hospital, etc.

Many predict that in the future, the office will function as a 3rd space (similar to your favorite coffeehouse): a hub, a town square, a neighborhood. Workers will decide when, how and where to work. People will flow in and out. Employees will be connected by social networks, cloud computing.

Which side of the spectrum will you end up as technology and artificial intelligence develop at an aggressively rapid pace?

If there’s anything that life and Darwin have taught me, the answer is simple: you must not only survive but also adapt.

So what does this all have to do with money?

Well, my point is that the world is a scary and unpredictable place. Most people enjoy their 9-5 jobs because it gives them the comfort and security they long for to help them sleep at night. I’m here to tell you it’s possible for a normal human, just like you and me, to leave the workforce way before age 65. In fact, I’m on pace to retire by age 38. Even if I miss that mark by a full 10 years, I’m still on pace to retire a full 27 years earlier than the average American! That’s an incredible amount of time of freedom.

Is This ‘5 Foolproof Steps Early Retirement’ Plan Actually Foolproof?

Of course not. No plan ever is. But I can assure you it’s pragmatically close to flawless.

Life almost never goes according to plan. And that’s totally okay. We will adjust and adapt.

Many fear an economic downturn or recession. Well, I’m here to shed some light on this fear.

Economic recessions [bear markets] generally do not last as long as expansions [bull markets] do. Since 1900, the average recession has lasted 15 months while the average expansion has lasted 48 months. The Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, which lasted for 18 months, was the longest period of economic decline since World War II. If this happens, buy stocks or bonds at the cheaper price and retire a year later. There is nothing to fret!

The most important thing is to have a plan though. Be intentional with your thoughts and actions. It’s time to stop being reactive and start being proactive. Where’s a great place to start?

Well, think about your own retirement age. What age are you aiming for?

If you can control these 3 factors, you will be in GREAT shape:

Income: How much money you are making

Expenses: How much money you are spending

Savings: How much money you are saving

When people mention Savings Rate, they are simply referring to your Savings divided by Income. Don’t let terms like these confuse you.

Sounds obvious, right? It’s not rocket science, but Wall Street often makes it sound like it. There are only two ways to do increase your savings rate: earn more or spend less. That’s the basic rule of personal finance. Still, Americans significantly struggle with these aspects. F.L.A. will show you specific action plans to increase your savings rate.

Caveat:

Be ready for backlash when revealing your early retirement plan to friends, family, and loved ones. Even the people closest to you and the ones that you trust the most may project some negative feelings onto you. It’s completely normal.

“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”
― Pursuit of Happyness

Will Early Retirement Guarantee Happiness?

Humans are terrible at predicting future happiness. In fact, there was actually a scientific study conducted by three established psychology university professors to prove this “end of history illusion.” No matter what age, humans underestimate how much they will change. Two different studies were conducted:

A group of 18-year-olds was asked to predict what their lives will be like in 10 years. The 28-year-olds group reported significantly more changes than expected.
This exact experiment was then conducted with 58-year-olds and the same result occurred when the subjects turned 68.

Conclusion:

Even with plenty of life experience, you have no idea what will happen to you in 10 years!

As a result, it is imperative that you have a plan in place to at least guide you in the direction you would like to follow. But more importantly, remember to practice gratitude and count your blessings every single day, because you never know what your future holds.

How To Start A Blog In 8 Easy Steps

April 19, 2022September 3, 2020 by Fresh Life Advice

So you’ve discovered why you want to start a blog. But what about now? How does one start a blog?

The good news is that you are on the right path. The first step in the process is making the decision to move forward with your intent.

Some of the top bloggers have turned their passions into full time blogs that support their hopes and dreams. Why can’t that be you? What’s stopping you? Lack of information?

Well, this guide will break everything down into simple, easy steps to help you start your blogging career.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, FLA will earn a commission. When you purchase hosting using the Bluehost or SiteGround affiliate links, they compensate Fresh Life Advice, which helps make this comprehensive guide free of charge to you. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind.

Let us start with the basics:

What Is A Blog?

Some of us may not know what a blog even is. Well, guess what? You’re reading a blog right now! The word blog is actually short for the term weblog.

A blog is known to represent digitized information, an online magazine, a diary, a portfolio of art, a teaching platform, and really anything that you can imagine.

The most popular modern blogs use not only text, but also a combination of images, GIFs, videos, journals, and other references. This conglomeration is ideal to convey the message, information, or propaganda the author is attempting to present.

Blogs are often interactive, where readers can comment on posts in real-time. This is facet alone is a massive advantage over outdated televised news outlets and physical newspapers and magazines.

Now, we are aware of what elements make blogs so popular and successful. But how do we build our own? Here are 8 easy steps for you to follow and start a blog:

1. Choose Your Niche

Before you come up with a website name, it’s smart to target a specific niche you would like pursue. The Internet is a vast place. Choosing a niche will allow the people who are searching for your content find you with relative ease. If you have a general blog with no direction, your work will most likely end up in the graveyard of unfinished blogs after you’ve seen the lack of traffic to your site.

I recommend focusing on 1-2 niches on your blog, but no more. If you write about too many topics, then your SEO potential will be limited.

The search engine Google typically likes to establish themes around your blog. From that point of establishment, then you will be able to rank for a myriad of subcategories around that theme (i.e. personal finance).

If you want your blog to be about all areas of your life, that’s awesome; however, to be blunt, your posts likely won’t rank as highly as a blog focused on 1-2 topics.

The following list includes some of the top profitable niche categories, some that even encompass billion dollar industry opportunities:

Fitness / Diet / Weight Loss
Sports
Dating / Relationships
Pets
Self-Improvement
Wealth / Investing / Personal Finance
Make Money Online / Passive Income
Beauty / Anti-Aging / Makeup
Gadgets / Technology
Gaming
Prepping (i.e. Meal Prepping to Doomsday Prepping)

If you are looking into selling your own niche products whether via e-commerce or whatever it may be, then here are some inventive ideas to sell online:

Handcrafted Beaded Necklaces.
Home-made Frozen Yogurt.
Leather iPad Cases.
Bluetooth Wireless Speakers.
Baby Clothes.
Mason Jar Pour Caps.
Fidget Spinners.
Organic Beard Oil.
Bow Ties.
Wood Apparel.

Reviewing the previous list, you’ll notice a pattern that these odd items grouped together are profitable because there is little competition. Therefore, if you enter the market, you will have a greater chance of succeeding. Never forget to do your thorough market research before diving into your chosen niche.

Action Item: Jot down a list on a piece of paper, on the computer, or on your phone of your 5 passions, 5 problems and 5 fears. Once you have a list of 15 items, pick your 5 favorite ones. From this point, enter these 5 key terms into a keyword research tool and look for related keywords that branch from your selected original term that you can utilize to build a site fully function website.

2. Choose a Blog / Domain Name

Ultimately, the name of your blog is everything. It’s your brand. People have such short attention spans these days that you need to IMMEDIATELY hook them in with your name.

Many choose to use their domain name as their full name (i.e. www.FirstNameLastName.com), especially if they are the only person running the blog.

However, if you would like to remain anonymous, use a company name or brand instead. In that case, the possibilities are endless.

Try to keep your domain name to fewer than 4 words or 20 characters. Anything too long may make it difficult for your audience to remember. Think about the most iconic companies, such as Apple, Nike, etc. They are short, concise, and easy to recall.

Keeping a short, punchy name will lead to higher direct traffic as users will be able to directly type your business name into their browser HTML bars.

More importantly, experts highly recommend securing the .com domain since it has the largest global ranking potential. Even if the price is higher, you will see a higher return on your purchase.

Action Item: Jot down a list on paper or on your phone of your 10 different possible domain names. Be sure to use an online thesaurus to aid with the process. This is still preliminary since you’ll need to check with the next step for finalization.

3. Check the Name Availability

You may have gone through the mentally taxing brainstorming process. However, all of that work may be for not if someone else has thought of the idea before you.

Action Item: Use the free tool below to see if someone else has already come up with your concept.

If you want to start your own blog, feel free to start with hosting your very own site!

4. Buy and Reserve the Domain

After you’ve ensured that no one has stolen your ingenious name, it’s time to put the petal to the metal. Go ahead and purchase that domain name to ensure you are the sole owner of the website domain.

SiteGround Domain Purchase

Bluehost Domain Purchase

Action Item: Lock that dream business name in stone by purchasing an available domain.

5. Choose Your Hosting

One of the first mistakes I made was proceeding with a free blog. I did not want to spend money as it was common sense that saving money rather than spending money would result in a profit. However, it took experience to learn that it wasn’t so much foolishly spending money as it was rather investing in the business. Some of the most profitable blogs on the Internet spend millions of dollar in advertisements and other marketing techniques. But for new bloggers, the best advice I can give you is to not skimp on hosting. You want your site to be fully functional without the servers crashing.

Using Bluehost or SiteGround will help you get an edge up on your competition as they offer:

Customer Service Support – to answer any of your questions. Trust me, making a blog is not easy. You will have questions and they will not rest until they solve it.
Fast and Responsive Loading Times –if your site goes down, you may lose valuable traffic opportunities. A fully functional site will also decrease your bounce rate, ensuring readers stay on your site for long periods of time.
Unlimited Advertising Opportunities – you are free to monetize your site with this hosting option. This is how you will make your money in the long run. Don’t skimp out on hosting.

Bluehost Hosting Plans

SiteGround Hosting Plans

Action Item: To be clear, buying domains and buying hosting are totally separate and different transactions. However, Bluehost and SiteGround are the hosting companies that make it really easy for you by combining both steps into one. Go ahead get your site running smoothly with hosting!

6. Design your Website Theme

Moreover, before you jump into writing your blog posts, you should take time to lay out your ideal website theme. You may not be a trained web graphic designer with front end software engineering experience, but I can promise you WordPress has made this a cinch.

WordPress is the most popular platform for content management. It is an application programming interface that allows you to stay organized.

As you can imagine, WordPress is used by some of the top Fortune 500 companies, most popular news stations, music record labels, and celebrity influencers. In fact, WordPress is used by

WordPress.com is actually free while you have to pay for WordPress.org. Make sure you are aware of the differences between signing up.

WordPress Bluehost Recommendation

Action Item: Familiar yourself with WordPress, themes, plugins, tools, and settings. Once you watch a few tutorials, you should be ready to select the theme that most appeals to the look and feel of your website design.

7. Write A Blog Post

This is one of the least technical aspects of the process. College English majors and professional writers dream of this step. Put the pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. In order for a website to thrive, you simply need content. There is no circumnavigating this step. Writers block is often the toughest obstacle in this case.

“Writer’s block is a phony, made up, BS excuse for not doing your work.”
-Jerry Seinfeld

According to a Backlinko study, the average word count of a Google Top 10 Result is 1,447 words. Does this mean you need to write a 1,447 exact word count post every day? No, of course not.

You can still succeed with plenty of posts under 1,000 words, but it is generally suggested to write at least one post per month of at least 1,500 words. This will convey experience, authority, and quality when user traffic searches for their inquiries.

The best thing you can do is begin to write. No one writes a perfect draft because it’s called a draft for a reason. Continue to proofread and edit until you are finally satisfied to press the ‘Post’ button for the first time.

Action Item: Remember, there are never perfect conditions to start. Just begin, take action, and the momentum will run in your favor. Write that first blog post!

8. Promote Your Blog

You may have written the best blog post ever, but there is a possibility no one will read it.

Build an audience before you launch. Once you’ve got that audience, promoting your blog via social media becomes significantly easier to manage.

The biggest hurdle in social media, at least in my experience, is the initial push. Taking your blog from a no-show to a small success is difficult, but scaling that small success into a much larger traffic source isn’t as difficult as many social media marketers make it out to be.

The age old belief that building an audience after you launch your product is, simply put, entirely wrong.

From Bloomberg writers to one of the world’s most well-known marketers, the majority of successful business people will tell you that building your product after identifying its ideal market is the way to go. For bloggers, despite lacking a product per se, the rule still stands fairly true.

Building an audience before launching your blog allows you to quickly and easily make changes to it based on their reaction. It’s the same line of thinking that’s behind successful product advertising campaigns and focus groups – gaining data as quickly as possible. Treat your blog as an experiment in its early days and you’ll quickly discover what works, what doesn’t, and what’s worth doing right.

Not all of the following launch techniques are appropriate for every blog, and not all of them have the potential to build you a sizable audience before your launch. However, they all can help you build a promotional asset before your blog launches, which can come in very handy for initial promotion and word of mouth marketing.

‘Coming soon’ opt-in pages

Do you already have a following on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or another leading social media site? Use it to create pre-launch opt-in subscribers to your blog.

Before launching a blog on any topic, you need to make use of the biggest social media outlets to build a base level of subscribers. While these subscribers aren’t enough to spread word of your blog far and wide, they’re very helpful for launching smoothly.

Provided you have a reasonably large audience and a trust level that’s fairly high with them, you’ll have very little trouble converting followers into subscribers.

I should clarify this, since given the marketing antics that are often pulled on Twitter it’s important to weed out the potential for misinterpretation. If you have a Twitter account that’s loaded up with spam messages, endless self-promotion, and mindless marketing, you’re going to have difficulties converting your followers into opt-in subscribers or blog readers.

There’s a trust that needs to be maintained over social media, and every time you send out a link that’s forwarded to an affiliate offer or a mindless sales page, you lose some of that.

This runs somewhat against the ‘quantity is everything’ Twitter credo that many marketers believe in, but it’s essential to maintain authority if you plan to build a high-traffic blog.

Short-term tricks just don’t work in the blogging world, and an account that’s loaded with direct marketing tactics is likely to cause more damage to your blog before it launches than it could possibly cause in benefits.

Your core audience

Here’s an interesting phenomenon that I, and I’m sure most other marketers have noticed: regardless of where you’re publishing or what you’re writing about, a small (although not always) few will find it and market it for you.

Even if it’s an insignificant batch of ten to twenty people, almost every blog or guest post writer is going to find themselves attracting some kind of audience over time.

In the case of bigger bloggers, this audience eventually grows to the point where it acts as a buoy for their other content.

An interview or guest post on an unrelated site attracts comments that will turn attention in another direction, often towards your main blog or website. When combined with your new blog’s launch, this can eventually prove to be quite a valuable promotional asset.

Just like marketers are familiar with the landing page – a pre-sales page that convinces consumers of a product’s value – bloggers need to be familiar with their core audience, as they effectively do the same thing for their blog, albeit in an organic manner.

Avoiding ‘pushy’ emails

Effective mailing lists, particularly lists that have been generated over several years, are incredibly valuable for marketing a new blog, product, or service. While I didn’t have a large mailing list that could be used for the Fresh Life Advice launch, I can understand how valuable they are from past mail and subscription-based projects I’ve been involved in.

There’s one golden rule for sending email, particularly email that has a non-sale goal attached to it: don’t be pushy.

Andrew Warner, the founder of Mixergy and several other high-value websites, put things fairly well in his interview. When he founded his business in the late 1990s, receiving email was a monumental occasion for one of his subscribers.

Today, it’s something most of us don’t want to see, particularly in a niche as crowded with messages and technology as web design. While pushy email marketing can work in some fields, those with an urgent need for solutions especially, it’s not the best way to market a blog to tech-savvy readers and high-value customers.

Be persuasive when email marketing, but never be needlessly pushy.

Offer an incentive to join

Incentivizing your blog is a fairly risky move. On one hand, it’s incredibly effective at grabbing the attention of potential readers and contributors, yet on the other it can become quite a costly process, both in the amount of time required for a good promotion and the cost of running one.

If you’re completely new to the blogging world and lack any form of audience, running a promotion or competition is a fairly good way to generate subscribers and long-term readers.

The standard ‘buy a product for opt-in’ readers is fairly overblown and dull. Instead, it’s worth offering a service that’s related to your blog’s content, or providing some sort of professional value for your readers.

Instead of the standard prize, try to come up with something unique to your audience as an incentive to join your community or subscribe to your blog.

Action Item: Create the social media pages for your website, build an email list, and start interacting with other bloggers and users via responses to comments, emails, and other forms of social media. Set aside an hour per day as this is arguably one of the most important steps of launching a successful blog.

Final Thoughts on How To Start A Blog:

It isn’t hard to launch your blog, but it is quite hard to avoid making simple mistakes and minor errors.

More than anything, consistency and regular posting builds authenticity. There’s an endless amount of empty marketing on the internet, particularly on thin blogs purporting to be impartial. When you have a huge archive of content behind you, it becomes significantly less likely for people to think of your blog as a marketing shill, ultra-commercial sales resource, or inauthentic scam.

Simply put, with a large content archive behind you and a reputation that’s stemmed from it, you’re insulated from the risk of being labeled a sell-out. I think that blogs are a fantastic tool for sales and marketing, but new blogs rarely are. It takes a certain amount of authenticity and reliability to sell to regular readers – much more so than it takes to sell to a search-based website visitor.

All in all, running a high-traffic blog has confirmed the immense value that I thought they could provide to both bloggers, readers, and advertisers. There’s really no excuse not to have your own blog, whether as an outlet or a commercial asset. If you’re on the fence about starting a journal or information blog, don’t fret – get out there, get writing, and start your own blog today.

Today, more than ever, there seems to be endless advice and information, but there is only one place that will provide you with Fresh Life Advice. Welcome.

Thank You!

I would like to thank you for reading, existing, and supporting Fresh Life Advice. This would not be possible without you.

Please also share this guide with any of the people in your circle who may benefit from it. My goal is to help as many people as possible on their financial journey.

Just think. If millions of others can successfully launch blogs, then so can you! Go out there and take action!

Are you thinking of starting your own blog? Grab FLA’s COMPLETE Step-By-Step Guide To Starting a Successful Blog and take complete control of your finances today!