January of 2013 I sat down and wrote a blog post title “Welcome to YoungMoneyFinance”. I was long distance dating, still fairly new to the city I was living in and really enjoyed personal finance and wondered if anyone else did. Blogs were still somewhat new(ish) and I decided to give it a go and create my own blog. Mr. Money Mustache was (and arguably still is) one of the popular personal finance bloggers then and I felt like the space wasn’t overly crowded, leaving plenty of room for my voice. I started with a free blogspot site and shortly thereafter graduated to my own domain (hosted through Bluehost). 

981 articles and 138,00 views later, the blog is still going strong! I am continually blown away that a) I have personal finance topics to write about and b) there are people that want to read what I have to say. It’s so fun getting comments – both IRL and on the blog from readers and fans of the blog.

Thinking back to true YoungMoneyFinance (as opposed to the MiddleAgedMoneyFinance I am today) – I was 1 year into the working world, didn’t have many investments, was contributing 2% to my retirement account and didn’t have that many other assets (or liabilities for that matter). What a time to be alive! Fast forward 11 years and I’m married, 3 kids, 1 dog, have owned (and sold) several houses, changed jobs, bought a rental property, maxed out my 401(k), gotten life insurance, invested in a local small business, opened credit cards, flown first class to Europe, and bought crypto (to name a few things). I feel so blessed and fortunate and grateful for friends and family who have supported me along the way! 

Blog Hits

I always enjoy looking back at some of the top hits from the past year. They are (with links in case you missed them): 

• The incredible story of how we pulled off a (mostly) free trip to Italy for 2 weeks and stayed in amazing hotels all on points and flew Emirates business class on miles.
• Tracking our tiny house construction (or lack thereof). We all had a big(ish) purchase during COVID that was a little (or a lot) outlandish. Ours was a ¾ acre lot in Tennessee in a tiny house community.
• An interview with a young professional with a true plan to retire early. A colleague of mine hinted at having a plan to retire early and when I grabbed virtual coffee with him to learn more, I was amazed and encouraged for my own retirement. I loved how he thought through and had a true plan.

Special Thanks

I do like to express gratitude whenever possible and do want to give thanks to those readers that have encouraged me, reached out to discuss things more in detail, or just asked how the blog was going! Starting with Mrs. Money – thanks for letting me continue to run this blog – even with 3 kids running around our house now! Mom and Dad and my siblings – appreciate the support! Friends of the blog as well: DC, JP, J(C)T, FA, CS, MR, DH, NO – I appreciate you! Finally I appreciate you, the reader of this article (and hopefully you stick around and read more!) – thanks for being here and taking the time out of your day!

Ideas for 2024

I took a bit of a social media break in 2023 with the blog. In 2024 I hope to strategically reinvigorate the social media – Mrs. Money has graciously offered to help! I also continue hope to bring new experiences, new ideas, solid reviews and overall great content around personal finance. Personal finance is a journey and I’m honored to continue it with you!