February 2014 Blog Update

Root of Good February 2014 Blog Update

February marked another great month at Root of Good.  Traffic was down compared to January but still higher than December 2013.  I was expecting a 10% decrease in traffic versus January because February has 10% fewer days than January (I’m a math expert).  The traffic numbers were slightly worse than expected, with 15% fewer visitors in February than January.  Seasonal variations?  Bad winter storms on the east coast?  Who knows, right?

The solid trend for social media subscribers continued in February.  Last month I noticed that across all social media channels I tend to get about 100 new subscribers each month.  February was eerily consistent, with 103 new subscribers, bringing the total social media subscribers to 564.  If you haven’t subscribed yet and want to ensure you don’t miss any Root of Goodness, make sure to subscribe on Facebook, Twitter, or by email or RSS reader (in the column to the right).

Stats for February 2014:

Most popular pages:

$150,000 Income, $150 Income Tax

Early Retirement at 33: An Overview

Reaching the Summit of Financial Independence

Revenue: $1,071.  Another great month.  This includes $250 from January that didn’t update until late February.  I also have some unreported February revenue due to switching around some advertising (I’ll put that revenue in the March update).

I am anticipating some revenue from freelance writing for the Daily Capital blog, but for now I’m leaving it out of the Root of Good revenue summary.  You can check out the awesome post at Daily Capital that shows three households that make decent salaries yet pay zero tax here.

To put Root of Good’s earnings in perspective, $1,071 in monthly revenue represents 40% of our budgeted retirement spending.  At this rate, we won’t have to dip into our investment portfolio nearly as much as anticipated.  This income was completely unexpected when I decided I was retired six months ago.  So far, this means our cash balances keep growing.  Hopefully we can blow some of this money on a nice long summer vacation, and I might look into a solo 401k to hide part of all of the income from the tax man.

Even though Root of Good is still a hobby, I’m definitely loving the supplemental income that comes from monetizing the content.  I know the real value to readers comes from figuring out how to make their own finances more efficient, and I hope the advertising here isn’t overly intrusive.

Looking Ahead

I published six posts in February, which is within my “one to two posts per week” goal.  However, the last half of February was mostly devoid of any new content.  Hey, I’m early retired!  I’m not supposed to work too hard, right?

I’m working on a couple of lengthy posts on early retirement with kids.  Those posts plus my usual monthly post on “what I’m up to in early retirement” and my February household financial update will kick off March with a bang (in case you have been eagerly awaiting new posts from Root of Good!).

In March, I’m doing a Google Hangouts interview/podcast with a group of people from the Mr. Money Mustache Google Plus group.  I’ll be the first guest on their new show.  First guest or guinea pig – you decide.