Another lap around the sun.
First, a 40,000 ft overview of 2024:
- I lost my mom (64) after an excruciatingly long and difficult sickness spanning almost a decade.
- I rediscovered running after a 25-year hiatus.
- I dragged the family to Seattle/Whistler where we hiked, kayaked, and four of us competed in a triathlon (Me, Mrs FP, FC1, FC3). FC1 won her race. I lost to my friend by just over a minute, which I will never forgive myself for.
- I survived backpacking/packrafting in Alaska for a handful of days. I took a climbing trip to Vegas.
- The kids are growing up fast. Only eight months before FC1 is off to college. Weird. Fc3 is as tall as me now at the age of 14. Boo.
- Our net worth grew by $524k, but it doesn’t really seem to matter much. I feel no wealthier now than I did as a newlywed when Mrs. FP made $10k/year as a student teacher, supporting us during our last year of undergrad in 2005. The secret, it seems, is to be content with living on little. Optimization seems to help a bit with that. So does suffering in the wild, which really puts things into perspective.
Blog update next
Here are some historical state-of-the-blog posts:
- My 2023 edition is here.
- My 2022 edition is here.
- My 2021 edition is here.
- My 2020 edition is here.
- My 2019 edition is here.
2024 Blog Stats:
- 506 WordPress / email subscribers
- 14% growth from last year (444)
- 400 Feedly subscribers:
- 16% growth from last year (345)
- 76,290 pageviews this year:
- 39% growth from last year.
- 2023 pageviews: 54,788
- 2022 pageviews: 63,855
- 2021 pageviews: 92,017
- 2020 pageviews: 137,594
- 2019 pageviews: 78,266
- Posts/month: ~1.75.
- 2024 Profitability:
- Amazon affiliate revenue: $58.40
- Blog costs ($6/mo DigitalOcean hosting + $10.37/yr Porkbun domain): ($72+$10.37)*(1-5.25%) = $78.05
- 5.25% cash back for “online” category at BoA
- Profit (ignoring home internet costs, etc): loss of $19.65.
- Profit/hr (assume 1 hr/post): ~ negative $1/hr.
A few screenshots for the curious
Conclusion:
- It’s hard to believe that this blog is almost nine years old (first posts were May of 2016). I dreamed up the idea while desperately trying to find a job out of grad school to support my family. I wanted a place to share things I found interesting/useful.
- The credit card review posts were most popular in 2024 (a few years back it was the Refi posts). It’s an interesting niche I’m stumbled into since credit card rewards are orders of magnitude less important than the other stuff I’ve ranted about (frugality, tax optimization, investing wisely), but arguably more interesting to read about.
- I didn’t write the book I said I would in 2024 — I didn’t find the motivation to do so. Maybe this year…
- While most of us acknowledge our impending deaths, I think fewer of us accept our much more temperamental and shorter-lived healthspans. Unfortunately, my mom’s health took a major turn for the worse in her 50s (~ a decade older than I am now). We’ve observed too many friends in their 40s or younger deprived of their health and even life. Life is short. Health is shorter. Carpe diem, I suppose.
Just a thank you for sharing your journey with me. I appreciate your insights.
Thanks for stopping by!
My heart goes out to you and your family. I pray you have wonderful memories and stories about your mom to help keep her memory alive.
Your focus and determination has really set up your family for financial peace. Amazing job!
Thanks Jennifer!