The Katana: Favorite Posts of The Week Ending 11/15
There are plenty of online marketing sites such as PF Buzz, TIPD, FWISP, DIGG etc to highlight posts and increase breadth of readership. Anybody know which ones are the best if I had to just focus on a couple? It seems like one big popularity contest, which brings back fond memories of High School (maybe not). If anybody wants to submit for me, feel free!
The traffic really is expanding here, especially from overseas countries like China & The Philippines. International perspectives are always great and I hope our Indian brothers also join in the foray some day.
Sorry if I don’t respond to your e-mails and Twitters during the day. I shut things off and focus on paying the bills, usually until 7pm PST. I don’t have a personal PDA or anything either (what’s an iPhone?), but I promise to get back to your inquires when I return!
CONCLUSIONS FROM THE WEEK ON FINANCIAL SAMURAI:
* In a sit down with Warren Buffet, he advises us to work for a person and organization we admire and forget about the money. Bill says we need “brash confidence” in ourselves to succeed. I agree! If you don’t have confidence in yourself, who will?
* Thousands of readers read “Why Are There Homeless Veterans In America?” Now if thousands of readers could write to the White House HERE and tell them your concerns, perhaps we can make a difference. Took me 2 minutes. Thanks Susan for the tip!
* Most people would wisely save their $8.5 million poker winnings, which is really only around $4.5 million after taxes! Yet some of you are even more adventurous and would buy a business or stocks with the proceeds. I’m just happy with the $160,000+ a year in risk-free interest income! Thanks Evan from My Journey To Millions for reminding us about gift tax consequences. Party poopa!
* Finally, I want to remind folks that it’s never too late to fight to lower your property taxes! Don’t let the government take away your hard earned money as they are counting on the masses to be lazy. Alex, hope your real estate readers found it useful. Fight on!
Thanks for everybody’s continued support. Never feel shy to comment, as your voice is ALWAYS welcome!
MY FAVORITE ARTICLES OF THE WEEK:
“Five Ways To Reduce How Much You Need To Retire By $300,000.” Todd Tresitter guest posts for Millionaire Mommy Next Door offering a great angle writing that if you can live on $1,000 less a month, you can reduce the amount you need to save by around $250,000. Take however many thousands you think you need to retire on a month, multiply by 250 and get your retirement savings goal.
“The Unseen Assets On Your Balance Sheet” Monevator writes about the various things many folks aren’t including in their net worth calculation. I still think everybody should scratch EVERYTHING out of their net worth calculation except for cash, because cash is the only thing dependable when you retire. Please feel free to read “Your Net Worth Is An Illusion – Sorry To Spoil Your Delusion”
“Thailand Here We Come! The Next Leg of Our Adventure”, After a short stint in New Zealand, Baker and family plan on moving to Thailand this coming January for two months! What I love about this post is how it reminds us publishers the freedom we can have if we get enough traffic, make enough advertisement revenue, and lead a relatively minimalistic life. An adventurous spouse doesn’t hurt either!
“Eight Reasons Why It’s Hard To Get Rich”, James discusses some limiting factors that prohibit us from big balling. Taxable income is one evil inhibitor. Good thing I took some notes and posted “I Saved $2.1 Million On Lunch – A Sit Down With Warren Buffet“ to tell us all his secrets!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
Twitter @FinancialSamurai and subscribe to our RSS feed.
PS: if you’re interested in reading about Manny Pacquiao after his win over Cotto, here’s an article by Filipino blogger Tyrone. “Manny Pacquiao Success Story”
Also, if you ever link back to one of our posts, please also shoot us an e-mail so we can thank you! The WordPress trackback system doesn’t seem to work at times.
Hey FS. Thanks for the PS as a reference to my site at the end of your post. We are celebrating a big win for Manny Pacquiao here as soon as he comes back within the week. Cheers to Manny! The undisputed pound per pound champion of the world with 7 world boxing titles! :)
[Reply]
admin Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Tyrone – Yes, what a great fight! Can’t believe he’s won in so many different weight classes!
[Reply]
Sorry to be the party poopa! It was a great article
[Reply]
So many great articles! It is a real benefit, your blog.
John DeFlumeri Jr
[Reply]
nice recap! I really enjoyed the veterans and property tax posts. And for anyone who missed the Buffett/Gates interview that FS posted about, it’s replaying a couple more times on CNBC, buffettgates.cnbc.com.
[Reply]
admin Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Charlie – Thanks for highlighting the link! Very useful!
[Reply]
I’m turning red!
I’ve never been called a favourite female blogger. Thanks so much for linking to the showdown between Krystal and I.
Look for more collaborations in the future :)
[Reply]
Thanks for exposing our wild journey of an adventure! Looking forward to Thailand and appreciate your support. :-)
[Reply]
@FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
You’re welcome! You really are! Your posts exude your personality, which is great! :) FS
[Reply]
@Baker
It’s a wild and absolutely FANTASTIC adventure indeed! Thank you for sharing your adventure with the rest of the world. My heart is hungry for a big journey every 2-4 years, and I’m happy to enjoy your experience with you! Samo
[Reply]
Thanks for the link FS. Good articles. Like the Katana angle, too — it was my favourite weapon in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game back in college! ;)
[Reply]
admin Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Monevator – You’re welcome! Didn’t realize TMNT spread to England :)
[Reply]
haha, nicely played my good man. you’re actually in the future lineup for a blogger showdown, so get excited! I’ll hit ya up later once I get my act together ;)
[Reply]
@J. Money Haha, nice! Actually, no rush for me. From the existing publishers you’ve profiled, I don’t think I deserve to be in the line-up for another several months at the earliest!
Thanks for considering. Best, Sam
[Reply]
Me again — just to add your traffic figures are amazing for a site so young. What’s the secret? ;)
[Reply]
@Monevator Donno mate, it’s my first go at it. I’ve done no SEO stuff, and don’t even know how to add a metadata tag thingy! Maybe some can show me, haha.
It seems like once you download the Alexa toolbar, put the badge up, write some content you feel passionate about, get to know other publishers, type real comments on other sites, and try and freely help others, folks will come?
Seems like there’s a high correlation and how many have built up traffic. Don’t know any secret sauce. Does hitting the refresh button a lot on my site help? :)
[Reply]
@admin
Ha ha, yes maybe. ;)
(I guess having the toolbar might be juicing your figures from your own visits?)
I do see comments from you everywhere, so perhaps that’s helping, too.
Anyway, I’ve now read a few more articles on FS and I have to say I like the site a lot. We certainly don’t agree on everything, but you have a really zippy attitude that personally I find refreshing, FWIW. Will try to stop in more!
[Reply]
Monevator – I’m actually surprised not all publishers download the Alexa tool bar to understand their own site’s traffic figures as well as other sites they visit.
After all, if PF blog rankings are based off Alexa, and advertisers use Alexa to determine the legitamacy of your traffic, doesn’t it behoove us publishers to use and understand?
I’m pretty sure me visiting my site doesn’t do much to my ranking :). I don’t do anything with it all day. Actually, if you don’t mind experimenting for me and clicking the refresh button on your site 100X a day to see if it helps, that would be great!!
Regarding me commenting elsewhere. I feel that if a writer has spent at least his:her time putting together something interesting or helpful for us to read, we readers at the very least should comment and provide some input! It’s the right thing to do.
Cheerio!
[Reply]