Most popular articles of 2021

(Article written on 12 December. Exact figures might change, based on posts and traffic in the last 3 weeks of December 2021.) 

This year, I've published 37 articles For the first half of the year, I maintained the cadence I've maintained for several years, of a new article every week, with a few small exceptions.

In August, I slowed down a bit – publishing a series of "this blog in books" articles, and then taking something of a "tactical sabbatical" while I slowed down to one or two articles in October and November (and probably December). I'll probably return to publishing weekly in February 2022. 

I don't look at traffic to this site very often (it is not optimised for "SEO" or maximising audience). In fact, the only time I look at it in any detail is when I write year-end articles like this. Between 1 January 2021 and 12 December 2021 (as I type this), this blog had over 10,000 visitors. Many of those visitors returned – of those ~10,000 visitors, it had approximately 20,000 visits. On average, people checked out 2.74 pages each time they visited, resulting in roughly 55,000 page views. (Those figures sound big, but I'm sure they're tiny compared to other Kiwi money blogs.) 

The most popular articles of this year are listed from most-visited to less-visited. Unless stated otherwise, they were published in 2021. 

• The myopia of compound interest (published in 2019)

• What is your asset allocation?

• The housing package

• My Stealth Wealth course was a dumpster fire – and a raging success

• Are you spending or investing? It’s not always black and white

• The minefield of ethical investing (published in 2019)

• Shades of right – avoiding black & white thinking and “musturbation” when it comes to your finances

• Active investment is great! Just pick the right domain

• What does financial security mean to you?

• Regret is a creative act. Channel your creativity and imagination for good!

• Time craters (or: Why I’m saying “no” more often)

• Think twice before winding up your family trust

• The story of your life has many chapters

• Tactical sabbaticals

While I'm listing articles, I want to share a couple from 2021 that didn't make the list above:

• COVID-19: twelve months later – a 2021 retrospective of the articles I wrote soon after COVID-19 reared its ugly head. 

• What your balance sheet omits [human capital] – as time goes on, I grow more convinced in the importance and value of investing in ways that don't show up on your balance sheet – in particular, in yourself and your ability to create value for others. It can generate a ROI in financial terms (increasing your ability to generate income over the long-run). It can also generate returns in "wealth" more broadly, and in terms of managing risks (for example, reducing the likelihood of being displaced from the workforce).