Achieving Blog Notoriety
So I Googled my blog for fun, to see if it shows up on the front page. Well in doing so I have discovered something else that’s quite interesting. It appears people on the internet who aren’t bloggers have been talking about my site. 😀 So I’ve decided to share some of those comments with you guys today. I’m too lazy to type out everything so I just took snippets of screenshots instead. Below is a collection of mean comments on different forums and message boards about Freedom 35 Blog.
Cor blimey 😯 Can you guys believe that? I was really surprised when I saw those comments! I mean I had no idea so many people were actually talking about my Freedom 35 blog. 😀 Aww yiss! I can almost feel the love. (^_^) I like to write about my financial management strategies. Last month I shared how to easily create extra income by selling options. Last week I blogged about buying a fixed income investment with leverage that yields me 10% annually with minimal risk. And earlier this year I wrote how to hedge against inflation by further diversifying into agriculture. But I had no idea my blog was generating so much interest across the web, which is super cool! I was even mentioned by someone in the Calgary Herald, one of my favourite news sites 🙂 I never expected my personal finance blog to be so popular. Thanks to everyone for reading and sharing!
[Edit] If you want to read more mean comments, here is part 2 of people’s remarks about this blog. [/Edit]
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Random Useless Fact:
A photograph taken from 1941 in Gold Bridge, B.C. is alleged to show a time traveller. A peculiar man is seen in the undoctored photo wearing clothing and sunglasses that was modern and not of the styles worn by anyone else in the 1940s. Today this strangely dressed man is often called the Time Travelling Hipster.
Damn those people surely know more than you why don’t they write their own blog ?
Well like they say any publicity is good publicity.
I’ve heard that saying too. I’m just glad they recognized my blog at all 🙂
Hah! I always thought you were a risk taker but it’s worked out well for you. No risk no reward right? I bet you some of those people are subscribed to your blog. It’s funny how sometimes if you don’t do things the “standard way” it’s seen as doing it wrong. Good luck to you.
Thanks Monchito 🙂 The first commenter said my site has been bookmarked lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were subscribed. Doing things the standard way is too mainstream. Besides, it’s hard to get rich by following everyone else. It’s better to find one’s own path.
Hehe there are always going to be haters. Better than no one commenting like on my blog lol.
You just started your blog this year. I’m sure your readership will increase over time as you continue to choose winning stocks 🙂 Who knows, maybe one day someone will criticize your strategies. But who cares, as long as we’re having fun and making good money. Successful people are doers and learners, unsuccessful people tend to be complainers and close minded.
You are very popular man :D. May be you will be in TV shows, stage shows, etc, in the future – once you become a multi-millionaire.
Regarding those comments – no matter how well you are doing, there will always be someone criticizing you. I’ve never taken their comments as bad, sometimes it helps you to re-evaluate your strategies.
Keep it up your good work.
That’s right. No financial plan is perfect because it has to be constantly changing and evolving like the flow of life. Reading feedback from different people and their perspectives can be valuable in helping me improve my strategy going forward 🙂 Yeah I wouldn’t mind going on radio to discuss money and help out others in my generation who are also figuring out their finances. Hook me up if you know any media people 😉
I’ve read your blogs for years. I have never thought of you as ‘oblivious to risks’ … Not sure what they mean. If anything, you’ve talked about the risks along with potential benefits.
Thanks Matt. I’m not really sure what they mean either. I just updated my net worth last week. No drastic changes lately but for every $1 of my net worth I have $1.77 of debt. I don’t think a debt to equity ratio of 177% is too extreme. Here’s something I just realized. A decade ago if a first time home buyer had a 30% downpayment on a home, everyone would be happy for him. He would only need a mortgage for 70% of the home’s value. 30% is already a big downpayment since most people only pay 20% or less. Nobody would have told him that buying a home is a risky financial move. But simple math shows that if he put all his savings into a property, and owns 30% of it then that means for every $1 of home equity he has, he owes the bank $2.33. Not only is 233% debt to equity ratio higher than what I have, but interest rates were also higher back then, which made mortgage debt more expensive and harder to service 😐 So a 233% debt to equity ratio leveraged against a single property is socially acceptable. But when my… Read more »
No, you’re exactly right! If I thought your methods were crazy I would have stopped reading a long time ago.
As for the merger, nothing has changed in our stores yet, business as per usual. However, I’m sure things have changed for upper management… no effects from that has been seen yet.
Nobody knows YOUR money like you, and as I’ve said before, you are doing fine and learning at a quick rate. You back up your thoughts with action, and that’s the only way to learn how to make money. Only point to keep eyes on is that debt to equity ratio. It’s fine to use other people’s money, until they want more for it, in which case you need to have eyes on a quick exit plan… Cheers.
Rates can go up at any time. Last month Mark Carney was talking about potentially raising rates in the U.K. sooner rather than later. It’s hard to predict what central bankers will do so I agree that we need to be prepared 🙂 My current exit plan is to slowly pay down about $1500 of debt each month for now. Then when the first rate hike happens I will accelerate my debt repayment even if I have to stop making new investments for awhile.
Wow some people are really harsh. Glad you’re able to shrug it off and not take it personally.
I was reading my horoscope yesterday and by happenstance it said negative people will try to bring me down, but I just have to ignore them, lol.
So, hi, I’m new here 🙂 I really expected you to come out swinging. Dismiss them. Fire back. Something other than be excited. You are totally a rock star in my book for how you handled the negativity. Lesson to me: don’t google my blog.
Hi Kirsten, thanks for dropping by 🙂 I don’t know where those commentators are coming from, and they probably haven’t read enough of the articles on my blog to understand my unique situation, so there’s probably some misunderstanding. The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies. Maybe if I can sit down with all those people and have a conversation with them then we can all learn something new about finance and each other 🙂 Maybe some enemies can be friends if we get to know them better.
This is why I have for the most part given up trying to explain my goal of FI to some of my friends and certain family members…..can’t throw your pearls before swine.
MDP
If they knew more about passive income and investments they would understand where you’re coming from. Too bad most people don’t teach themselves fundamental money principles until it’s too little too late.
What lovely words all around 😉 I think you’re a little crazy, but only because I’m not at that point in my life to have a net worth close to that, especially with all the leveraging you’re doing… But it’s okay, I think a lot of people are little crazy, myself included 🙂
I’m glad we’re both a little crazy. Life is too short to be ordinary, so we have to find ways to be extraordinary 🙂
Hey Liquid, nice to see that you’re taking it all in stride. Keep your head up and stay focused on your goals and you should have no problem achieving freedom at 35!
Thanks, the goal is looking more achievable than ever. Maybe I’ll even finish a year earlier than planned. Time will pass anyway so it’s good to aim for something. Even if we don’t reach our objective we will still be much further ahead than not trying at all.
I think a lot of other people do as well. I see my blog as part educational and part entertainment lol.
Omg I think I have the same shirt as the time traveler. Target sells them. The alien is from a target of the future.
Stick to your plan. Your obviously doing something right.
*Gasp* Maybe you are the time traveller. You just don’t know it yet because the events that needs to take place for you to use the time machine hasn’t happened in our timeline yet 😉
You’ve taken the criticism quite well. You mentioned above that no strategy is perfect and it is constantly changing and evolving over time. One of the criticisms was that you are over-leveraged. One thing that you may want to consider (positive criticism) is that you’ve only been through a boom cycle so far and haven’t seen the bust. It will come at some point – we all know that. What form it will come in and when is uncertain.
If you run the numbers for different scenarios on your investments in case of margin calls, interest rate hikes, etc. to see where your breaking point is. The funny thing about crashes is that they tend to come from multiple fronts for investors. I’ve known a few people who built up significant portfolios (housing, stocks and derivatives) prior to 2008 and lost everything once the banks called in their loans – they couldn’t rent their properties, and couldn’t liquidate their other assets. Ended up going bankrupt. It would be a shame for you to lose everything you have worked for so far. Just food for thought. Best of luck!
That must have been a terrible experience for those people who lost everything in 2008 🙁 Thanks for the cautionary warning. It’s helpful to do a reality check and stress test our finances often.
My budget would start to go cash flow negative if the prime lending rate jumped up to 7%. I would get margin called if stocks fall by 15% right now. I would be underwater on my home if regional real estate prices drop 30%. My farm values would need to drop 40% before I’m in negative equity.
I’ll watch these numbers closely and make sure to take precautionary measures if any of them gets close to my limits 🙂
[…] Large risks will always be played down. Small risks tend to be blown out of proportion. […]
[…] Thank you everyone, for reading and sharing! Putting together these comment compilations from other websites is always a ton of fun! If you want to read more internet remarks about this blog check out Part 1 from last year. […]
[…] least this time nobody accused me of being overly leveraged, lol. These posts are always really fun to put together. And I know my readers enjoy reading them […]
[…] Again, this is 100% me. I’ve easily brushed off criticism in the past. […]