Inspired by Ms. FAF’s “Best of” list, I took a look at Google Analytics to see what this blog’s top-trafficked pieces were of 2018. It’s been an interesting year for me, to say the least, and this year’s top posts reflect the lows and highs I’ve encountered. Here’s the countdown to the top posts of the year:
10. My 2018 Financial Goals
One of the reasons I started this blog was to have accountability. That’s why I started doing Cash Fasts, and also writing out my financial goals. As for the goals I set for 2018… well, things aren’t looking so good. I thought they were moderately reachable. Who could have expected that I’d lose my job (and therefore be unable to contribute to a 401(k)), or that the market would drop so drastically (preventing me from hitting that $30K investment goal)? Nevertheless, I had some strong financial wins this year—these things are sometimes just impossible to predict!
Total after-tax side income in 2018: $5,010.42 💰
This includes my labor of love, blogging (<1%) & my website creation/management side hustle (99%+).
Here’s to a bigger and better 2019! pic.twitter.com/VEip83w8o3— Cash Fasting (@cashfasting) December 21, 2018
9. The Costs of U.S. Health Insurance
When I had to visit a specialist this year and did a number diagnostic tests, I was hit with over $10,000 in medical bills, despite having insurance. Since then, it’s been a battle of telephone calls, submitting claims, and lots of waiting. I was lucky to get the bills reduced to under $2,000, but that’s still a large amount. Fingers crossed that others who deal with managing their own health insurance for the first time don’t fall into the same trap I did.
8. My First Week of Unemployment — Leaving a Six-Figure Salary
Career-wise, 2018 has been a wild year. I started off with an unexpected promotion and solid salary bump. Months later, I left that position for an even better title and a significantly higher salary—only to be let go another two months after that when the company could no longer afford to operate a New York office. Come on, I even redid my About page to reflect my fancy new six-figure lifestyle! I’m laying low for now, but once 2019 rolls around, I’m prancing on new job opportunities because I want that salary back.
7. The Fast Track To Net Worth Growth
I’ve had this post pinned to my Twitter profile for half the year, so I’m not surprised it’s in the Top 10. In this post, I graphed out 4 years of retirement savings and contributions by quarter – the first time I’d ever looked at the data that way. It was a really interesting view of how my retirement savings journey begun. The hardest part about it was tracking down the data, as I had moved jobs and rolled over old accounts. This is definitely up there in terms of posts I’m most proud of writing.
6. Financial Privilege: I Have It
As a child of immigrants, my parents have worked exceptionally hard to give me opportunities they never had. I’ve also been fortunate to have received financial aid from them when many others didn’t have the same. It’s important, especially for someone in my position (writing about personal finance), to understand what benefits I have received along the way that others may not have.
In terms of timing, this post was written when I got my first paycheck with a six-figure salary; it was a big day for me. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), what I felt seeing that paycheck was not an overwhelming feeling of success with a dash of “Mom, I made it!”, but rather, “okay, how do I get more?”. There’s a good chance I’ll always be searching for more, so this post was a reminder to myself that I’ve already received so much along the way.
5. What Does A 64% Savings Rate Actually Look Like?
This is an old post from late 2017, and ah, what a nice time that was. I had just finished paying off my student debt. In the last few months, I was consistently putting away $1,000 – $1,400 a month towards debt, just so that it would be DONE. In the months following payoff, I directed that money straight towards savings and investments, rather than lifestyle creep. The result of that? For one blissful quarter, I actually managed a savings rate of 64%.
4. I Thought I Was LeanFIRE. I’m Not.
When conversations around Lean/Fat FIRE or FIOR were going in full swing earlier this year, I got a little overwhelmed by all the subdivisions under the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). FIRE is FIRE, right? Well, yes and no. The whole discussion made me really start thinking about where I defined my early retirement expectations along this scale, and I was surprised at the result. Since then, this post has brought in a fair number of Google search visitors wondering the same thing, too.
3. The Unexpected Side Hustle
Hallelujah for alternate income!! When the opportunity to make a little extra cash on the side fell into my lap, I took it. Since, then, it’s developed more into a business, with a contract renewal for 2019 and new client opportunities. It’s not enough to go full-time (nor do I particularly want to), but it’s been great to get exposure with other type of skills, and especially rewarding to be qualified for a job which blogging has prepared me for.
2. The Secret To Saving Money Is Tricking Yourself Into Being Poor
This post is here almost exclusively because it made it through 4 rounds of Rockstar Rumble at the beginning of 2018. While I’m proud of that accomplishment, I cringe at my super clickbait title. I stand by the post itself (it’s about automating your savings), but the title could have been better. I even wrote a follow-up post which goes into more detail.
1.Here’s The Cost Of Living In NYC
This is my top post in 2018! Published in December 2017, this post earned 3x more traffic than the next-best article. I’m not surprised. Around Spring, I noticed that this post was getting a lot of consistent traffic from Google – as it turns out, it’s a top-ranking search result for keywords related to “cost of living in NYC”. For a period, it was even on page one of search results, which really brought in a ton of new visitors to this site. Seeing that data prompted me to publish an updated NYC cost of living post focused around my budget (which definitely changes yearly, if not more frequently).
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Blogging has opened so many doors for me this year. It’s been rewarding to watch traffic grow, and also (clearly) see how much my writing has changed from when I first started this blog until now. Heh, I remember when even getting 300 words onto a page used to be a pain. Now, on a good day, I can craft 1,000 words in one sitting – it’s a world of difference! Thanks for being a Cash Fasting reader. Cheers to a great 2018, and an exciting 2019!