An Exciting New Beginning

excitingFirst off, I’m terribly sorry about my absence as of late. But I do think it’s all been for a good cause.

While I haven’t been writing new content three times per week like you readers have long come to expect, I have been working hard behind the scenes to solidify the future and legacy of this site and its message.

As such, I’m here today to announce a new, exciting path forward for the site that is more sustainable than ever before.

Handing Over Day-To-Day Management

I use the word “sustainable” there for a reason. And that’s because the blog has grown so much over the last year or so that my ability to handle everything – administration, content, emails, comments, etc. – has recently fallen short of the level it needs to be to make sure the site hums along as it should.

Now, I’m extremely thankful for this growth. But not necessarily because of the income that the blog might or might not generate due to extra traffic. If there’s anything I’ve tried to convey since I started this blog, it’s that all of this – the journey, the saving, the investing, the fighting – is about more time, freedom, flexibility, autonomy, and, ultimately, following your passions. Rather, I’ve been thankful for that growth because of the additional eyeballs that have come across the site and the message, and I’m so glad to be in a position to inspire even more people.

Well, it’s inspiring others that has really been my biggest passion all along. And I think I’m most able to do that when I’m writing and sharing my experiences/ideas. I’ve mentioned numerous times that I have a huge passion for writing. And that passion hasn’t abated at all.

However, I don’t recall ever discussing my passion for the administration of a somewhat large website. That’s because I don’t have a passion for that. Unfortunately, though, running a website is a lot more than just putting together articles that you think will help others. And the larger the site grows, the more time consuming these ancillary processes become.

At some point recently – maybe over the last two or three months – the administration of this blog has become a part-time job unto itself. But it’s really a part-time job I never wanted. And it’s a part-time job that takes away from the writing (which is another part-time job) that I’m so passionate about. Moreover, I’ve become concerned that everything that’s involved in the daily running of a site like this would eventually burn me out, burning away my passion for writing right with it.

So I decided recently to take on a partnership that I think will benefit everyone.

What Will Change

This partnership allows me to step away from daily operations and focus completely on content creation. And I couldn’t be more excited about that. I won’t have to deal with advertisers, dozens of daily emails related to the site, plugins, hosting issues, or anything else. Just content. And interacting with you readers just like I always have, of course, so that I can potentially help as many people as possible.

However, because of the nature of this partnership, there are some financial arrangements involved. Because of that, I will no longer be able to post my monthly budgets, recapping my income and expenses for the prior month. It’s a shame, and it’s a decision I didn’t take lightly. But there’s another party involved here and it’s only right to keep their numbers private.

One other aspect that will change is that there will be some new perspectives brought on board. So you’ll see articles by some new writers that we think will offer even more value to you guys. I’ve written more than 700 articles now here at the blog and I’ve started to secretly fear that keeping up this pace I’ve been on will at some point just see me repeating myself. You guys don’t want that. And I certainly don’t want that. Slowing the pace down a bit will allow me to keep things fresh, fun, and as inspirational as possible. I don’t ever want to write just to write.

But I’ll still be contributing regularly. After all, this whole idea came about to make sure that I could keep writing. I’m not going anywhere at all. And I still plan on being a very active member of this community, which has grown tremendously since I first started this site back in early 2011.

In addition, I’ll be a bit more difficult to contact directly because the emails will now be handled for me. But you guys know how to find me if you need me – social media, the comment stream here, etc.

What Won’t Change

Everything else will continue on like normal. And that’s what I’m most excited about. This deal cements the this site’s continuation for years and years to come.

You’ll still be getting regular content that’s as high quality as it gets. I’ll still be here to provide the best stuff I can while updating my results all along the way. And the community we’ve formed will obviously still be here as well.

Conclusion

All in all, this site will take the best of everything it’s ever been while augmenting that in a fresh, new way that is really exciting.

And I happen to think this is a really great move that benefits everyone. It benefits me by reducing my workload down to a more manageable level and allowing me to focus on that which I truly enjoy. Meanwhile, it benefits you readers by virtue of the content staying fresh and new, the site continuing to run and grow past my ability to run it, and potentially new features brought about that could add to what’s already been built here. There are so many ideas I’ve had over the years to make this site even bigger and better, but I’ve just lacked the time and/or interest to implement them. This move makes a lot of things possible.

So I hope you all stick around to see what’s next. A bigger and better site lies ahead!

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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473 Comments

  1. Jason, great to see you back!

    Interesting changes. I definitely understand how much busy work running a website(s) can be, especially when you have to take time to learn how to manage new portions of it as the site grows.

    I’m looking forward to the new perspectives and to continue following your journey.

    Congrats on the change and I’m sure everyone is glad you’re back! 🙂

    Cheers

  2. DM,
    Good to hear from you and I’m excited to see where you take this thing, now that you have professional help. Focusing on content is the best way you can serve your readers. Congratulations and good luck moving forward!
    -RBD

  3. Can’t say I’m excited. It was watching your journey, just a regular guy striving for FI, that made this blog interesting. That’s why I ended up coming back, I suspect it’s the reason many of your other readers kept coming back.

  4. While I have to say I am disappointing in one respect–that being that the blog will no longer be a pure distillation of one average man’s journey from nothing to FI. I have heard you talk about this concept and how you like it in the past so I think the blog is becoming more then that, which is unfortunate.

    However, I as well as anyone else who has started a blog or anything for that matter can only dream of getting to this point. The point where you are so successful you have to hire employees or outsource stuff just like a real business. While the new writers might get some initial push back from long time readers and time to get used to, ultimately the whole DGI/FI community has a ton of great bloggers which could use more exposure. I can see this website becoming a bastion of the FI community long after your journey is over and you have all shown us the way like ERE or MMM has become.

    Most importantly as long as I get to watch and read you whole journey whether it is on this site my itself or not, that is really all I want. That is the inspiration and the reason to visit, among the education and other things you offer.

    I look forward to the changes rolling out and will continue to read everyday.

  5. Glad everything is OK!! Like a few other readers I was beginning to worry when you went silent. Thankfully another reader pointed us to your tweeter feed that something was in the works. My worries were alleviated. 🙂

    Nice to see you make changes that need to be made as the blog grows. Although I’m sad to hear there will no longer be income/spending updates (as they bring a personal element to the blog which has always been appealing) I completely understand the need to make compromises to keep things running smoothly and allow you to do what you do best; motivate through your writing. I’ll continue to support you in whatever direction you take. Your writings along with MMM and Jacob allowed me to completely transform my life. I’ll be forever grateful for that motivation.

    All the best Jason,
    The Stoic

  6. R2R,

    Thanks so much. It’s great to be back! 🙂

    It’s been challenging for me. I never wanted to give up control like I did, but it was inevitable at the trajectory the blog was growing at. There was no way I could continue to do everything I do without turning this thing into the type of job I left back in the auto industry. I didn’t want to burn out and allow that fire of passion inside of me to die. So this was jut a compromise I had to make at this juncture. But I’ll still be writing. And I’m still striving toward financial independence. Nothing much has changed. And the help I’ve taken on will allow this site to become even more robust, which I’m personally very excited about.

    Thanks for following along. Appreciate the support!

    Best regards.

  7. ash,

    Thank you so much. Definitely very excited. My workload was becoming unsustainable, unfortunately. But that just means this community is growing. And that’s a good thing. 🙂

    Cheers!

  8. DGI,

    Thank you. It wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but it was necessary at this point in time. The administration of a large-scale site was not only becoming too much for me, but it was really never something I particularly enjoyed. Web development and internet marketing is better suited for others. I’d rather just be a writer and an investor. That’s where my heart is. I’ve always tried to follow my heart.

    Plenty more to come. Stay tuned.

    Thanks for all the support!

    Best wishes.

  9. RBD,

    My thoughts exactly. We’ll see how it turns out, but this move was made with the best intentions possible. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping in!

    Best regards.

  10. canuck,

    Sorry to hear that. I can understand that not everyone will agree with me seeking out assistance. But it’s just one of those things. I guess you’d just have to run a major website all by yourself to really see what it’s like.

    Hope you stay in touch!

    Take care.

  11. lthasty,

    Thank you so much. I think this is a big win-win. I get to focus more on content and doing what I love, and you guys will surely see more features and new perspectives.

    Have a great weekend!

    Cheers.

  12. Good to hear from you!

    Would it be possible just to post the net income you get from the blog and leave the running costs out of the posts?

    Best regards,
    -J

  13. The Stoic,

    Thank you so much for the kind words. It’s an honor to be in that kind of company!

    I really wish I didn’t have to make any changes at all. In a perfect world, I would have been able to continue running this thing by myself, publishing what I want when I want. But I guess that’s also an ego thing. I have to realize my own limitations and just be comfortable with that. And I have to follow my heart. The administration of a website has never been something of interest to me. This allows me to forgo all of that in favor of producing content.

    There are so many ideas I have in mind to make this site way better, but I just never had the time for it all. This allows me to collaborate with professionals that can implement positive changes and new features.

    But I’m still out there fighting for freedom and doing everything I’ve always done. I’m just trying to be a better version of me, which is what I hope I inspire others to aim for as well. This allows me to be a better me.

    Thanks again!

    Best wishes.

  14. Wow this is great news, I cant wait for more content on this blog. Glad you’re back I was getting very worried haha 🙂

  15. Tauri,

    Thanks so much. Wishing you all the best as well. I just hope to continue inspiring, motivating, and sharing for years to come. I’m not going anywhere. 🙂

    Cheers!

  16. Can you at least say who you’re partnering with? Are they going to pay you a set salary or a percentage of all the ad revenue that comes in?

    I will definitely miss your income/expenses updates but will still read your site.

  17. J,

    Thanks! I’m glad to finally be in a position to update you guys with information here.

    Unfortunately, there’s no way to realistically publish my income/expense reports anymore. They’d be too heavily skewed if I were to leave a bunch of information out and I certainly wouldn’t be able to publish a savings rate if I’m leaving things out. The savings rate is really the whole point of publishing them, and being vague is the opposite of being honest and truthful there. But I’m still saving just like I always have. And I think that more than four years of budget reports is a great sample to work off of and show what’s possible there.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best regards.

  18. i will look forward to following you into yhe future i will miss the monthly dividend updates as they motived me thru low dividends in the beginning o f my journy that began in sept 2014 and that first months dividends of $0.75 to the$35.00 i recived for august 2015 the dividends i now recieve will make my portfolio grow.too bad i have a short hill 72 yrs old with many health problems

  19. Glad you have someone to manage the tedious things now. Not thrilled at the idea of bringing in other authors. Feels corporate. I liked that it was you and your journey. I will continue to read, and I hope it works out for the best.

    Why did you just disappear from the blog the last two weeks? Were you not even able to make a post saying you were hitting the pause button?

    Good luck

  20. Hi DM,

    I’m glad to see you back. I was considering going in rehab but since you are back I won’t need to. Woohoo more money saved for the snowball. I certainly understand the descision. I’m looking forward to the first articles from the new guys.

    Have a good weekend.

    Cheers,
    Geblin

  21. Jason,
    As a long-time reader, I’m so excited for you! Congratulations, and way to go! As someone who also knows how much work it is to run a blog, I think you are making all the right moves in focusing on your passion (writing/motivating) and then partnering on the other admin stuff. One person can only scale so much, and it’s best to focus on the stuff you love. Wanted to also take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for all of your inspiration over the years, it means the world to me. While I don’t comment too frequently these days, I am reading every post, and gaining so much from your writing. Can’t wait for some of your next posts, I see via social media that you went on quite the buying spree this month. Can’t wait to read all about your investment decisions! Have a great weekend!
    Sincerely,
    Ian

  22. Congrats on continuing to build your own business Jason! Sounds like a great way to take it to the next level and I hope big things keep happening for you. I’m proud to have followed you and this site since the google blogger days. Hope all is well and keep inspiring us as you make your dreams a reality 🙂

  23. Good on you, Jason! This is how so many wonderful ventures (both monetary and non-monetary) begin to really flourish. You’ve poured your heart and soul into this blog over the years and built up an impressive community of readers and commenters, and now you’re taking the blog to the next level by engaging in a partnership with an entity that’s willing to compensate you for the exposure that your blog will provide them.

    This is commerce at its best and I could not be happier about your success – both here on Dividend Mantra and your life in general by quitting your auto job and focusing in on what’s truly important. Maybe one day I’ll get to this point as well, but I reckon that I have a bit more heart and soul to pour into my little blog before it gets to that point.

    Awesome job, and congratulations once again on what you were able to build here. I think in the past, this blog has paid off for you in the more figurative sense, but now it’s becoming more literal. More to invest. Better foundation for the future.

    Very, very best of luck as you enter into this new partnership.

    Be well, my friend.

  24. Congratulations from the UK – DM.

    Im excited for you, I feel that your site is taking over from Seeking alpha as my go to place for Dividend investing motivation.
    You deserve the success and I look forward to the site developing

    Good luck

  25. Glad to see you back! It may feel like a compromise to stop posting the hard numbers, but I don’t think it dilutes the message that much. A line pointing up and to the right is still darned inspirational even if numbers aren’t attached. I’m just thrilled for you on a new phase of your journey!

  26. Jason,

    First off. Congrats man! You hit the nail on the head, you have inspired me, Lanny, and many others in this community through your blog posts over the years. You have lived the journey that many of us strive for and may be too afraid to take ourselves. You went from being a miserable employee to your own boss to now being one a partner in an organization that you helped create. The latter would not be possible without taking the that huge leap that you took last year.

    The administrative aspect of a website can be burdensome and I’m sure you had no clue it would have ballooned the way it has because of the large growth in your website. You would never of known your like for it or dislike for the back end aspect of being the sole owner of your website without rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out. I’m glad you made the move that is best for yourself and will allow you to keep your passion for the cause. If you kept on being miserable for the sake of being miserable, you may have found yourself in the exact same place you were last year when you decided to become your own employer.

    No matter what anyone ever says, you have to take care of yourself. You know we are going to miss all of the posts on your website. If you don’t think you were missed, see the last 30+ comments in your previous article related to your absence. However, we all understand that this was a necessary step in your path to financial freedom and wish you nothing but the best.

    Glad you aren’t leaving the community all together. Take care! It has been a pleasure getting to know you over the years!

    Bert

  27. I’m guessing the partner really sees the potential here and has offered you a lump sum for a chunk of the equity.
    I think you sold out a bit too early. Can you still back out of the deal? Just hire someone to handle the admin portion of the website, there are many people who can handle something like that. It’s the writing and real story behind you that’s important and really rare. Why have a partnership situation were you have to give up a large portion of the profit to someone else? Isn’t the whole point of FI to get to do what you want to do?
    You could probably pay someone $50 for 10-20 hours of work to handle the tech issues.

  28. On balance this is very disappointing. The single most important thing about the site was specifically the ability to see monthly income. Even if the rights were sold I don’t understand why monthly income (at least dividends) could not be shared. Watching the specific monthly dividends grow was the key to me being a regular viewer and I suspend many others. Your new “partners” should be made aware of that fact.

  29. wow! I’m speechless!
    Good job on selling DM!
    I guess this new step will boost your freedom fund through the roof! Will we see several new purchase in the upcoming weeks?

    Keep it up Jason!

    Mike

  30. Jason,

    I am truly very excited for what is to come. I will be honest I realized how “addicted” I am to this blog checking it sometimes 4 times a day hoping a new article would be posted.

    Though I read many personal finance blogs and I appreciate all of them, without your blog and really the care you take to encourage people to grow and make themselves better people I would not have made the progress I have made this year. Over the course of 8 months I have a brokerage account with nearly $1000, my debt has decreased by 25%, and I have stared doing ride sharing to make extra money to get out of debt as well as a few other side hustles that are helping me grow my snowball. I started a blog but due to a personal issue had to shut it down even though it had success right away, I will be starting another one as soon as the issue that made it stop is gone. And Jason you have been the start and main reason for all of this. I’m planning and taking advantage of our close proximity to each other (I live in Clearwater) and using your coaching services if you are still offering that soon. But thank you so much for everything you have done and will continue to do.

    Tyler

  31. I was wondering where you’d been, who knew you had something going on behind the scenes. I’m glad that you’re able to unload the tasks that aren’t that appealing to you but be able to keep the ones that you love, namely writing. And I’m sure you’re happy about that as well. It’ll be interesting to see what the content of the staff writers ends up being, hopefully it’s still FI or DGI related although I’m assuming that’s part of the deal. It’s a shame that you can’t release your budgets but in the end that’s not the focal point. The only point that readers really need to get is that you spend less than you earn and invest the difference. Plus you still have a huge backlog of expense reports they can reference. Congrats and I expect to see you making quite a few purchases over the coming weeks/months! Inspirational as always!

  32. did you sell a stake in the website? getrichslowly started to suck pretty bad after JD Roth made a similar move..

  33. As we all can see, the decision u made is also part of the journey. The things that make the site fun and interesting to read will no longer be revealed (Income, expenses,saving rates, dividends income). I feel like it was my journey as well, but mine just ends right there. For u to accept such, it must have been an awesome deal. But what can we, readers, say about it. We will support u anyway. So we can’t wait to see what the change will bring.

  34. Life means continues change. I am happy for you if you have sold the blog and reached FI now.

    The blog was so honest (Income / Expenses) and you didn’t bullshited us as other pages like to do.

    But the blog itself started to get successful and generates lots of income now, ironically, in my opinion, this success will also kill the blog.

    All the best from Germany

  35. Good luck with the new development on the site. I will keep checking the site for good content as i have been doing several times weekly the last year. 🙂

    Norwegian guy

  36. Dear Jason,

    I totally understand your intentions, i.e., preventing burn-out,
    focus on content creation, etc.

    However, I cannot help myself feeling pretty sad,
    as the Dividend Mantra we knew comes to an end.

    I really enjoyed reading about your journey.
    Including income and expenses, etc.
    Hard numbers from a real life, authentic person.

    I don’t need content from other authors here – I could get it anywhere,
    for example on various other DGI-Investor Blogs.

    I came here to follow YOUR journey.
    I don’t need a commercialized version of your blog.

    Wouldn’t there have been another way? For example scaling
    back on answering comments and emails (I often was puzzled
    on how detailed you were going to answer every single comment)?
    Maybe grouping together all the outstanding “Recent-Buy”-articles,
    hiring a guy for the administrative stuff?

    However, we don’t have right to tell you what to do with
    your blog, and especially, with your life!

    All the best wishes to you, Jason!
    Nico

    (And of course, I will come back to this site now and then
    to look out for your content. Probably more unfrequently,
    as I was mostly interested in the hard-numbers part.)

  37. Well, you were very inspirational in helping me to work towards my FI goals, so I thank you for that. I hope you made a boatload of money, and I hope you can keep the site on message so it continues to provide the same type of value to us readers. One comment above says this feels too “corporate.” Well, duh, we’re talking about investing here. Everything is about business, corporations and money (as a means to an end of course.) I must admit, it does give me some reservations, because I would hope the greatness does not get lost. But, even if it does, if it put you considerably closer or into FI it will have been worth it. Happy for you!

  38. Will you still be posting monthly dividend updates? I can understand the savings rate being off the board, but you could still publish your buys and monthly dividend income?

  39. Dividend income posts are not effected I assume, are they? Also, you could post I was able to save x dollars this month or y % and we will have to take your word for it. Fyi, a cool topic to cover would be couponing. Getting what you need practically free is good for bargain like minded individuals.
    -Dividend Predator

  40. I hope you got a good price, Jason. However, bringing in other authors and the changes in your reporting I believe will mean your blog has peaked. Look at what happened when JD sold Get Rich Slowly. That blog was his soul, now it is just like thousands of other financial blogs out there. This blog is all about you and your journey. You had the winning formula.

    If you signed a non-compete, hopefully when it expires you can get back into another venture and develop it into what made this blog so successful.

    Good luck, brother.

  41. Glad to see you back! Although I liked reading the numbers part, so sad to see that go, I’m interested to see where the changes take the site 🙂

  42. Wow, from Raman Noodles to this. I was really hoping to watch your monthly totals rise into the thousands and watch your success story fold out the way you originally intended. I will look forward to your posts, however bringing in new writers does feel less personal. Cheers to a new beginning. No matter what the new team brings to the table, there will be only ONE Dividend Mantra.

    Great Work
    Andrew
    SHM

  43. Congrats. I have mixed feelings about this (as much as one can have feelings about a blog not one’s own). On the one hand I did notice you started repeating yourself. Which, to be honest, was no problem as your message was and is important.
    On the other hand, what set your blog apart from others was the meticulous record keeping and sharing them publicly. That being gone, will change it for sure.

    All that said and done, you are in it for one reason and that is YOUR financial independence. If this brings you there quicker, there is nothing to do but be excited for you and hope your snowball will grow so fast you will hit your targets way ahead of time.

  44. Jason,
    I completely understand. Site management is definitely a chore!
    I look forward to great articles from you and others.
    D4s

  45. “Because of that, I will no longer be able to post my monthly budgets, recapping my income and expenses for the prior month.”

    You’ve claimed it was possible for a normal wage taxsclave to escape 9 till 5 with DGI. Now you will not post your monthly budget any more.

    So why should I read your story any longer?

  46. DP,

    I’ll definitely still be updating the dividend income. That’s a fundamental basis of the site, and everything else really revolves around that. So I’ll be going over those numbers just like usual, with my next update coming in early October.

    It also won’t be particularly difficult to reverse engineer some numbers and figure out what I’m spending and saving. I’ll still be discussing what percentage of my expenses dividend income is covering, so it’s just a quick calculation from there.

    Best regards!

  47. EWB,

    The partner wants their identity and the arrangement to stay private for now. So I’m obliged to honor that request. Wish I could share all of those details, but it’s just not something I can do. It’d be akin to still working at the dealership and not just sharing my paycheck and expenses, but also sharing some of my co-workers’ finances as well. And as we know, most people don’t feel real comfortable with that.

    I wish I could keep on publishing the budgets, but there’s almost five years’ worth of data there to pour through. And nothing is going to change. I anticipate maintaining 60% to 70% net savings rates moving forward.

    Hope that helps!

    Best wishes.

  48. tom,

    You won’t miss the dividend income updates. I’m going to keep on publishing those. All in all, my contributions aren’t going to change much. I’m going to keep updating the Freedom Fund, the dividend income, what I’m buying, and also occasionally write about the strategy from a high level.

    That’s some amazing progress you’re making over there. 72 used to be quite old, but people are living so long these days. Take care of yourself and those health problems, and I’m sure you’ll be shocked at just how long you can keep going. Meanwhile, every extra dollar of income helps. Although, I’d be focusing a lot more on yield if I were your age. Stick with it!!! 🙂

    Cheers.

  49. EWB,

    Absolutely. Like I mentioned in the article, not much is going to change. The only articles I won’t be able to keep publishing are those that discuss my income and expenses. Everything else will still be there, albeit at a slower pace than the breakneck pace I was on before. 🙂

    Cheers!

  50. our next life,

    I think it’s a positive step, but we’ll see. I’m very excited. Change was inevitable. There were a few different ways I could have approached this, but this was the simplest of them all and allows me to really simplify my life. I could have hired some virtual assistants and made this thing into a bigger business, but that was never a goal for me. I’m after more freedom to follow my passions, and this move was designed with that in mind. Being the point guy behind a big website is just not an exciting endeavor for me.

    Thanks for the support. I think there are some big and positive changes yet ahead. 🙂

    Best regards!

  51. DC,

    I hear you there. This is my baby, so I initially wasn’t thrilled about other perspectives, either. But I also know that I can’t continue at this pace forever. And I think that there are a lot of other perspectives out there that can provide a ton of value. Once I started to really think about it, I became more excited. So we’ll see how that goes.

    Yeah, I wasn’t able to post about this until it was done. I didn’t want to publish an article while things were still up in the air. Once I knew that the changes were locked in and complete, I knew I could update you guys. But I haven’t disappeared. I’ve been working behind the scenes cementing this thing, which I think says a lot about how much work is necessary on the back end of a big website and why I did this in the first place. Not having to worry about that stuff anymore is a big relief for me.

    Hope you like the changes when they start rolling out. 🙂

    Cheers.

  52. Geblin,

    Ha! I hear you there. I considered rehab due to not being able to write for a while now because I was so busy getting this change cemented so that I could move on to other things. So I’m glad to be back at it. 🙂

    I’m looking forward to things a well. I was a bit hesitant about some of the ideas being thrown around, but became more and more excited the more I thought about it all. And this really goes a long way toward preventing burnout for me, which is a huge win.

    You have a great weekend over there as well!

    Best wishes.

  53. Ian,

    Thanks so much for that. As someone who does a lot of this for a living, it means a lot to me to have someone like yourself supporting the decision because you know how much work goes on behind the scenes. I don’t write about all the work I put in because, frankly, it’s boring. And it would sound like complaining, which isn’t my style. And let’s face it, it’s a dream to even be in this position at all to work from home and do what I do. But at the same time, I also didn’t want to quit my job at the dealership working 60 hours per week to work from home for 70 hours per week.

    You’re absolutely right that one person can only scale up so much. Especially someone who has limited interest and skills when it comes to a lot of the administration stuff. This frees my time up rather considerably, which I’m excited about. There were so many things I wanted to do all these years, but I had less and less time to take on new projects while also adding new features to the site. This allows both things to potentially happen. So I’m very excited for that. I have a lot of ideas. And I’ve never been more motivated. 🙂

    Thanks again. Appreciate all the support. I’ll still be here writing and inspiring!

    Have a great weekend over there.

    Best regards.

  54. Stockbeard,

    Thank you. If the changes weren’t for the best, I wouldn’t have considered them. But I think it’s a big win-win for everyone. 🙂

    Cheers!

  55. Steve,

    Thanks. It’s been a wild, wild ride. And I’m so fortunate in so many ways. I’ve definitely poured my heart and soul into this, but I’ve been rewarded in so many ways (both monetary and non-monetary, as you point out). This move is another huge reward for me, while simultaneously allowing me to focus on that which I truly enjoy. I think I can add a lot of value when it comes to content. But I just don’t add value when it comes to the administration of a website. So this allows those that can add value there to add value while it also allows me to do what I do best. And I think everyone wins when something like that happens. It’s hard to understand unless you see all of the moving parts, but I did my best to honestly lay it all out there in the post. Some will get it. Some won’t. But I think the changes will be a hugely positive for the site, its legacy, and the message. And I’ll be able to take on additional projects that I enjoy as well. It’s a big step in a new direction and I’m excited.

    Appreciate the support very much. I wanted to continue the status quo until financial independence and beyond, but it just wasn’t possible. There was no way I could continue to execute at the rate it was going, and I’m now free to add value where I think I can.

    You’re doing a great thing over there on your blog as well. This community has grown tremendously since I first started, and it’s wonderful to see that. I hope to remain a big member of the community for years to come. I didn’t make this move because I’m burned out or uninterested in continuing. I’m actually more motivated than ever. I made this move because I have less and less time to focus on the community, the content, and the things I really care about.

    Thanks for understanding. Keep up the great work over on your end!

    Cheers.

  56. DF UK,

    Thank you so much. Appreciate the support!

    I truly did this in the best interest for everyone involved. If things continued on the way they were, I would have lost the ability to keep up. There’s just only so much one person can do. I wish I could duplicate myself and write a new article every day, do videos, do podcasts, write books, and everything else. But my ambition exceeds my available time. This move frees up a little time and allows a lot more flexibility, which is, ultimately, what we’re all after.

    Plenty more to come. And I’m not going anywhere. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  57. Jason

    Great to see you back here, and not only at Twitter 🙂 , hope to see great content as always.

    and please write about your recent Buys!!!

    Sharon

  58. Rome Builder,

    Thanks so much. I hate not having that curtain open all the way anymore, showing everything that’s going on with all the numbers, but it’s just the way it is. In the end, it’s not really necessary. Very few blogs out there go over all income and expenses the way I have, and I think almost five years’ worth of budgets provide plenty of value and insight for anyone interested. Besides, I’m not going to be doing anything different. I’ll still be living frugally and aiming to save 50% to 70% of my net income, just like always. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. I’m looking forward to the future. I have a lot of projects in mind, which can be completed while the site simultaneously scales beyond my abilities. It’s a big win-win.

    Have a great weekend over there. Thanks again!

    Cheers.

  59. Bert,

    Absolutely. You just never know how much fun something is going to be until you try it out for yourself. Running a blog is definitely rewarding in so many ways, but it also becomes a lot of work as things grow beyond your expectations/dreams. It’s a blessing and a curse. I’m so, so glad to be able to reach so many people – that’s been my goal all along. But it can definitely become burdensome to run everything on the back end all by yourself. I’ve realized what I have a passion for and what I don’t, and this is just me being the me everyone has gotten to know over the years. I follow my heart and go after my passions. And, like you said, continuing to try to manage everything by myself just out of ego or trying to maintain control or something but being miserable in the process would likely lead me right back to where I started. And that’s not a place I ever want to revisit. This process… this journey… is about moving forward and becoming a better, happier, and more fulfilled you. And that’s why I did what I did. It allows me to focus on my passions while allowing the site to become even bigger and better than it could have ever been had I continued on by myself. The path was simply becoming unsustainable, and I was eventually going to burn out. But this allows me to escape that fate and keep on writing and inspiring like I always have.

    Definitely not going anywhere, though. Will have the Freedom Fund update out at the end of next week, and then the dividend income update shortly thereafter. Of course, I have like 80 or 90 working titles for articles as well, so I’ll be staying busy for years to come. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by. Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep moving forward, toward the lives we really want.

    Cheers!

  60. Yup, I’m probably done reading this blog as well. Without the journey and the budgeting, it’s really not worth reading. Looks like DM is trying to turn this into another Seeking Alpha.

  61. Andrew,

    “Isn’t the whole point of FI to get to do what you want to do?”

    Exactly. And managing virtual assistants or building a big business is never anything I wanted to do. One thing I love about investing in dividend growth stocks is that it’s totally hands-off. I don’t manage anything. I just collect a check. I wrote an article alluding to that fact many years ago.

    The thought of doing what I want to do is exactly why I did this. I want to write. I want to create content. I want to add value where I think I can add value. I want to take on new projects, continue on with freelance work, and try new things whenever I want. Managing someone else to manage the administration side of things isn’t really what I want to do at all. I could have certainly continued to grow this and then dealt with everything that comes with, but that’s not an interest of mine at all. I’ve realized that over the last few months. So I decided to follow my heart. I’ve never followed the money.

    Fortunately, it’s getting to the point now where I don’t need to worry about money anymore. I don’t need much money to be happy/content. The dividend income is becoming sizable, and I only need to go out in the world and make a little bit of money to cover my monthly nut. That flexibility of being able to chase happiness – not money – is something I’ve been talking about all along.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  62. Why would it be at a slower pace of you are getting help? Shouldn’t that allow you to make more content updates? Are you using this as a way to get time back to pursue other opportunities? It’s still a little unclear to me! I worry that this site will lose a little appeal but I hope it doesn’t!

  63. There’s no shame in striking while the iron. Congratulations on the sale/partnership. You’ve been so honest and transparent from day one, so it saddens me a bit to see you unable to share transaction details, but as someone who has direct experience in selling company equity, I know counter-party privacy is what it is. And I hope it’s truly that and not modesty preventing you from publicly celebrating a financial windfall or income boost. You did the work, you earned it.

  64. Jason,

    You’ll still see the dividend income updates every month just like usual. It’s only the budget reports I won’t be publishing any longer. Like I mentioned in the post, I’ll still be publishing content regularly just like I was before. The only things that change on my end is that I won’t be talking about my monthly budgets and I won’t be publishing quite as frequently as before. But I think the additions that will come down the road will more than offset that. 🙂

    Take care!

  65. whew!!

    I thought from the excerpt above, that the dividend income update would be eliminated. I’ve got to say, that was one of my favorite parts of this blog. I was looking forward to your December dividend income, and see that it was going to break 4-figures!

    I just want to say, that I’m glad you’re back, and will be looking forward to the new site.

    jm

  66. Mike,

    I’m still doing everything I was doing before. And I have been a bit more active lately in regards to buying stocks. Still publishing everything on Facebook and Twitter in regards to what I’m buying (or selling). And, of course, I’ll go over those transactions here on the blog as well when I update the portfolio every month. Should be an exciting update for October! 🙂

    Cheers.

  67. FF,

    Thanks!

    Yeah, it’s really all about maximizing happiness and doing what I truly enjoy. That’s why I think most of us are aiming for financial independence in the first place. To have a big part of your life dedicated to something you don’t really enjoy is the situation I’ve always sought to escape, and this was just more of me following my heart and maximizing happiness. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Cheers.

  68. I gotta say I’m a bit surprised that you felt like you had to do this while someone like MMM keeps pushing forward without partnering (selling?) the site. After all, his blog traffic is probably much higher than DM’s. At the end of the day it comes down to what you think is best for you and I wish you nothing but good luck! The arrangement sounds similar to what Luke from Consumerism Commentary did and it doesn’t sound like he has many regrets. Though as other readers have said already, I’ll definitely miss the things you’re eliminating. That transparency is what made this site different. I really hope that MMM won’t follow suit!

  69. Tyler,

    Hey, that’s fantastic. You’re slowly chipping away and bettering your life in the process. That’s what it’s all about. Use every day as an opportunity to be a better you!

    I definitely still offer the coaching services. You can contact me via social media easiest, but I’ll still be here as well. I’m just more difficult to reach by email now.

    Appreciate the support very much. Hope you continue to stop by and enjoy the blog. I’ll still be here posting my results as I go. And I think the new features will add a lot of value to the site as well. But we’ll just have to see how it goes. 🙂

    Have a great weekend. We’re finally starting to cool down a touch. Six or seven months of beautiful weather awaits us!

    Best regards.

  70. Jason,
    Your blog has been an inspiration. Your willingness to share all of your financial details is what built the moat around your product. It’s why I kept coming back. If your partner is reading this please understand that you are killing the inspiration that kept bringing people back to this site. This is a poor business decision in my opinion. The contract should be reworked so you can maintain your moat. Regardless I will be wishing you all the best – but my visits here will be reduced at least as much as your posts are. Take care.

  71. JC,

    Thanks for the support. Your thoughts echo my own. This is just a way to maximize my exposure to things I love and minimize my exposure to things I don’t like. That’s why we’re all aiming for financial independence in the first place, I think. We all want to do what we want, when we want, and with whom we want. And I can say for sure I want to write and remain a part of this community, but without all the administration stuff that was becoming increasingly time consuming.

    Definitely staying busy with the buys. It’ll be a very fun update in October. Hope you’re able to get back to it very soon as well. 🙂

    Cheers.

  72. joe,

    I can’t speak for Roth, but I’ve really said all I can say about the arrangement we have here. The other private wants things to remain private, and understandably so. Not everyone out there is as open with things as me.

    In the end, the details of the arrangement are unimportant when it comes to reading the content and enjoying the features here. And I think/hope both of those will improve going forward. 🙂

    Take care!

  73. Wolf,

    I’ll still be updating the dividend income, the Freedom Fund, what I’m buying, and everything else. The only thing I won’t be discussing anymore is the monthly budgets. But I think (hope) the blog is a lot more than just what I’m making and spending every month. I understand some people are going to miss that, and I think some readers have that voyeuristic desire to see what others are earning and spending. But, of course, we know that very few people out there show every penny they earn and spend. A lot of people are understandably private about that. And I have to honor others’ wishes when it comes to that. But there are almost five years’ of budgets out there to look at, and nothing much is going to be changing there.

    But still plenty of content to come. And I’m still here. Just not going to be doing a lot of stuff on the back end that you guys weren’t aware of anyhow. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  74. Tor,

    Appreciate that. Thanks for the support from Norway!

    I’m still here, and I’ll be publishing a lot of the stuff you guys are used to seeing. And I think some new/unique perspectives will add even more value.

    Plenty more to come!

    Best wishes.

  75. Ha! Jese, I didn’t expect the amount of emotion expressed in these comments. I say: Wow! Congratulations! That’s pretty freakin’ awesome. I honestly thought, after your way too long absence, that you were going to come back with a post titled “B-bye Ya’ll!” and announce you sold the blog to QuinStreet for 1.5 m and are FI effective immediately☺. Glitter, balloons, and cake! Hey, if I can still read your stuff, I’m fortunate. I’ll take it. Congrats!!! Now start writing …we all need a fix. (Thanks, in advance.)

  76. Nico,

    Well, I never said in the article that I wasn’t going to be publishing my dividend income, the updates on the portfolio, and everything else. The only thing I won’t be publishing anymore is my income and expenses. But I think the blog is a lot more than just what I’m earning and spending. Besides, there’s five years’ of data there. If that’s not enough to gain value and see what it takes to save money and invest month in and month out, then I don’t think another five years would do it, either. And I think we can all agree that very few blogs actually show income and expenses down to the penny. It was something I was very happy to share while I could, but I just can’t anymore. But if that’s something that’s a requirement for you to read blogs, you’ll find very few out there that meet your requirement.

    As far as other options go, there were definitely other ideas. I could have done a few different things. But in the end, this was about simplification. I’m not interested in managing people, putting a staff on a payroll, or growing this into a big business. That was never an aim of mine. My whole reason for chasing after financial independence is to have flexibility and freedom to do what I want, when I want, and with whom I want. And it just so happens that I most want to write, share, and inspire. This move allows me to do more of what I want and less of what I don’t want.

    However, I didn’t want to anything in spite of you readers. Inspiring others is a big goal of mine. But I think this is a big win-win for both me and you readers. It’ll take time for that to play out, but I think it’s a positive move. We’ll see. 🙂

    Cheers!

  77. dividenddad,

    Appreciate the support! 🙂

    I’m definitely not going anywhere. I’ll still be publishing regularly and doing a lot of what I was doing before. I just won’t have to worry about a lot of stuff that you guys didn’t see me doing every day. And I think this move really cements the site’s legacy, message, and impact. There was just only so much I could do.

    Let’s keep it rolling!!

    Best wishes.

  78. Megan,

    Absolutely! I never said I wasn’t going to be publishing the dividend income anymore. That’s a fundamental basis for the site and everything else I talk about, so I’m very excited to continue updating you guys on that stuff. Like I mentioned in the post, a good chunk of the site will remain as it’s always been. A lot of what’s going on will just augment what you guys have always known and enjoyed. 🙂

    Take care!

  79. Man ditto to what Nico said. I’m still going to come read here and there but the blog will probably seem less personable without the monthly income and expenses. But hey, you’re a badass dude and inspired me and countless others so “I ain’t mad atcha” lol

  80. Frankie,

    Appreciate the feedback there.

    I’m not real familiar with GRS, but I am aware that Roth sold it for quite a bit of money back in the day when he felt like could no longer keep up with it. I can certainly empathize with that.

    In the end, there’s just only so much I was able to do. I’ve recognized my own limitations lately, and then really took some time to figure out what I want and what that looks like. And scaling this thing up was just not in the cards for me. I’d rather scale down than scale up.

    But I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here. I’ll still be publishing articles regularly. And I’m going to be able to take on exciting projects here and there when the opportunity strikes, like Roth has done. I imagine he doesn’t regret what he did, and I don’t think I will, either. I’d much rather write an article or put a video together or even write another book rather than deal with one more day of the stuff I was dealing with lately. I’m choosing happiness over money, just like I always have. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  81. Nicola,

    Glad to be back! 🙂

    I’ll still be publishing a lot of numbers. Just not the income/expense reports, which, as you probably know, is something that very few people publish like I’ve been doing. I’ve enjoyed showing what everything looks like, but it’s just not something I can continue on with forever, unfortunately. But I think that the improvements will offset that one minor change. If publishing one’s income/expenses were a prerequisite for a blog, I reckon there’d be very few blogs. I’m just one of the few people out there that doesn’t mind sharing that stuff. Unfortunately, I have a partnership in place now that prevents that.

    Plenty more to come, though. And I’m still here!

    Have a great weekend.

    Cheers.

  82. SHM,

    Life changes fast! 🙂

    In all honesty, there’s been a ton of hard work going on behind the scenes to get to this point. I’ve worked incredibly hard at this, but it’s just come to the point where I can no longer properly execute all by myself. I have my limitations, unfortunately.

    But I hope to continue contributing content to the community for many years to come. I’m not out of fresh ideas yet. If anything, this move keeps those ideas even more fresh for me.

    Appreciate the support. Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  83. Anon,

    Appreciate that.

    I had mixed feelings on it as well. It’s bittersweet. My mind was really set on things continuing on like this all the way through (and beyond) financial independence. But it’s unfortunately not possible. It was growing beyond my ability to properly manage it and produce the quality content I can feel good about. There was just no way I could keep the pace up without burning out.

    I’ll still be publishing plenty of content. And I’ll still be discussing the dividend income, buys, portfolio, and some stuff that relates to the strategy from a high level. It’s unfortunate that I can’t talk about the budgets anymore, but few blogs release numbers like I was doing. When I started doing that, I wasn’t really aware of any doing it like I was. But my budget won’t be changing. And five years’ of budgets provides about as much value/insight as 40 years of budgets can/will. In the end, the underlying message is to consistently live below your means and invest the difference into high-quality dividend growth stocks. The actual numbers behind that message are less important because everyone’s situation is different. But, again, I think the data set already provided goes pretty far in regards to backing the message up with hard numbers.

    Cheers!

  84. Stef,

    It’s up to you to decide whether or not to continue stopping by and reading. But if five years’ worth of spending isn’t enough to prove the point and provide value, then I guess there’s nothing else I can do. Moreover, very few blogs discuss income/expenses like I’ve been doing, so I’m afraid you’ll find yourself reading very few blogs if that’s a prerequisite for you.

    Take care!

  85. Hi DM

    Congratulations, and I’m happy for you, but I am not hopeful for the future of the site. Look forward to seeing what you do with it, but my experience with other sites going multi-author is not promising.

    More disclosure from your new overlord would be nice too, it’s very sinister at the moment 🙂

  86. Ken,

    Yeah, it’s really just the fact that other party doesn’t want me to release financial information behind the partnership. I’d be glad to if I could, but I can’t. Doesn’t really change anything, and I’m still doing what I’ve been doing for years. I just won’t have to spend countless hours on the management of the site, which will free me up and allow me to do what I really enjoy.

    Appreciate the support. Still lots more to come. And I’m still working as hard as ever. 🙂

    Cheers!

  87. I love a good American success story. This is awesome for you! I love the dividends and the sharing of your purchases. So what if you don’t give your budget and expenses. One of the “mantra’s” of my work is, “the only constant in life is change”. Good for you on the changes taking place. Treading water gets really boring after a while. If your readers have half a brain, they can now look at their own budgets and follow a similar path. Will you be showing the number of shares you own for each company?

  88. Insourcelife,

    Well, MMM posts like, what, two or three articles per month? And I know for sure he only responds to very few comments. So it’s tough to compare that to my site where I’m publishing three times (or more) per week and answering hundreds of comments. I’m now at over 20,000 comments on the site. Not complaining, but it’s comparing apples and oranges. Not only that, but I actually read emails. Not sure how many Pete actually reads and responds to, but add about 75 emails per day on top of everything else. And I know he’s taken on help occasionally, as he’s discussed on the site. I’ve held out for as long as I can, but it’s become unsustainable.

    Take care.

  89. R2R,

    I’m definitely closer to the promised land, and certainly a big reason for that is that I’m now going to be focusing solely on that which I really enjoy. If me running this site by myself really added a lot of value to people, I would have thought a bit harder about this. But I don’t think me calling up to my host for two hours because the site is down for some reason really has any impact on the quality of the content. I’m very, very happy. And I think you guys are really going to enjoy the changes moving forward. 🙂

    Cheers!

  90. Congrats. I’m sure you thought of this and for some reason decided not to do it, but it would be very easy to share your income/expenses without compromising your partners privacy. You could just have a line item in income net of all blog related expenses including partner splits, hosting costs, etc. If the blog makes 10,000 and your share would be 5,000. Very simple to say income was 5000. My personal expenses of rent utilities etc. This wouldn’t compromise the partner whatsoever.

  91. divy,

    Ha! $1.5 million?! I wish, bud. But even if I sold the site for a bunch of money like that, I’d still want to write and contribute. I understand Roth sold his site for seven figures, but continues to work on projects and what not. And that’s what this is all about. We all want to work on things we enjoy and avoid things we don’t enjoy. I can’t ever recall reading anything about Roth discussing his love for managing websites, but you sure hear a lot about everything else. I can empathize with that big time. 🙂

    I’ll be updating the Freedom Fund next week. Going to be a big update. Keep an eye out!

    Have a great weekend.

    Cheers.

  92. sendaiben,

    I guess you’ll just have to see what the changes look like when they come about. But we’ve discussed some pretty exciting stuff. Rushing to judgement is never a good idea; however, you’ll have to decide for yourself once you see what things look like. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  93. David,

    Thanks for that. Yeah, I honestly don’t get why anyone would be all that upset with me not sharing my budgets anymore. I’ve done it for five years now. You can see what that looks like and then construct your own budget from there. I think it provided a lot of value and I was happy to share, but repeating it over and over again for the rest of my life really dilutes the value over time. Five years is about as impactful as 50, in my opinion.

    Treading water is no fun. I’ve done it before. And I felt like I was starting to do it again. I wrote about the concept of multiple lifetimes not that long ago. Well, my “lifetime” of running a blog full time by myself is coming to an end. But a new lifetime awaits. Doing the same thing over and over again is boring for me. I like to keep things fresh and exciting. And I think this move will allow for that.

    Appreciate the support. I’ll definitely keep updating the portfolio and the dividend income and most everything else. It’s just the budgets that I can’t update any longer.

    Have a great weekend!

    Best wishes.

  94. Hi DM,

    I understand your not discussing your income, but why not share your expenses? As others have mentioned, your reasonable frugality is a motivator for us readers and shows was what we really can live on.

    Bid Rosen

  95. Zach,

    Sorry to see you go. I didn’t say I wasn’t going to update my journey any longer. In fact, that’s the opposite of what I wrote. But some people zoom through an article and move right on to the comments.

    If you’re looking only for blogs that update their budgets down to the penny every month for decades, I wish you much luck in finding those. If that’s the only value you found here, then I’m afraid you really missed out.

    Take care!

  96. Greg,

    Right. There are a lot of great writers out there with really fantastic perspectives/opinions/viewpoints, and I think it’s great to read a variety of great content from great writers. I actually had an idea way back at the genesis of the blog to have multiple dividend growth investors come on board and we could see multiple journeys unfold simultaneously in real-time. But everyone wants their own blog, which is understandable.

    However, my journey and everything I’m doing will still be laid out here. I’ll be updating the portfolio next week, and then the dividend income shortly thereafter. Even better, I have additional time to take on new projects as opportunities allow. I’ve never been one who’s wanted to do one thing over and over and over again for the rest of my life. This is just me really following my heart and living out the message I’ve tried to share over the years. I’ve talked about living multiple lifetimes and not allowing yourself to get boxed in. Well, here you go. 🙂

    Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  97. j,

    I’ll still be updating the dividend income. And I’m very much looking forward to publishing that first four-figure update. It’s coming very soon. 🙂

    Cheers!

  98. Tyler,

    Appreciate that!

    I think we all want to achieve happiness and that great balance where we’re working on projects we enjoy at a pace that’s comfortable. And that’s what this is all about.

    Best of luck over on your end as well. You’re killing it, my friend.

    Let’s continue fighting the good fight. 🙂

    Cheers.

  99. John,

    Appreciate the concern, but I’m actually better than ever! 🙂

    Keep an eye out for good stuff here. And I’ll be updating the portfolio and dividend income very soon.

    Have a great weekend.

    Best regards.

  100. Patrick,

    I think I laid out the reasoning the best I could in the article. I discussed avoiding burning out and staying fresh with things. If I didn’t lay it out well enough in the article, my apologies. But I really can’t do any better than that. 🙂

    Cheers!

  101. Ryan,

    Ha! The Blogger days. Good stuff there. Things change fast, huh? 🙂

    Appreciate all the support. I’m aiming to do just what you mentioned (and what I talk about all the time): making dreams a reality. I’ve never once dreamed about being on the phone with a hosting company, hacking my way through CPanel. But I do dream about writing another book, exploring new investments, and inspiring people. So I’m just chasing my dreams.

    Keep it up over there, my friend. You’re doing fantastic!

    Best wishes.

  102. Taz,

    I certainly hope your prediction doesn’t come true. In fact, avoiding the killing of the blog by being a victim of its own success is why I did what I did. It was truly unsustainable for me to continue running it by myself, and I didn’t want to take the whole thing down as a way to avoid burnout and all the management the blog comes with. So, if anything, this is really the best way to cement the legacy and the message.

    Cheers!

  103. DM,
    I’ve never commented on your site before but browse it regularly. You have single handedly created a great product from the ground floor and should be extremely proud. Every one of us needs to make decisions that are best for ourselves, and I’m sure you are moving in a very positive direction.
    After nearly 25 years of saving, but never having an investment strategy that I every felt real comfortable with, you have helped inspire me to create a financial path for my family that I now feel very confident with. I never thought I’d see the day when I wake up hoping to see the market has tanked for no apparent reason 🙂 Congratulations on your changes and hope to continue benefiting from your thinking and writing in the future.

    Dividend Daydreamer …

  104. Jay,

    Appreciate that! :

    Like I mentioned in a few other comments now, very few blogs have more than five years of published budgets and share every penny like I’ve done. If that were a prerequisite for people to read blogs, blogs wouldn’t get read. But I think five years’ data on all of my income and spending is about as big a sample as that which is necessary to prove the point and show what’s possible. There was always going to be a point where I just couldn’t continue to share budgets anyway. I didn’t plan on updating budgets when I was 60 years old or something, so I guess some readers were always going to be: “What? You’re not going to publish 40 years’ worth of budgets???” But I guess one just has to at some point look at that stuff and take the value and make sure they’re budgeting appropriately for their own situation.

    Best wishes.

  105. Bid,

    Without the income, the expenses lose context. For one person, $2,000 is spending too much. For someone else, it’s an 80% savings rate. The whole point of discussing the budgets was to discuss the savings rate and how that interacted with the time line to financial independence. That was essentially the opening paragraph to my income/expense posts.

    But you’ll easily be able to deduce what I’m spending when I talk about my dividend income and what percentage of expenses they’re covering. 🙂

    Cheers!

  106. I guess this is the end of the journey! Congrats on selling the site! I’m curious to see how large your next stock purchase is! (If that info is still shared going forward?)

  107. DDR,

    Appreciate the readership very much!

    Glad this strategy makes sense for you and you’re able to see the light. Thinking like an owner rather than a stock trader truly opens one’s eyes to the possibilities of stocks, investing, and living off of growing passive dividend income. It’s a huge change in one’s mindset, and completely changes your life. 🙂

    Best of luck with your saving, investing, and your goals. Looks like you’re pretty far along the spectrum of freedom already over there. That’s fantastic. Enjoy!!

    Cheers.

  108. Congrats on your success! I am truly happy for you. My only concern is that with this newly found wealth shares will be purchased with new capital that is unattainable by the average person.
    I have visited blogs where the writer is adding between $2,000 – $5,000 per month of new capital. Where on earth can the average person do this?????? I guess it is possible……. but in my opinion not for the average person. If people can’t relate then there may be a shift in audience.
    I’m guessing you’ve already thought about this as well but I just wanted to let you my thoughts.

    Personally, I am a fan of progression and will stick around to check out whatever is new. If I can relate I will continue to read on.

    I’m sure you will be successful no matter what you do.

    Cheers and good luck:)

  109. Jay,

    Definitely not the end of the journey. Like I wrote in the article (you did read it, right?), I’ll still be publishing content here just like I always have, just at a slower pace. The only thing I won’t be publishing is the monthly budgets. But the dividend income updates, portfolio updates, and everything else will still be shared. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Cheers.

  110. Patrick,

    Appreciate the feedback,

    You’ll still see the dividend income updates, the portfolio, and most of everything else. The only thing you won’t see is every penny of my income and spending. But if that’s a prerequisite for you to read a blog or a financial website, I’m afraid you’ll find yourself with very few options. I hear you on the moat, but I don’t necessarily agree. I’ve written over 700 articles now. And only a fraction were discussing my monthly budgets. If that’s the only thing you found value in, then I’m afraid you’ve really been missing out.

    I read a lot of websites. A lot. I love reading. And I find that very few people show every penny they earn and spend. While I was happy to share that because I think it adds value and differentiates what I’m doing, I also think more than five years’ worth of budgets gets the point across as well as 10 or 20 years would. And there was always going to be a point where I could no longer discuss the budgets. I’m not going to be writing about monthly budgets when I’m 70 years old. So it’s just something that at some point you have to extract the value, formulate your own budget, and go from there. 🙂

    Take care!

  111. took2summit,

    Yeah, I thought about that. But it wouldn’t be all that difficult for someone to go through the numbers and compare them to past budgets to get some idea of what’s going on. And I separate out dividend income, which means the rest is online income. You guys are too smart for that. 🙂

    In the end, it’s just not something I can share any longer. But most sites don’t. And I think the rest of the content here is great. If someone was only visiting for the budgets, then I suppose they’ll have to find what they’re looking for somewhere else.

    Cheers!

  112. margmorgado,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the support. I wish you the best as well!

    I honestly don’t agree with the proposition that investing $2,000 or more per month is unattainable for the average person, though. If there’s anything I’ve tried to show over the last five years, it’s that. You can see all of my budgets over the last five years and see what I was making, what I was buying, and what I was investing with. For most of that time, I was working at a car dealership, earning a fairly modest income. Of course, one has to live well below their means and figure out what’s valuable in their life. But I long ago figured out the bigger sacrifice was working for most of my life, not living below my means.

    I rode the bus. I ate ramen noodles. I took up every opportunity to make more money. I reinvested dividend income, which was built into part-time job income all by itself.

    Hope that helps. Take a look around. You’ll see what’s possible. 🙂

    Best regards.

  113. The Man, the Myth, the Legend has returned!

    While I can’t say I’m happy about the Monthly Budgets portion disappearing, I’m happy that Dividend Mantra will continue to flourish with your writing. You’re still the big boss, right? This other person doesn’t control the site just because they handle the administrative functions, correct?

    Please tell me that we will still be getting the Dividend Income reports.

    It’s too bad that you can no longer post your budget. I’m surprised, since you wouldn’t be publishing what the blog itself makes, just your own net income. While I believe a valuable part of the journey has been lost, that doesn’t mean that the journey itself is over. After all, nothing’s stopping you from reporting how much of your expenses were covered by your dividends.

    Don’t let the naysayers get you down. Us bloggers can only dream of getting to the point where we need to consider outside help because our blogs have grown so much. I’m sure Dividend Mantra will chug along like it always has, and by this time next month we won’t even realize or remember that it’s no longer a solo act.

    Good luck!

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  114. Jason, so will the monthly budgets and income be the only thing that will not appear. In other words will your portfolio and monthly dividend income continue to appear? Did you “sell” the site? Or did you retain ownership?

  115. I have to say that I do have mixed feelings as well. One of the things I liked to see was your monthly budget, and marvel at how low you could keep it, and then deploy your money with the future in mind. I don’t blame you for contracting out the maintenance of the blog, not what you’re about and not why we read you. I just hope that you continue to document your journey with honesty and openness, which has helped to serve as an inspiration for a lot of your readers.

  116. Congratulations, Jason. Like the others mentioned, I hope the blog continues to be about you, and not just investing ideas. I don’t think your income/expenses are necessary for that. But, I do think your message, your tone, your personal stories, your passion, etc. are critical. So, I hope to see more of the same kinds of content you’ve always provided (even if at a slower pace)! It sounds like that’s your goal as well. Best of luck either way!

  117. Congratulations on all your success with the blog! You’ve worked so hard sharing your passion for dividend investing and financial independence and have inspired a lot of people to pursue the same. If these changes help you toward your own personal goals, you definitely deserve it!

    We all live in a world where the details of our financial lives are closely guarded secrets, even from close friends and family. Seeing your finances laid bare down to the penny and watching you march toward your financial goals month after month has been refreshing and valuable for many of your loyal readers. I understand the need to change this going forward due to your new arrangement, but I hope that you and your partners are mindful of how integral this aspect has been to the way many of your readers have experienced the blog to this point. For me, following and cheering you on in your personal journey is as enjoyable as your nuts and bolts articles about dividend growth investing. I hope you are able to keep that aspect in the forefront as much as possible going forward, and I am definitely looking forward to what’s in store with the site.

    Best Wishes,
    Chris

  118. Congrats on taking your site in a new direction. Its great that you recognized what you like and dont like and taking the appropriate action to get the best use of your time. Looking forward to the changes and seeing what comes from Dividend Mantra.

    Best wishes
    R2R

  119. Hi Jason,

    I’ve been a long time reader, and was just informed that you SOLD the website. I wish I could tell you that I don’t believe it but I do. It’s very suspicious that you’re going to all of a sudden stop publishing your monthly income and expenses just because a vendor told you to. Why not keep your IT company’ identity a secret, and continue doing what you’ve been doing with the income and expenses reporting?

    Too bad, just, too bad. I have similar expenses as you, and always like comparing. You’ve just lost a crucial element to this blog, and the tracking of your journey.

    At this point, I will discontinue reading/following the blog.

    Joel

  120. Even after reading the post and all the comments I’m not sure what happened. Did you sell the blog and agree to stay on as a writer? There have been a lot of congrats for selling the blog with no confirmation or denial from Jason. So was it all sold, part of it, what?

    I have to admit GRS went downhill big time after it was sold. I stopped visiting after awhile and I noticed the comment section went from the hundreds to 20 or 30. I wonder if that will happen here?

    I don’t know how blog income works, but I’m assuming I was not a high income generator as I never clicked on any ads, so unless there was a lot of income for me just showing up and reading an article not much will be missed.

    This is just my opinion so don’t take it personally, but your income, expenses and dividends were the only thing that made this site better/different than anyone else’s. All the other content can be found elsewhere, analysis, desire to be FI, have self sustaining income, etc.

    All in all you had to do what was best for you not anyone else. Congrats on the sale.

  121. ARB,

    I’m back, man. It’s great to have this update out there, which means everything I’ve been working on in the background is finally moving in the right direction. 🙂

    I’ll still be reporting on the dividend income, the portfolio, and going over stock purchases (whether individually or summarized with the monthly FF update). Of course, I’ll also be putting together content here and there that I think is interesting/helpful/valuable/inspirational. I like mixing it up and I think you guys like that, too.

    “I’m surprised, since you wouldn’t be publishing what the blog itself makes, just your own net income.”

    Well, a big part of my net income is what the blog makes. In fact, it’s rather substantial at this point. But you’re right in that there’s nothing stopping me from reporting what percentage of my expenses were covered by dividend income, which is something I’ve done with the dividend income updates, and I’ll continue to do that. As such, it’s very easy reverse math to figure out how much I’m spending from month to month. But most blogs – even those within our own dividend growth investing community – don’t discuss the owner’s exact income and expenses, but I still find a lot of value in the other content. The other content still has value, which is the same here.

    Appreciate the support. I’m really looking forward to the new beginning. There is just only so much I can do. And I reached the absolute ceiling. This really frees me by alleviating me of a lot of undesirable responsibilities and concerns, which is a big relief. I’m very happy with this decision. And, of course, I’m sure new projects will spring up here and there. I’ve never wanted to box myself in, even with this blog. I’m more than Dividend Mantra, even though I’m super proud of what I’ve done here. Meanwhile, this thing can grow so much more with that additional help I’ve taken on. Very excited to see what else we can do here.

    Have a great weekend!

    Best wishes.

  122. DD,

    Right. The monthly budgets going over my income and spending is the only thing that will disappear. The rest of the updates and everything else I write about/share will continue.

    In regards to what I did with the site, I’ve said about as much as I can say with all that. I’ve taken on a partnership that will manage the site on a day-to-day basis and handle much of the administration of things.

    But I’m very excited about the changes. And I think the site will appeal to even an even broader audience while still retaining everything that I’m so proud of.

    Cheers!

  123. Tad,

    Absolutely. I agree with what you’re saying there. And that’s really my plan. I want to continue contributing to the community and pushing forward with that, while also allowing some other great perspectives to come in and fill the gaps. Should work out really well over time, but it’ll be an adjustment. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

    Thanks for the well wishes. Wish the same for you and your journey!

    Cheers.

  124. Chris,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate that!

    This move is definitely designed to help me move forward with my own long-term goals while also keeping you readers in mind as well. And I think it’s a win-win in that regard. There was no way I could continue to manage the blog on a daily basis while doing everything else I was doing, and certainly not while fitting in a personal life there. And, obviously, if the choice is between my life and the blog, the choice is quite easy. This really allows me to still partake in my passion, but in a renewed manner that’s far more focused on the best parts of it. So that should shine through in terms of the quality of the content I’m able to put out, while also allowing additional features to come on board over time.

    Appreciate the feedback. I’m definitely not going anywhere. In one way or another, I hope to be part of the community for many years to come. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  125. R2R,

    That’s really it right there. I took the best of what I like and got rid of what I don’t like, which is, in my opinion, what’s so great about the concept of being financially independent. Living life on your terms is what you should be aiming for, and that’s essentially a little bit of what I accomplished here. 🙂

    Appreciate the kind words. Wishing you the best with your journey and site as well!

    Best regards.

  126. Joel,

    Hate to lose you as a reader, but if you’re only coming by for the income/expense reports, I guess you’ll have to find that elsewhere. But I wish you much luck since very, very few blogs share that kind of information like I’ve been doing.

    Take care!

  127. Ed,

    “This is just my opinion so don’t take it personally, but your income, expenses and dividends were the only thing that made this site better/different than anyone else’s. All the other content can be found elsewhere, analysis, desire to be FI, have self sustaining income, etc.”

    Wish you much luck in finding the content you enjoy!

    Take care.

  128. Income/expense reports wasn’t the only thing I came here for- it was for the whole package. That was what made your blog different than the others. I felt that I had a personal connection with this site, and now I’m afraid that will be lost. In fact, is it really Jason who is replying to these comments, or is it someone pretending to be Jason? My point is that the small intimate website will now have a commercialized/outsourced feel to it. Good luck, but you’re going to regret it bud.

    Joel

  129. I was wondering what you’ve been up to lately. You have been so regular with your posts so to see you take a week or so break was surprising. Glad to see you’re taking steps that will prevent you from getting burnt out with the site. I really don’t know how you manage to do it. There’s no way I could even keep up replying to all of the comments let alone the other things. I can’t blame you for taking steps to secure the future of the site. Glad to know you’ll be here for years to come, and so will I. Keep it up!

    CD

  130. Paul,

    I’ll definitely still be doing my best at remaining open and honest as possible with the journey insofar as the other numbers are concerned. So that means onward and upward with the dividend income reports, FF updates, purchases, and everything else.

    And the budget isn’t going to change, so you can just assume that what I’ve been doing over the last six years will continue on for the next six (and beyond). 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Best wishes.

  131. Captain,

    Ha! I sometimes don’t know how I did it for all those years, either. Claudia thought I was crazy with how much time I was spending with things, especially lately. And I started to realize she was right. I don’t ever want anything to consume me, even if it’s something that I largely enjoy. I’m very, very happy with the new path forward. And I think it’s a big win-win for everyone involved.

    Appreciate the support. Definitely not going anywhere, so I’ll be fighting for freedom right alongside you for years to come. 🙂

    Best regards!

  132. Congrats on the sale or partnership or whatever it is…I hope this means you’re a lot closer to FI and Volume 2 of your book! 🙂

    Regarding the income/expenses post that everyone is crying about, I liked and will miss those those posts but if I had to rank the regular posts I think the monthly dividend and quarterly updates are higher up on my list so not that big of a deal.

    Regarding seeing other people’s posts and any other changes to increase monetization the site (for why else would someone partner with you v. just be hired to take on the admin), I’ll stay to see how it changes but it sounds less appealing than it does good. Again, I’ll stay to at least see what happens and see your FI journey to its end.

    In the end, I’m stoked on your where your FI journey started and is now at. Hopefully there was a windfall that really accelerates your progress, and I can’t say I (or any of your readers honestly) would do anything different if I were in your shoes.

    Big CONGRATS!!

  133. I hear you but I guess personally I’d go MMM’s route if I ever found myself in this position (not likely ). Meaning concentrate more on posting content and less on replying to each comment and each email while still retaining 100% ownership and the ability to do what you want. Problem solved and the site retains the underdog rags to FI storyline so appealing to the reader.

  134. Sundeep,

    Thanks so much. I’m super happy about these changes. It seems like a bit of a bummer now, but I think that’s really rushing to judgement. I see that happen a lot. People hear something about a company and sell stock before all the news has really even been released. I try to take a more patient approach to things.

    But I definitely agree with you that most, if not all, people would do exactly what I’ve done in my situation. There’s just only so much one person can do on their own. I have a (wonderful) life outside of this blog, but this thing was really starting to consume me there for a little while. And I don’t think that’s a good thing.

    Financially, I’m not really any closer to financial independence. But this move was really less about the long-term finances and more about me being happy and flexible. Continuing on with my workload would have been impossible for too much longer, but this allows me to continue marching toward financial independence at a much more relaxed and enjoyable pace. It’s not a race. It’s a marathon. As such, I like to be comfortable. 🙂

    Have a great weekend. Thanks again!

    Best wishes.

  135. Hey Jason – More power to you. Gotta listen to your gut and do what feels right. If you don’t love it, don’t do it! Some people may disagree judging by the comments but you can’t please everyone.

    So the way I have it figured, assuming you’re generating like $5k / mo in revenue, that is $60,000 annually. You could also just sell the whole thing for 2-3x yearly earnings on a site like Flippa and be done with it. Take the $180k and invest it and start a new thing and write, meditate, or things like that.

    Anyway, looks like CAT is getting hammered.

    Best of luck with the transition. I’ll still be checking in.

  136. Funkball,

    You’re definitely right. Can’t please everyone. You can’t be everything to all people at all times. I’m just me. As long as I stay true to myself, I’m happy. And this move was very true to my core values. I hope that’s inspirational because I don’t just write about this stuff. I live it. 🙂

    The blog isn’t earning quite that much, though. I also freelance quite a bit (I write something like 30 to 40 article per month, all told), which boosts my online income. But if I could sell the blog for nearly $200k (which I can’t) would surely put me pretty close to my goal. It’d be smooth sailing from there. Fortunately, it’s really smooth sailing anyhow. It’s basically on cruise control at this point.

    CAT is definitely getting hammered. Quite a few stocks are getting hammered lately. It’s a great time to be an investor with a little cash in the pocket. 🙂

    Have fun over there!

    Cheers.

  137. Well, it is the end of the road, and a short paragraph would do it… Congratulations on making $$$ in selling the site (we have seen sites such as GRS and FTG cashing out). Have a good life. Thanks.

  138. Jason

    I think that you need to make an annual meeting like berkshire doing to let the people meet you in person and talk with you and hear what you have to say – As I think you are the ‘Oracle from Florida’ 😉

  139. Sharon,

    Yeah, it’d be great to do local meetups and what not. That’s something that would now be a bit more possible now that I’m relieved of a lot of administration duties. A lot of projects are now possible, which I’m excited about. 🙂

    Appreciate the support!

    Best regards.

  140. “Too bad, just, too bad. I have similar expenses as you, and always like comparing. You’ve just lost a crucial element to this blog, and the tracking of your journey.”

    Dude, you have similar expenses as Jason and you expect him to bow down to you and give you free content? What are you smoking? I’d like to buy some of that…

    Also, “At this point, I will discontinue reading/following the blog.”… what is that a threat? What a jerk you are…

    How about actually caring about Jason’s journey and saying “good job, man!”. The guy has done well and you have mooched off him for years and paid him nothing in return. Honestly, you don’t even deserve to be able to post here.

    Wish you luck bud.

    Anonymous… but not really…

  141. I actually do understand the Roth reference. Can I write this? He is/was nothing like you, DM. He was a techy with great skills in that arena. Popping up a blog created sanity in his world—until he got burned out and bored with it. He likely, in the end, enjoyed more of the behind the scenes administration and less of the reader interaction. Yeah. If my memory serves me right, he was okay to get out of the blog because he had nothing left to say and started asking questions to his readers, like, “what should I save for?” (he was a frugalist and index investor with no interest in stocks,—only so many tips there without going redundant). MMM, another indexer, is fine for some and highly entertaining. But I sure as hell don’t want someone telling me that I’m an “ass clown” because I own a dog—no thanks. You, on the other hand, pick stocks. You are classy and smart. People never get bored or outgrow that! I know you will always want to write about stocks! People who live outside of the index and find thrill in the hunt never die. This, my friend, is why I’m not worried that you will stop being you, even when FI. I would, if you “can,” like for you to offer a complete list of where you write (elsewhere). I know of 3—Daily Trade Alert is a given. Can you provide that information?

  142. Jason,

    Congratulations on finding a partnership where you are able to move forward doing more of what you love and getting help with the unpleasant chores! Even Buffett has a Munger!

    Will your partner be writing content and responding to comments or will this only come from you? And will you still be writing for other 3rd party sites as you have been doing or will all your focus reside here?

    Looking forward to see your September numbers! Mine are very exciting so looking forward to share this soon.

    -Mike

  143. Insourcelife,

    That sounds like doing less of what I enjoy just so that I’d be able to continue to spend time on things I don’t enjoy. Write less and interact less just so that I can continue to administrate a large website? No, thanks.

    But I guess that’s what separates me from a lot of other people. I chase that which makes me happy. I remember hearing how crazy I was to quit my full-time job last year. And I’m now hearing how crazy I am to do this. Yet I’m happier than ever before. 🙂

    Take care.

  144. Chris,

    Thanks so much!

    I only know how to chase my dreams and chase them with 100% conviction. That’s all I’ve ever tried to do. And it’s all I’ve ever tried to motivate others to do. This is just me doing more of that. 🙂

    Keep doing what you love as well! Our lives are too short to spend time doing things that make us unhappy.

    Best wishes.

  145. divy,

    That’s interesting. Although, it’s kind of telling that even someone who actually enjoys the administration side of things still got burned out after years of doing it. I think that really says a lot about my own resolve and dedication to this thing, because it’s something I couldn’t care less about. But the time has come to relieve myself of that side of things.

    I think you’re right there in regards to producing content, sharing experiences, and talking about stocks. I definitely don’t see myself writing as much as I do now, say, in 10 or 20 years, but I always hope to be a member of the community in some fashion. But I have a lot of interests. And I think there are interests out there that I haven’t even picked up on yet, that I eventually will. I like to have a little room on the plate for new things. But, yeah, I really love writing about this stuff because it’s just so interesting to me. It’s truly life changing.

    Most of my outside content can be found at DTA. I do some occasional ghost writing here and there, but I honestly don’t know where some of that stuff goes. If I pick up more freelance work here and there, I’ll be sure to share it. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  146. Mike,

    Thank you. Really appreciate it. I wish I had a Munger (or a Buffett – I’d be glad to play Munger’s part), but this is obviously something very different. Nonetheless, it’s going to be really collaborative, which alleviates me of a lot of stress that goes on behind the scenes.

    The partner I’ve taken on will help with content creation. We haven’t totally worked that out 100% yet, but I’m pretty excited about what we’ve discussed thus far. But those changes should start showing up pretty soon. And I’ll still be freelance writing as much as I can. Again, it’s really the writing that I enjoy, so I hope to continue putting out plenty of articles.

    I bet you had an outstanding September over there. That’s really fantastic. I can’t even imagine what it feels like to collect thousands of dollars of dividends in a single month. It’ll be a long time before I see results like that, but I’m very excited to experience it for myself one day. Keep it up!

    Cheers.

  147. DM, congrats man!I have enjoyed following your journey since the beginning and look forward to seeing whats next. You have added VALUE to alot of people and adding value is compensated in this country. So looking forward to seeing were you put this liquidity event into the market!There are some good deals out there if you have the stomach for it- which I know you do!!

    cheers! AA

  148. First of all. Congratulations on your continuing success to financial Independence through DGI and to your other successes through your DGI blog. Just make sure you review the future blog so that it continues to represent your values, goals, and vision for this blog.
    I have followed your blog on and off over the past 4 months and to your credit, I have learned enough from it that if your blog suddenly ceased to exist at this very moment, I have learned enough that I would still be able to continue my DGI journey flying solo. That is a compliment to you. Also if your blog was left just as is with nothing more added, there is more than enough content for anyone to learn DGI investing.
    I had about $56,500 sitting in a Roth IRA for years with only about a quarter of it invested. Even though I own 2 paid for rental homes, I was afraid to invest the Roth IRA money in stocks. With your inspiration, it is all invested in 13 stocks that will net me about $3,012 in dividend income over the next 12 months…a return of about 5.3%. And you have also inspired me to open an individual account and take money sitting in the bank (not all of it of course) and as the market crashes I will scale about $78,000 into stocks over the next 12 – 18 months as the market crashes. I can’t pick a top or bottom, so I’ll scale in as the market crashes down and scale in as the market goes back up. I’ll scale in a set amount each month wherever the market is going.
    I think what people are missing is that your blog began as a kind of public diary of your own journey to financial independence and as more and more people followed, with your love of writing, you also morphed into teaching others the skills of how to launch and achieve their own DGI freedom.
    I always wondered how much time it took to reply to every single comment. I know replying to every comment along with running the blog is very time consuming. And I also know with the increase in followers that as much as you would like to, eventually the volume would exceed your capacity to personally reply to every comment and some changes would have to be made. Also there comes a point where a blog or any hobby, if overdone, takes over your life and ceases to be fun. Sometimes I’ve noticed your frustration at answering the same question for the umpteenth time.
    On a disturbing note (none of which is your fault) I also notice many people becoming overly dependent on you in many aspects of their lives. And I have noticed quite a few people not doing their own research, but relying on what you do and copying your buys. I sense a lot of the hostility expressed here is also jealousy…something you had to deal with in your own family.
    You began this blog as a story of your own journey and to hopefully inspire others….and you have done that. You didn’t start the blog as a newsletter for people to buy this stock or that stock.
    Those that don’t want to read your blog anymore, let them go. Change happens. Don’t let it get to you…others will take their place.
    Keep up the good work.

  149. It’s all about the content/the writing. You did what you needed to do to keep the writing coming along. I’m in this for the dividend growth/stock analysis and exchanging of different investing ideas and methods. As long as that continues, which you stated that it will, I’ll be coming back regularly and checking on that dividend income year over year increase as well as that next buy. Keep humming along. Nothing, at core, has to really change.

  150. Whew! For a second there I was fearing the worst. I’m happy to hear that you have laid out a sustainable path forward, it’s perfectly understandable. I look forward to reading new articles and ideas, it’s gonna be quite exciting. I wish you the best implementing the plan!

  151. Good on you DM. You deserve the success that your hard work brings and in this instance that means taking a step back to get guess what..? More time.. exactly what this has all been about!

    I see a lot of negativity here about your not posting monthly expenses and income anymore but I don’t really get it.

    For me, and this isn’t a criticism, those kind of reports became less important and impacting once the blog started making $500/$1,000+ etc per month because at that point you started to have more capital available than 99.9% of the average readers of your blog who don’t have their own blog to generate that additional income to invest.

    I haven’t really read those particular posts at all for the last 18 months as the message you have hammered home is clear anyway – just save hard then put it to use!

    On a personal level you have inspired me to make changes to my life and these changes are reaping ever increasing rewards moving forwards. For that I will be eternally grateful, whether you continue to write on your blog or not.

    But you are, so that’s a real bonus and I look forward to reading your content going forward.. here or anywhere else for that matter.

    Top man.

  152. Hi Jason,

    As someone with experience on web site programming, database backend and others I fully understand this step. Administering a web site just detracts too from the time needed to create content.

    Guest posts are always interesting, specially if you find individuals with slight different approaches to DGI (e.g. dedicating a small fraction of the portfolio to CEFs).

    I guess one sentiment running in the comment section is for you to ‘stay true’, but that means changing with circumstances in my book.

    Best,

  153. Definitely true. Having giving it more thought i think no one here asking or demanding your monthly budgets would be willing to share their own. Some might leave because in that sense your blog was one of a kind. Time will tell if the blog will hold up without it. I think it will. I just hope you made good agreements on your exit in case stuff ends badly.
    Looking forward to your next post.
    P.S. You might want to clarify in your post that most will stay the same. That wasn’t overly clear it seems from the reactions.

  154. Dude, seriously?

    You’d make a great bank customer. “I’m not being given premium, concierge service for FREE!! WAAAAH!!!”

    This was the sacrifice he had to make to keep Dividend Mantra going. Otherwise, the blog was going to become another service job for him–something for him to try to escape from rather than a passion of his. And if he allowed that burnout to happen, THEN he’d regret it. We’d all see it.

    This would be what a typical Recent Buy article would look like:

    “Bought 10 shares of JNJ. Long JNJ. I hate this shit.”

    And that would be followed by 138 comments asking him if he thought an index fund was a good idea.

    Look, NO ONE is happy that that part of the site is gone. NO ONE. And I know how crucial that aspect of the journey was. But the journey was all about the race to cover 100% of his expenses though his dividend income, not about tracking every stick of gum he bought or Google Adsense dollar that comes in. I can’t speak for Jason, but maybe an abridged version of the Monthly Budgets can return that simply omits his online income. We won’t know his saving rate, but we can still watch what percent of his expenses were covered by his dividends. Again, I can’t speak for Jason.

    Are you a blogger? I am, and I can tell you that it is a very difficult, demanding, and sometimes unrewarding job. As someone who gets less than 100 page views a day, I can say that we all wish to be at a level where Jason is now. But no matter what, these articles we write for our readers often involve a lot of research and a lot of time. Certainly a lot of work. Things go on behind the scenes that involve a lot of work. Do you know how long it took for me to get my blog looking the way I want it? To get my logo up there? To get it BACK up there when an update deleted it? I still have the PTSD attacks from that.

    If you are not happy with the years of valuable free content he gave you, that’s fine. Just understand why this decision came about. Blogging is a TREMENDOUS amount of work, and time taken actually administering the site is time he’s not writing.

    Just enjoy it and be happy he’s back. Dividend Mantra is still Dividend Mantra. Hasn’t he been replying to every comment like he always does?

    Oh, you just questioned whether or not that was really him? Wow, you MUST be a bank customer. That wasn’t a compliment.

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  155. Hi Jason,
    I am glad to see you here again. I can only thank you for all the articles and content and all you have share with us up to date. I understand things are going to change slightly, but I can only thank you and be happy that you continue writing. I think you are a great writer and I love your articles (specially your inspirational ones). Also I do not forget the book that is waiting to be written, the one you write right from the top ot that mountain.
    I know you are a good person and are going to give us good stuff with the best of intentions. So here we will be, learning from and supporting you.

  156. A bit strange that the budget posts are explicitly forbidden in this deal? But anyhow no biggie, I don’t understand some peoples outrage and disparaging comments. Almost as if their perceptio is that you have a personal relationship with the them, and is obligated to them. It’s your blog, it’s free to read, got good and unique content and has changed the community. Show some appreciation people. Or move on, it’ not a relationship, it’s a freaking blog.

  157. Jason:
    A Decision is meant to be made ,if it’s delayed its not a decision
    I am pleased that you are achieving what you set out to do. In the end determination wins.
    Please, what ever you do be sure your new administrators do not suggest employing nuisance emails to your followers. It’s a real turn off. I get too many advertisers emails now.
    The update emails ,from you ,I receive are welcome.
    You are on you way to become ” commercialized” . It might make your head spin at times. Be sure your body spins with it.
    Please remain the final decision maker.

  158. Jason’s just scaling it back a bit to avoid burnout.

    Think of the sum total of all future articles here as Dividend Mantra’s EPS, and Jason’s articles specifically are the blog’s dividend payouts. He’s just trying to lower his payout ratio. Otherwise, how can he be expected to grow his “dividends”?

    That snapping sound you hear is that analogy being stretched to it’s breaking point.

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  159. I had just found your excellent blog a few months ago, and in that short time completely restructured my entire investment plan! That’s how powerful your message was.

    What endeared it most to me was several things, but mostly it felt like there was nothing else like it on the internet. No one else as transparent with monthly budgets, income details, personal details. We’re the same age too, and I was preparing to tune in for the long haul to watch as you achieved FI. This site was a window into one man’s journey. It was super interesting.

    Personally, i hope you reconsider after trying this partnership out. The above poster Nico had some great ideas for management of the blog. There are definitely ways to outsource the admin side of a site with little involvement/management by you. That would still achieve your goal of freeing up time for content creation.

    Like others have said, I don’t care about other content from other authors. What brought me here was your journey. I hope you were well compensated for whatever share they purchased. Perhaps there’s a way your new partners may figure out that part of what made this blog so special was the personal element, not just Dividend articles.

    Take care Jason

  160. Felicitation Mantra …..je peux que tu m’a inspirer et je t’en remercie

    Je me suis demander a quelques reprises comment fait il pour repondre a tous et avoir le gout jour apres jour….il est fort …

    Je sais que de gerer un blog demande BEAUCOUP de temps alors votre nouvelle facon….de voir …..de nous enseigner ….de partager votre passion sera diffente mais le monde va s’adapter au changement …j’appelle cela EVOLUER dans le bon sens …

    Je suis sûr que vous aurez du succès, peu importe ce que vous faites.

    Bonne succes

  161. Way to go Jason! You deserve all your success. It would have been unrealistic for you to post your budget & expenses until you were 65 and even keep going the same pace until 65. I think people were expecting that! Five years is enough for people to get a general idea of what it’s like and use it as inspiration to make changes in their own lives.

    People grow and change. I also thought that you might want to pursue other hobbies as time went on. As I recall, J.D. Roth in an interview with the site “eventual millionaire” he said that spending too much time on his site was one of the causes that led to his divorce. Claudia sounds like a nice lady so I think it’s great that you are protecting your time with her and passions like writing & being interactive. I think some of the people here seem jealous.

    It’s easy to say what one would do in a situation but until people are faced with the exact situation then it’s all speculation. Most top bloggers either end up going pro all the way (hiring assistants, agents, and building an empire) or selling the blog. I watch video bloggers on YouTube and A LOT of them end up getting help from their S.O. like Laura Vitale. Her husband helps her with her cooking show on YouTube.

    Also sounds to me like some people are a bit jealous. Use your jealousy as motivation to change your life, people!

  162. Truly happy for you taking the entrepreneurial step. Like a lot of other readers, though, I won’t follow from here due to 1.) the decline in all PF sites that have been sold–good luck keeping your page from looking a mess with the ads; 2.) you don’t seem to agree the content will change with the increased opacity, but I think it’s fundamental and has been what made your blog unique. Not trying to make you feel bad for cashing out, but the track record for these transactions has been dismal and it’s important these companies know that when they set up terms. Good luck to you, though, Jason, and maybe you’ll be the first and only to make your PF site still worthwhile.

  163. Jason,

    To be honest, as a long term reader, I really have a mix feeling.

    Lots of readers follow your journey because of your unbias, positive, inspire, transferency posts.

    But, now, you have lots of restrictions due to the partnership. Partners look for profit than provide value for your readers. Thus, more advertisements and affiliate links will appear all over the site.

  164. Jason – A website is ultimately just a conduit to share your insights, experiences, talent, and knowledge. 4 months ago I knew absolutely nothing about stocks other than I had $50,000 in my company 401k and that it all went into some mysterious stock index fund. Today, thanks to the info from you and this site, I have $5000 in my own portfolio invested in 15 solid dividend stocks in 5 sectors. I have learned more about the economy, equities, and company valuation in that short time than in my first 54 years of life. I now feel I have control over my financial future, and look forward to your articles on this site and other social media. P.S. – I still contribute to the 401k to get my full company match, but everything else goes into my portfolio. And most importantly I find it exciting and FUN. Investing has become my new hobby and I just love it! Best wishes to you personally and in all your ventures.

  165. Still dont know if u are the real you commenting to people’s questions?
    Atleast Im happy to see you that you will be posting articles to inspire everyone that visits your website.

  166. Wow, I can’t believe some of these commenters have been so hard on you! Running a website is a huge task, and mine isn’t nearly as big as yours so I can only imagine how much time all the administrative stuff was taking. I think the passion in some of these comments can be taken as a compliment to you for how much readers have loved everything you’ve done so far! Anyway, best of luck on the next step in the journey.

  167. I enjoyed finding this site and reading your book “The Dividend Mantra Way.” Your story definitely inspired me!
    Congratulations on this decision. I hope you get to have more freedom while still reaping the benefits. Take care.

    JT

  168. There he is!! I thought you went and retired!!! Glad you’re back.
    Listen.
    Follow your dreams, your passions and your loves.
    Ignore the haters. It’s your life and forward is the way.

    I congratulate you on your new freedom.
    I for one will keep reading, learning, and recommending your site.
    Thanks.

  169. It’s the real Jason responding. If you’d have spent any length of time on this site and have commented you’ll know Jason’s authentic voice.

    Take care.

  170. Good morning Jason,

    I was and (still am) a beginner in financial freedom and found your site a long time ago. I read your blog for the financial teachings and also the personal touch. I traveled with you from you preparing to leave your job to packing up your few belongings to head back to Michigan to heading back to Florida and Claudia to the Berkshire meeting to your huge success with the blog to this (and a lot in between.)

    As someone old enough to be your mother, I am very, very proud of you! You have worked so hard and smart for a long time before this blog and obviously with this blog. This is what you want and deserve so enjoy it!

    I think some of the sadness (not jealousy) we feel is that this community feels like a group with equal peers and you have become one of the fortunate ones that has achieved success right in front of our eyes. It feels like you have run off and left us, but we know you haven’t.

    I believe many of us liked to see your budget just so we could think ” If Jason can cut expenses here maybe I can cut or do without………….” You were always an inspiration and will continue to be one with or without you revealing your income and budget, but you can see how that affected some of us.

    I’m not a financial wiz and get tongue tied anytime I try to explain to friends what I am trying to achieve, but do know you have touched many “humble, average people” in a big way with all of your free advice and teachings.

    I will continue to read your writings and keep learning about financial freedom. Thank you for this wonderful blog and please keep it true to you.

    Mary

  171. Jason,
    Interesting development indeed. I was concerned that the dividend statements would be missing, but I see they won’t and I am glad about that. I did like how you posted on saving before, but at this point I think you have more than proven your point so I think I can let that slide :). I look forward to see how the changes come out and wish it all the best.

    Glad to have you back from hiatus / webcation,
    -Gremlin

  172. Hi Jason,

    Congratulations on these changes – actually this demonstrates that life is always changing, either we are changing/improving or we are stuck in our old positions and ways. It’s the same with evaluating stocks. Those companies that do not adapt to changes in the customer, environment etc will not thrive. So here’s to your personal growth and a reminder to all that we should look at this as a way to grow by hearing additional opinions etc.

    So……..back to stocks…. I happen to see your tweet re MMM and I was able to swoop down and buy some at $136. THX!

    Again, best wishes,

    Howard

  173. Jason, glad you are all right!

    You take care of yourself! No one else is doing it … at the end of the day!

    You inspired me that much – I wish you plenty of tailwinds on your journey which I keep on following, of course!

    Best wishes
    Thorsten

  174. Hi Jason,

    thanks for coming back, but your changes are very surprising.
    I guess the most of the readers did like the whole package – interesting articels, your income and expenses report and also your dividend income report.
    It was good to see how somebody which started with only $5000 can reach after few years. All followers see that way exactly how it was.
    This changes will cost you a lot of readers, I guess. If I want to read only articels about dividend investing or ideas then I check seekingalpha. Finally, its your personal descision and its up to you how your website will run. But I liked your personal view and your ideas besides the investing.

    I will follow you in future, but in my point of view you did a wrong discision as somebody will pay you something for it, but you’ll also leave your personal way.

    I was in internet business for 12 years now, and I know how websites are running and what kind of work inside and I can imagine how it is to run the website, but I cannot understand you really. But also its up to you!

    But its mostly the way of sucessful people – they start as newbies and if they become sucssesfull they change their way very rapidly like you did – personal coaching, book, new website… Sorry!

    But I wish you all the best and I will follow your way.

    Rgds,
    Patrick

  175. Congratulations on the success.

    I’ll give it a chance but this move more than likely loses me as a reader. I’ve been interested in your detailed journey and I feel this heavily detracts from that.

  176. Congratulations I look forward to the new changes. You can tell people enjoy your blog. So much emotion on all sides. Hope you can do something fun with the free’d up time.

  177. I’m happy for you that everything is going so great but I feel the change is greater than you say because the blog has changed from complete transparency to some ambiguous statements about who is this new partner and basically nothing about how deep the changes are. I understand the blog administration is very time demanding but I feel that you could just delegated that part and continued having complete control over the site. I wish you a good luck on your new endeavors but I’m not sure that I’d be sticking around the new version of blog. If I want a mix of writers I’d rather read Seeking Alpha.

  178. I want to say how much value I’ve gotten out of this blog. My favorite concept that I’ve picked up from this is from your post “freedom exists on a spectrum”. I’m always inspired by your story and the things you write keep me motivated. I don’t understand people who say things like “I’m not going to read this anymore!”. People should feel less entitled and realize that you don’t owe them anything. Keep up the great work. I for one am excited to hear that you will be less distracted by the day-to-day management of the site and will be able to focus on writing great articles, which is why we’re all here!

  179. Good luck with the business partnership for the website, although I don’t understand why if they are remaining anonymous why it would matter if you posted your finances as usual?
    Anyway, hope the extra $$$ sees you get closer to FI quicker!

  180. Jason, I’ve been following your blog for a few years. Congratulations on your success. I have noticed many changes over the years that were obviously needed in order to rely on the income. Nevertheless I will stop reading this blog, since I liked the monthly budget article the most. I think your intention of educating and helping people are not the intention of your new partner, the new partner is interested in one thing – revenue/profits.

  181. Glad that you’re back, but sad that the monthly budgets are going away. I loved seeing your progress toward FI each month, and there aren’t many people that were that open about their finances. But, things progress, and it’s just the way it is. You’re growing, and that’s a good thing 🙂

  182. I agree with everything you’ve said, and I want to add that “new perspectives brought on board” is code for bringing on guest writers nobody has ever heard of, and changes the content of this site. I read this site I could get insights just from Jason, and now I’ll have to go through dozens of articles just to find the one written by Jason. Hopefully Jason can create an RSS feed of just posts written by himself, but if not, I’ll likely remove this website’s RSS feed from my reader.

  183. Jason,

    I really enjoy following this blog. Have done so for over a year before I started my own blog as well. I am glad that you feel you are making the right decision and will be able to continue writing and inspiring everyone on a path to early FI.

    As long as you are still on here doing that, I am not going to be going anywhere. I will continue to read and follow your journey.

    It might be a change, but that’s alright. I have watched you grow exponentially closer to FI. I look forward to reading your articles here and all the other websites you have been contributing too as I try to get farther along on my own journey.

    All the Best,

  184. Jason

    it is all about being aligned with yourself. You were getting out of this alignment recently and it did show in your comments. Sometimes life requires from us some transformation to get alignment again. So congratulations for the courage to realign, I sincerely wish this gets you much closer to where you want to be!

    We readers have received tons of value from you in the past and I am super confident that many of us will get tons of value going forward, giving your burning desire to spread the message! You are always very humble and we all should take example in that and be graceful for what you have given us and chose to give us further down the road.

    Personally, I really appreciate your stock analysis (which you have kept publishing through other channels throughout the last weeks), but there are also many other facets of value in your content and I have yet to find another blog that gets anywhere near, regardless of the income/expenses reporting. This value obviously gets reinforced through the fact that your alignment with yourself shines through your content.

    Thinking further down the road, I am certain that you will really appreciate the flexibility to disengage at times, particularly once you will follow your desire to travel and “live other lives”.

    I will be looking out for your content!

  185. William,

    First, if you can’t tell my style of writing, then you haven’t been paying very much attention.

    Second, very few people (and certainly not the partner I’ve taken on) would take the time to write (sometimes) lengthy notes back to hundreds of people.

    Take care.

  186. AA,

    Appreciate that very much. I agree with you there on value. I’d like to think that I’ve added a lot of value to a lot of people’s lives, and that makes me feel great. At the same time, though, there’s only so much I can really do. Only so much value I can add. But if you consistently add value, value will come back to you. That’s my general thoughts on it. You can’t consistently add a lot of value and not see that somehow come back to you.

    We’ll see how it all turns out, but I’m pretty excited about the new path forward. It’s been a great run thus far, and I wish I could have kept it up for another five years. But, in the end, there was always going to be a moment when I had to scale things way down. I wasn’t going to keep blogging until I was dead, so it was just a matter of figuring out what that transition looked like and what was next.

    Doubt I’ll be catching up to you any time soon, but keep it up. You’re doing fantastic over there! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  187. Congrats! Too much success huh? 🙂

    Hopefully you can help guide the direction of the blog in a positive direction moving forward and keep the elements that make it great. Best wishes of course. I get the lack of desire to do the technical/administrative side of things. I mostly ignore that stuff on my own blog until something breaks. 🙂 Eventually I’ll have to update to a modern theme if I want to keep growing and that will require redoing some custom code I wrote.

  188. Steve,

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree pretty much across the board there.

    Sounds like you’re in a great financial position there, so a big congratulations is due to you as well. That’s really great. And I’d do the same thing as you with a good chunk of capital available to me – I’d just scale in. Nobody can pick tops or bottoms. Buffett just shelled out more than $30 billion for a company just before all this volatility kicked in. So if he can’t predict the market’s moves, I don’t think I can. However, it’s also completely unnecessary. Pick those values out, diversify properly, reinvest the dividends, and hold for the long haul. You’ll do fine.

    Appreciate the support. This site and some of the work that goes into it was starting to take over my life a little bit there over the last couple months, which isn’t really healthy. I love this stuff. But I don’t want it to consume me and burn me out, either. I want to keep that passion alive for decades, so I have to ration out that energy a little bit. This move forces me to slow down, which I’m really happy about. There’s just only so much I can do by myself.

    And I also agree with you about jealousy. It’s an unfortunate part of life in general, but certainly more so when you experience a little success. I’ve seen it come my way from places I’d never expect, and some of the comments you see here on the blog are just really a small taste of what I’ve experienced over the years insofar as blogging is concerned. I’ve received thousands of emails over the years, and I can tell you not all of them were nice. But such is life. It just tells me that I’m moving in the right direction. 🙂

    Some will leave. But you’re right in that new readers will take their place. I hate to see anyone go because I think there’s a lot of value here that can improve their lives, but I can’t save everyone. And it’s really not my place anyhow. It’s up to an individual to improve their own life, not me.

    Stay in touch. A lot more to come. I’m not going anywhere.

    Keep up the great work over there!

    Best regards.

  189. Keith,

    Absolutely. It’s all about the content. And that will continue on just like it always has, which is what I’m most excited about. Me continuing to do this by myself would have meant WAY less posts or eventually none at all, but it now doesn’t have to be that way at all.

    Let’s keep it rolling!

    Cheers.

  190. Spoonman,

    Definitely. This is a sustainable path moving forward. The blog’s success has been so amazing, and something I’m so proud of and grateful for. But at the same time it’s put additional strains on my time and resources, and a lot of the stuff that goes into making sure this blog works correctly has become time consuming and, frankly, incredibly tedious for me.

    Appreciate the support. I think the blog is going to be bigger and better than ever six months from now. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  191. Kev,

    Thanks so much. That optimism and support is really appreciated, especially against the backdrop of some unwarranted criticism here.

    Some people hate change. They expect an athlete to compete at top form forever. Or they expect a rock band to continue putting out hits forever. Or they expect a blogger to continue on writing at the same pace forever. But change is inevitable. And, frankly, I embrace change. Life is boring otherwise.

    But I think a lot of people are judging the changes before they even see them. I notice that a lot of people tend to rush to judgement with a lot of things, which happens a lot with investing. I tend to take a very patient approach, which has generally served me very well.

    Stay in touch! And keep up the positive changes in your own life over there.

    Cheers.

  192. skaste,

    “I guess one sentiment running in the comment section is for you to ‘stay true’, but that means changing with circumstances in my book.”

    I think you hit the nail on the head there. Our time is finite. For me to “stay true” and continue on with content production, comments, and everything else would not be possible with me also “staying true” and managing everything by myself. Something has to give at some point when the demands outstrip my available resources. If I would have tried to continue on “staying true” and doing everything like I’ve always done just to avoid change, I would have eventually burned out and shut the entire thing down. That’s the honest truth. This move allows me to avoid that fate, which I’m really happy about. I understand that a lot of people hate change, but it’s inevitable.

    But if you’re able to embrace change and open yourself up to new perspectives, it can change your life. If I would have been afraid of change back in 2010, I’d never be doing what I’m doing now. I would have never sold my car. I never would have started living so extremely. I never would have learned about investing. Nothing. So change is definitely not a bad thing when it’s taken on with good intentions.

    Best wishes!

  193. IW,

    Thank you so much. Really appreciate the kind words there. I take a lot of pride in my writing, and I know for sure that at some point it was going to start to suffer with everything else pulling at me. I want to inspire people with my words and actions, not my ability to manage a website. And the changes I’ve made should allow me to continue doing just that. 🙂

    So glad you’ve found inspiration and motivation here. That’s all I’ve aimed to provide over the years. And it’s exactly that which I’ll continue to do my best to provide for years to come.

    Let’s keep fighting for freedom, bud!

    Best regards.

  194. While i’m thankful you are ok and back writing i have to say it’s a bummer you now have to censor content that was very popular with your readers. I agree with many that your journey has been a large part of the inspirational message you have imparted. I don’t say this lightly but i’m actually pretty disappointed at the changes. That being said you have to do what’s best for yourself so cheers to what the future may bring and best wishes all the same!

  195. Tom,

    My budget posts aren’t explicitly forbidden. It’s ultimately up to me what I write about. But the partnership I’m involved in requires the finances be kept private, and so there’s no way for me to realistically try to hide things. Besides, that’s the exact opposite of the complete honesty I’ve approached those budget reports with. I see no point in trying to simultaneously be completely open while also hiding things. Besides, if five years worth of budget reports isn’t enough to glean value from and deduce what’s necessary to achieve certain results, I don’t think another five years will do it, either.

    Appreciate the thoughts there. I’m honestly not sure why people take it so personally. And some of these comments strike me as ungrateful, with unwarranted criticism. The blog is free. People can come and go as they please. I never asked for anything from anyone. I’ve only tried my best to provide value and inspiration. Moreover, it’s not like I’m not done writing. I’m still going to be writing something like 20 articles per month, all in all. People have unrealistic expectations sometimes, but, in the end, it’s my life and I have to follow my heart and stay true to myself. That’s exactly what I did here. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  196. Amegalo,

    I hear you there. Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll definitely take them to heart.

    In the end, all changes that are going to be made will be for the greater good of the site and the community. And I don’t have such a big ego to where I think I’m the only perspective that matters or provides value. A lot of great writers out there, and I hope to showcase them over time.

    Have a great weekend!

    Take care.

  197. Aaron,

    “Personally, i hope you reconsider after trying this partnership out. The above poster Nico had some great ideas for management of the blog. There are definitely ways to outsource the admin side of a site with little involvement/management by you. That would still achieve your goal of freeing up time for content creation.”

    Easier said than done, my friend. Like most things in life, it’s easy to sit in the peanut gallery and hurl out suggestions. But it’s really not as easy as you might think. And I say that after investigating it for months.

    But the changes I’ve made should be for the better of the site and the community, on balance. Anyone who expects me to continue managing a large website (whether directly or indirectly) while also writing 30 or so articles per month, answering hundreds of comments, and going through dozens of emails every day until I’m dead simply has unrealistic expectations.

    But I appreciate the support. The peek into the journey isn’t going to disappear or even radically change all that much. I’m still going to be updating my progress all the way along while also putting out great content here and elsewhere. I’ll still be able to write at a rather prodigious rate, which is something I’m very happy about.

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope you continue to stop by and stay in touch. Lots more to come. 🙂

    Take care.

  198. Gaston,

    Thank you so much. Appreciate your understanding. I guess some readers just don’t appreciate (or don’t care about) the time-consuming nature of running a large website and all the effort that goes into it. I love this place. It’s something I’ve created from the ground up. But I also know that I have limitations. My ego isn’t so big to where I think I can do it all forever. And my passion has bounds. I was becoming fearful of testing those bounds, eventually burning out.

    But I think the changes are really for the better. If it’s between this and shutting the whole thing down (a possible eventuality at the rate things were going), it’s not even a contest. It’s a shame that more people don’t see it that way, but that’s just how it is.

    I wish you much success over there as well. And I’m sure with your positive and optimistic attitude, you’ll achieve it. Naysayers generally don’t achieve success because of their negative attitudes. I’ve never let that kind of stuff get to me, though. And I hope you never do, either. 🙂

    Cheers!

  199. Anonymous,

    Thanks so much. Definitely agree with what you’re saying here. It’s a shame that some people seem to be jealous. Not really sure why. I’ve just never been like that. If there’s something I want, I change my life in such a way to achieve/attain it. But it takes all kinds. If you put yourself out there, you’re bound to interact with people that just don’t get it.

    People definitely grow and change. Or at least, they should. Never changing sounds like a recipe for a very boring life. I mentioned it in another comment, but it seems like some people just hate change. They want that athlete to continue winning championships forever, never fading in abilities. They want that rock group to continue pumping out hit records until they’re dead. So on and so forth. I just don’t get that mentality. I embrace change. If I didn’t embrace change, I would have never changed my life so positively in the first place.

    And I kind of foreshadowed this change when I wrote about living multiple lifetimes. This was already on my mind at that time. I knew that my “lifetime” of running a fairly large website all by myself was coming to an end. Otherwise, it was going to consume all of me until the point where I burned out and hated it. I’m circumventing that with this move. Some people don’t see that for what it is. And that’s fine. But these same people likely would have never been able to keep it up for as long as I did.

    I’m not intimately familiar with Roth or the reasoning behind his decision to sell GRS, but I can see how that would have led to a divorce. He was writing daily for a long time there, which is on par with my output (I’ve been writing more than 30 articles per month for a long time now). And he was running an even larger website than this is. So I can see that. I empathize with that. But you’re definitely right in that it’s easy to judge from afar. You just don’t know what you’d do until you’re in that situation. Easy to armchair quarterback things. But I think this move just further illustrates what I’m all about. It embodies my writing. I’ve always said that I’m after more time, not more money. Well, if I were after more money, I’d keep going with the site and keep growing it, turning it into a big business and try to eke out every penny. But that’s just not me. I don’t want to run an empire. I just want to be me.

    Thanks for understanding and sharing your thoughts. It’s appreciated, especially with some of the unwarranted criticism being thrown around here. You can write 1,000+ articles and answer 20,000+ comments, and people will still expect you to continue on at an increasing pace forever. But I’ve given a lot, receiving a lot in return. And I’ll continue to give. Just not at the ridiculous and unsustainable rate as before. If that’s not good enough, it’s a big internet out there.

    Best wishes!

  200. Terry,

    Thanks for sharing that. Success stories like that make me feel great about what I’m doing. 🙂

    In the end, this site is about motivating others by way of the real-life progression of a journey to financial independence. And it’ll largely remain that going forward. But it’s up to each individual to actually take action and make those changes. Good for you for doing that. Your future you is already in a much, much better situation. Keep it up!

    Best regards.

  201. colormefrugal1,

    Appreciate the insight there from a fellow blogger.

    Yeah, it’s a shame. I’ve put out more than 1,000 articles and I’ve responded to more than 20,000 comments over the years. Yet some people want more, more, more no matter what. I guess for some readers the only rational excuse for me no longer doing everything by myself and keeping everything going at the same rate would have been death. I don’t get it.

    But it’s my life I’m most concerned about. And things were becoming unsustainable. I have much more on my plate than just this blog, as important as it is to me. And I have to cultivate other aspects of my life. What’s really funny is that I’m still going to be writing more than 20 articles per month, even after the drop in output. So it’s not like I’m just chilling on the beach all day long or something. But whatever. I just have to stay true to myself and follow my heart. That’s all I’ve ever preached. And it’s all I’ve ever tried to do over the years. I try to be the change I want to see, and this is more of that. Maybe some people would have preferred I continued on and turned this into a big business empire, but then those same people would have complained down the line when it turned “corporate” or something. You can’t please everyone all of the time. You have to focus on you. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best regards.

  202. JT,

    Thanks so much for picking up a copy of the book. Glad you enjoyed it and found some inspiration there. 🙂

    This move definitely affords me more freedom than I’ve had in some time now, which is what this whole journey is all about. Just trying to live out my own advice.

    Keep up the great work over there. You’re off to a great start for your age. By the time you’re my age, you’ll be far ahead of where I’m at. Keep at it!

    Best wishes.

  203. BD,

    Couldn’t have said it better myself. I’ve always ignored the haters. If I would have listened to the haters, I never would have started saving, investing, and chasing after freedom. This is just more of me listening to my heart rather than the haters. 🙂

    Appreciate the support very much. I’ll still be kicking out great content and I think new perspectives are going to add to what’s already here. And if anyone needs a dose of my stuff here and there, there is more than 700 articles here and more than 300 articles elsewhere. In addition, I’m still going to be pumping out something like 20 articles per month around the web. I’m not going anywhere.

    Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  204. Mary,

    Thanks so much for sharing that. Means a lot to me! 🙂

    Yeah, it’s a great community we’ve all built here. But I also like to remember that I’m just one member of it. I’m very humble. Maybe that humbleness blinds me in regards to the impact I have on people. I’m not sure. But I do know that we all built this community together. And that’s not going anywhere. I know I’m certainly not going anywhere. I’m still going to be sharing my results as I go. I’m still going to be writing a lot of articles and I hope to continue inspiring people for a long, long time to come.

    I know that some people want to continue seeing the budgets, but nothing is going to change there for me. I’m still going to be actively saving/investing as much as I can, and I’m still going to be saving 50%+ of my net income month in and month out. Besides, five years of data on my monthly budgets is enough to formulate some opinions/ideas on budgeting and what’s necessary to achieve certain levels of financial success. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for me to share my budgets until I’m dead, but I’ve done my best to pull the curtain back for many years now and show what’s possible. And most of that curtain will remain pulled back. I’m not really hiding anything. Anyone with a calculator can figure out what I’m spending when I discuss my dividend income updates, so it’s not that hard to see what I’m up to.

    Appreciate all the support. I hope you continue to find inspiration here. In the end, my only goal with my online presence is to motivate/inspire/educate others by sharing as much as I can, and that’s not changing going froward. It’s really just the pace that’s going to change a little bit so that things are more sustainable for me. The last thing I wanted to do was burn out and leave the scene completely.

    Stay in touch. And keep saving/investing over there. The future Mary is benefiting with every dollar put away and investing in high-quality assets that produce passive cash flow.

    Best wishes!

  205. Gremlin,

    Ha! I definitely think I’ve proven my point. thanks for letting it slide. 🙂

    Thanks for the support. Looking forward to seeing how things unfold, but I’m pretty excited. This is way, way better than some alternatives I was considering. Trust me.

    Have a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  206. Howard,

    Thanks for understanding. Change is a good thing, when applied correctly. I once wrote about treading water. That’s never a situation I want to be in for very long. If you’re not changing for the better, you’re treading water and slowly dying. It was change that brought me to this spot in the first place. And it’s change that will allow me to grow in great, new ways over time. I embrace that. 🙂

    Nice move there on 3M. Great, great company. One I’ve long wanted to have a slice of. Not particularly cheap here, but I think it’s reasonable for the quality. Plenty of high-quality Industrials have come down to very attractive levels. Emerson in particular is crazy cheap here, in my view.

    Keep it up!!

    Best regards.

  207. Thorsten,

    Thank you so much!

    I wish you many, many tailwinds as well. That’s really what I wish for everyone in the community. I wish nothing but the best for everyone, and I’ve only done my best to help encourage that through both my words and actions. 🙂

    Enjoy your weekend over there.

    Cheers.

  208. Kevin,

    Well, I hope you end up liking the changes. The other major alternative I was considering was shutting the whole thing down completely, so this is a much better alternative. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Take care.

  209. Sunnya,

    Thanks so much. I hope everyone ends up really enjoying the changes. I’m personally very excited. 🙂

    The additional free time is really just necessary at this point. I’ve worked so incredibly hard for the last six or so years, with very little downtime. I can finally start to see the light here where I’m going to basically coast to FI and enjoy the process a little bit more. I’m definitely not one of those people who need to be busy all the time. I quite like my unstructured free time to just sit and read or think.

    Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by!!

    Best regards.

  210. Daniel,

    Yeah, it’s easy to armchair quarterback from the peanut gallery and say it’s easy to do this or that, but it’s really quite different when it’s you in a particular situation. Until you run a large-scale website by yourself and invest the time in looking at the alternatives, you just really don’t know. That’s the truth of the matter.

    Some people naturally won’t like the changes. Some people don’t like change. But I embrace change, which has allowed me to blossom into the person I am today. And I think those that embrace change will enjoy the new perspectives and additional features brought on over time.

    Best of luck over there!

    Take care.

  211. Phil,

    Indeed. I don’t really owe anyone anything. But I’m a very grateful member of the community I helped build, so I’m doing all I can to continue providing value on a schedule that works better for my life.

    Appreciate the support. So glad you’ve found value here in the blog. Providing value and inspiring others is all I’ve ever really wanted to do, and this move allows me to still do that as much as I can.

    Those giving out opinions on running the daily operations of this site just don’t know what’s really involved. Besides, as you mention, it matters not in terms of the content here. Who runs what shouldn’t matter at all to you guys. In fact, I could have hid the whole thing from you readers and continued on like nothing had happened, just saying I hired staff writers to help out. But that’s me. I remain as honest as I can.

    Hope you continue to stop by and find value here. That’s my aim! 🙂

    Best regards.

  212. Ken,

    I’m growing and that’s a very good thing. We should all hope to grow and change over time. If we didn’t, we’d still be going “goo goo” and “gaa gaa”, relying on others to feed us and clothe us. But we grow, we change, we progress, and we embrace new (and better) versions of ourselves. That’s how we get to financial independence in the first place. Financial independence doesn’t come to those who sit around fighting change. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  213. Hi Jason,

    I’ve got a question about the recent buy articles. So far you have been publishing an article about every buy you make, is this going to change? I think a new position in the freedom fund deserves an article but maybe you are going to summarize your additions to existing positions in the freedom fund update.

    Will we get to read about the new positions you have bought in September?

    Looking forward to your upcoming content and also for the other writers articles. I hope they are as high in quality as your writing is.

  214. SWAN,

    Thanks for all the support. Really appreciate it!

    I’m surprised that some people only want to support me as long as I’m providing only that which they want on their terms, and not necessarily that which is good for me and my life. It’s only good as long as it’s good for them. But such is life. I don’t worry about stuff like that. I follow my heart, which led me to where I’m at now. Can’t say I regret a second of it. 🙂

    But I’ll still be here writing like usual. And it’s the writing/interaction I enjoy most. The rest of it will fall away, which is a big relief. I only want the best for people, and if someone is able to shed undesirable activities from their life, I’m all for that. Funny how that’s not necessarily always reciprocal. But I’m just trying to make my life the best it can be, and this is a big move in that direction.

    Thanks again. Keep it up over there. It’s so fun to watch people get closer and closer to their dreams.

    Best regards.

  215. Just got an email from TradeKing, got another dividend which brings September to $202! That’s by far my largest month ever. I think my 2nd best month was only $30 or something tiny. Just amazing that I’ve racked in enough cash to pay my cell phone, electric, gas, and water bill for September with enough left over for lunch. And I didn’t do a thing to earn it besides have the forethought to buy dividend paying stocks in the past. I’m loving this progression 🙂

  216. Justin,

    I guess too much success for someone who never fancied running a business. I’m a writer and an investor. That’s what I know and love. The rest can (and now will) disappear. 🙂

    I’ve always advised people to chase after their passions/dreams. And that’s really what I’m doing here. It’s funny that some will only root for you to do that as long as they benefit from it at the same time. As soon as you following your passions somehow interferes with their expectations, they’re maybe not totally on board anymore. But I’m the type of person that follows my heart and ignores the noise. That’s how I got to where I’m now at.

    I remember being on the phone with my hosting company for two hours on a Friday night a little while back because there was some technical issue with the site which was causing display issues. It was right then and there that I decided I never again wanted to do that. And now I won’t.

    Running this site wasn’t all that difficult when it was half its current size. But things scale up over time. Unfortunately, there’s only one me. I now get to completely focus on things that make me happy, and I’m really, really pleased with that. I can only wish the same for everyone else out there.

    Thanks for dropping by. Best of luck with continuing to grow your own site over there without some of the issues I’ve experienced.

    Cheers!

  217. Zol,

    Well, the journey is still there. I’ll still be updating my results in real-time all along the way. You’ll notice very, very few blogs out there discuss exact income and spending down the penny like I do, especially in our community. Yet I don’t think that it makes those blogs any less special. I read a lot of blogs from fellow members in our community (as you’ll see on my blogroll), and most don’t talk about their budgets. If that were a requirement, my blogroll would be down to less than five. Either way, five years of budgets is enough to provide just as much value that another five years would anyhow. If five years isn’t enough to prove the point and show what things look like, another five years wouldn’t be, either. And, like I mentioned numerous times now, you’ll easily be able to grab a calculator and figure out what I’m spending when I update my dividend income every month. So if it’s really a thing where you need to see that spending to keep you motivated, it’s not going away.

    Hope you stick around and enjoy the changes. 🙂

    Cheers!

  218. Sampo,

    That’s a good question!

    Well, my plan moving forward is to average something like one new article per week here. That’ll be a much better pace for me, which is still a lot when combined with everything else I do. So how many articles get published on purchases will depend on availability. I plan on buying more than two stocks per month for the foreseeable future, so not all will get their own article. As far as which do and which don’t, it’ll just depend on what’s going on with other ideas/articles at that particular time. I’m going to prefer discussing new positions and/or stocks I haven’t analyzed in a while, so those will be the ones I focus on more. But there’s obviously still the FF updates and dividend income updates in there as well, so this will really be fun in terms of a lot of ideas competing for space. A much better alternative to repeating myself over and over again just to fill space. 🙂

    Either way, purchases will be summarized just like always when I update the Fund. Any stocks that I want to go over a bit more will probably get extra attention at that time.

    Hope that helps!

    Best wishes.

  219. Philipp,

    Thanks for understanding what I’m going for here. It’s definitely about alignment. I view it as an alignment of my personal core values and actions. It’s about aligning what I want (which is designed to maximize happiness) with what I do. That’s what I’ve always tried to discuss and what I’ve always tried to live out with my own actions. Those surprised by this maybe didn’t totally get my message from the beginning. Going on and on with something just to do it even if you’re not completely happy with the whole process would be not only silly, but a misalignment of your actions and values. And when you throw that out of alignment, you become unhappy. I tried to remain conscious of that all the way through, and when I started to realize that the management of this thing was proving to move my happiness in the wrong direction due to the workload, I took action. That’s what I’d recommend for anyone else in a similar situation, be it a blog, your day job, or anything else. You want to maximize happiness at all times. And sometimes it requires doing something different than that which you’ve been doing for the past few years. Growing, changing, and becoming a bigger and better you is a beautiful thing. I would never encourage to hamper that progress out of some desire to “keep driving forward” with something when you know you really shouldn’t.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m just following my heart, which is what I’ve done all along. I can’t say it’s failed me yet, and I don’t think it’s failing me here, either. 🙂

    Wish you all the same happiness, change, and progress!

    Cheers.

  220. weenie,

    Well, it wouldn’t be very difficult for anyone with some familiarity with Google to see who’s behind some of the changes when they start to materialize. And I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. If the information ever did become public, you can’t put the eggs back in the basket.

    Likewise, I could have posted co-workers’ paychecks anonymously back when I was working for the dealership, but I’m not quite sure the anonymity helps when someone’s information is being released against their consent. I guess it’s quite easy to question why someone wouldn’t want their finances being released for hundreds of thousands of people to see, but I’d then ask why don’t all bloggers (even those that blog anonymously) share that information? I think few bloggers (even those that have commented on this very article) release such information. It’s understandably private.

    But I think I’m definitely a lot closer to financial independence now. Not necessarily in the financial sense (growing this blog even bigger and hiring people out myself would be the best way for that), but more in the sense that I’m gaining additional time, freedom, and flexibility. That’s all I’ve really been after since Day 1. 🙂

    Cheers!

  221. Patrick,

    Well, my personal view will still be here and everywhere else I write. That’s not really going away. The only thing that’s disappearing is the income/expense reports. And like you said, anyone can take a look at those and see how I grew my wealth from $5,000 to where it is now in the five or so years I’ve been at it. That will never change. I guess some people expect me to keep this pace up until I’m dead or something, even while things continue to scale every month. I imagine even if I would have kept this schedule up until I hit financial independence and then quite altogether, a lot of people (especially newer readers just catching on and hoping for years of ongoing content) would have been really upset and disappointed. That is something that was always going to happen, unfortunately. I can’t keep it up forever.

    As far as running a large blog goes, the work is there. I guess you can only understand how it all works if you actually run something similar to what I’m running and then see how it is for yourself. I think you’ve only written a few articles over the last six months and responded to very few comments. And your site doesn’t even load for me anymore. So I guess I can only say that you’d have to walk those shoes to know what it really feels like and then go from there. It’s easy to question decisions when you’re not the one making those choices. But it’s a lot more difficult when you’re in the trenches and trying to make sure that the decisions you make benefit everyone fairly equally. For me, running a big blog was never a goal. I like writing and investing. That’s it. The rest can go away. And now it will. I’m after personal bliss via more time, flexibility, and freedom. And, hopefully, I’m able to inspire plenty of people while I slowly achieve that in real-time. I was never after running a business empire.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

    Best regards.

  222. Kate,

    Thanks so much. Really appreciate it!

    It’s so fun to see the community at large grow and progress. This is just part of that natural evolution. We all want to grow and become better and bigger versions of ourselves, I think. That’s how it should be. I see so many people slowly achieving financial independence, and that’s super exciting. This move puts me closer to the freedom and schedule I’ve long sought. I’m happy. 🙂

    Keep it up over there!

    Best wishes.

  223. If I was in your situation I’m sure I’d do the same thing. I can honestly say that figuring out the backend of a website and going through a redesign is one thing that’s kept me from even making the jump to WP which I really need to do. Heck it’s been on my goal list for the last 2-3 years. Ooops! I just don’t have the patience for it and would rather spend my time writing, researching, or reading rather than figuring out all of that stuff. Plus I only have a reliable and speedy internet connection when I’m at home and I really don’t want to spend my free time with my wife focusing on blog admin/mgmt.

    I understand the backlash that some people are giving you, many people don’t handle change well. But honestly I think your post about your relatives that were jealous can probably relate to a lot of them.

  224. Jason,

    Congrats man! I am happy for you. You have given so many people so much inspiration and asked nothing in return. I will continue to be a frequent visitor.

    Godspeed,
    Chuck

  225. congrats trust you took Claudia out to Celebrate the next adventure!
    I’m in the minority as I never really felt associated with your extreme frugality!
    however I loved your common sense approach to investing. I hope you at least mention all buys (and sells) or combine in articles as a few times you caused me to look into stocks I never heard of!

    live, Laugh, and Love…..that’s why we do this!

  226. Hi Jason,

    I can understand your rationale for the changes to the blog. If you hate doing the admin, get someone else to do it. As long as the content’s still quality, I’ll keep coming back. Just don’t turn into the Dividend Guy and start hawking all kinds of strategies and newsletters!!!

    Geoff

  227. People, it’s not about inspiring. It’s about self greed. And the peak has hit with a real good offer that he won’t discuss. You all helped him get to this point, so it shouldn’t be that hard to see what’s going on. He built it to take the money and slowly walk. Personally I was getting tired of his little intolerant anger spurts anyway.

    Can’t post monthly budgets? What a crock. Good luck with that.

  228. I respect your decision. Good luck my friend! I will wait for your one article per week. Time is more precious then anything else. Thank you for what you have given so far.

  229. Chuck,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate that. I’ve never asked for anything at all. I’ve only done my best to put great content out there and show what’s possible. Never tried to “sell” myself or anything else, really. Some people see that. Some don’t. But I’ve always been 100% honest about things, either way. 🙂

    Truly hope you enjoy the changes that will unfold in time. There are many projects I’ve just never been able to see through, so it’s exciting for me to think about the robust features that are possible now.

    Have a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  230. Bill,

    Indeed. That’s exactly why we do this. )

    I’ll definitely be discussing transactions and activity as I go. It’s one of my favorite parts about all of this, so I don’t want to lose that. This month has been particularly busy for a variety of reasons, and I’ll be going over all of that very soon.

    Stay in touch!

    Cheers.

  231. Geoff,

    My aim is to continue providing quality content as long as I have a presence on the web. If it’s not quality, I don’t publish it. And it’s a fear of mine that pumping out quantity would have eventually led to an issue with quality, especially with everything else piling on. This allows me a lot of freedom there.

    I hated the admin stuff, so that’s exactly why someone else is handling it now. 🙂

    Align your values with your actions and I’m confident you’ll be happy and go far.

    Best regards!

  232. tom,

    Thank you. I’m really fortunate to have a largely supportive audience/readership. There are some sour grapes in there, but that’s to be expected.

    I hope you continue to stop by and see how things unfold. I’m super excited. I’m as motivated as I’ve ever been, but I now actually have a lot more time to do the things I want to do. Meanwhile, the blog should continue to prosper and grow with additional help.

    Let’s see how it turns out! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  233. poopsie,

    You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

    But you did do one thing right: You picked out a very appropriate username. Represents your intimate knowledge of the situation very well.

    Take care.

  234. AJ,

    Appreciate that! 🙂

    Time is indeed precious. As I’ve always said, it’s our most precious and value commodity. And, frankly, I’ve had less and less of it lately with the way things have accelerated here. Not complaining, but just being honest. I feel really free now, which is wonderful. It’ll just be content/interaction from here on out, and that’s it. Then, who knows. Who knows what projects will come about down the road. Very excited.

    Thank you for the support. Grateful to have readers like yourself. I don’t know why some people think there’s some ulterior motive here. If I wanted to be dishonest, I could have acted like nothing happened and just said that I’ve taken on some staff writers to help with content. But that’s just not the way I roll. I’ve always been completely forthright, for better or worse.

    Plenty more to come, though. I’ll write and try to inspire for as long as I possibly can!

    Best wishes.

  235. @ Poopsie: Remember this timeless advice- “don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!”

    -Mike

  236. Dividend Mantra,

    I think this will be a good move for you. The administrative side can be demanding on one times. I could only imagine how demanding this blog is on your time as your readership is very high.

    I will keep reading that is for sure.

  237. One thing I’d like to see is a series on less well covered dividend stocks. I NEVER see dividend sites mention Visa or Starbucks. I know they don’t yield much at the moment, but in a few years the divvies will be much higher. Good consumer names like Mead Johnson or McCormick are rarely mentioned…….Seems like we’re all chasing the same companies

  238. Jason,

    Congrats at getting to this point in your life, really as long as your voice continues to resonate I am sure your path to freedom will be closer than you think.

    Joe

  239. Jason,

    Discovering your blog has had a great influence on my life and the way I look at money. You inspired me to follow your lead and attain financial independence. I will continue to follow your lead.

    Joseph

  240. Best of luck to you. I’ve enjoyed following your blog – not so much for stock tips but for the personal financial journey. Kinda sounds like you sold it, and will just be a contributor. Although, honestly I wish you would have been a little more straightforward and said it just that way. I would really like to have known the financial details(what can a site like this bring?) Seems like your readers would have enjoyed one last financial update.

  241. Congratulations !!!

    Hope the site grows in Readership and you get more time towards writing.

    Its going ti been fun

    Great to have you back 🙂

  242. Congrats Jason!

    You and DGI have been a big inspiration to my blog Daddy Daughter Fund where I invest in dividend stocks for my daughter and track the progress of their growth as well as the journey of me teaching her how to invest. Many of us want to survive off of dividend income, but I wanted to take it to another level and start her dividend income from when she is a baby so she can be set by time she is in high school.

    I found DGI first, but discovered DM through DGI and have told just about everyone I know about you guys and the great inspiration you both have been.

    Keep striving for FI and may God bless you and your journey.

    Eric

  243. Jason, congrats on the next step that you think is right. It’s your life, your site, and it’s your unique perspective that we have all enjoyed over time. Nobody has the right to tell you how you should do things.

    But I didn’t stop by to get sucked into the Internet grieving happening above. 🙂 As I know that you are self insured and generally manage your own health, I was curious as to whether you had come across wellnessfx.com. It is basically a direct health website whereby you have your blood drawn at a local Quest Diagnostics site, and they will run comprehensive biomarker analyses that essentially empower you to manage your own health and be aware of any risks that may be unique to your personalized bio profile. An ounce of prevention, if you will. Anyway, I don’t work for them or anything but it was one of the most innovative things I’d seen in healthcare in a while, and I immediately thought of you. Hopefully you find it interesting also.

    Anyway, glad to know you are alive and well, was worried there for a bit. I’ll stay posted for the upcoming changes to the site. Cheers.

  244. Keep up the good work bro! Don’t let the complainers mess with your mind… The consumer mindset lends itself to discontentment and robs people of the ability to empathize with others (hence people making judgments on your decision without really considering what you explained). People resist change, even when it is for the best…but after they see the fruits of wisdom, they will forget that they even resisted in the first place! One thing I appreciate about you is that you have stayed focused through the years…keep up the good work, your decision will certainly lead to a greater growing circle of influence, and greater impact on readers!

  245. Hi Jason

    Your blog is one of my favourites because of it contains a good balance of honest opinion, analysis and relatable personal information. As an average guy trying to steadily build a finanically free future, I’m definitely a fan, so thank you for putting your passion into action.

    Like some others I do have concerns whenever there are changes that look and smell like corp
    oratisation, even when they are deemed necessary. I’m excited to see the changes take place though. If it helps you to communicate more efficiently while maintaining the personal honesty and accessibility of your original blog, then kudos to you! I hope to be here to witness that happen. 🙂

    Tim from Singapore

  246. That’s a great point. While lots of us said “congrats,” and a number of us said something less nice, I’m not sure very many of us at all said “thank you.” Even if he did (or will) make some significant money off it, I don’t think that’s why Jason started the blog. And, more to the point, that doesn’t detract from the value that all of us got, without paying a dime. Do Google’s billions of profit make the service they give us for free any less awesome? DM is not Google, but it’s still fun/informative/well-written/thought-provoking. Jason’s certainly done more for me than I have for him.

    So, thanks, Jason.

  247. That’s true you’re right im sorry about that. Sorry if my message provoked you a bit.
    Well I’m happy that you are continuing on with your passion as I’m one of those that visits your website EVERY single day.

    You have inspired me since the beginning and I will be continuing on reading your articles.
    Those that cry about the missing income/expenses should really already have an idea because theres well worth of 5 years of information, should be enough.

    I’m just lucky enough that I found your website.

    Thats how it all started by having the helping hand on the right direction for being a Dividend Growth Investor.
    Being in my 20’s and thus having alot of time on my side is the best I can truly have.

    Keep it up matey

  248. I agree. I just wrote a couple articles titled “Dividend Aristocrats You Never Heard Of” highlighting such names as SHW, LEG, PPG, GWW, BCR, BMS and more. There are so many high quality dividend payers out there that we tend to focus on the KO, JNJ, PG’s too often and miss out on other high quality long term dividend payers.

  249. Hi JayP

    It is still on Jasons name on the whois.
    Its not sold he just got a partner that does the boring/time consuming stuff for him,so he can continue with what he likes and that is inspiring entertaining people by writing great content.

    Also by working towards Financial Independence means that u only want to do what u LIKE and ofcourse receive the dozens of paychecks also known as dividends from many quality company’s.

  250. Just like Jason said many times…people just zoom out to the comments section and write without properly reading on what Jason means… he got a partner to help him out with the boring/time consuming stuff so he can get us the great content by writing. As that is what he really enjoys the most.

  251. Hi Jason,

    So far every negative comment has focused on the fact that you’re not going to post your budgets anymore. But it’s not about that. Let me try and put your critics into perspective.

    In the last 5 years you have done an amazing thing. You have published every penny of your income and expenses. Who else does that? Nobody is that open with their finances, and yet you did it. Every month we got a detailed income, expense and savings report from you, accurate to the cent, and you showed us that even on a small income it’s possible to have an amazing savings rate and bootstrap a dividend stock portfolio.

    This openness has turned you into an FI superhero. There is nobody else who writes quite like you, shares every bit of income and expense, and is so enthusiastic about dividend investing. You inspired thousands of people to follow suit and start their own path towards financial independence. You are a spiritual leader of the FI movement.

    This recent change means you can no longer publish your budget. That’s a pity, but let’s be honest: it’s not the end of the world. But what really rubs many of your readers the wrong way is that you can’t talk about the deal. You cannot disclose your partners, you cannot disclose the deal, and you cannot talk about the upcoming changes to the blog.

    All of a sudden Jason Fieber the completely open FI superhero who shares everything with his fans has become guarded about his finances and keeps certain things a secret, just like everybody else. With this change you have removed a part of what made you so special, and I think it has damaged your brand. You have become more of an ordinary joe, and the ‘totally open and sharing everything’ FI superhero image took a big hit.

    What also doesn’t help is that you can’t give any details about the deal. Can the partners bring in their own writers? Can they monetize the site with more ads? Do you have veto power? By not being able to answer these questions you are unable to put people’s fears at ease. We’ve seen many FI sites go to hell after external partners were brought in, and all you can say right now is “trust me, that won’t happen”. That’s not reassuring.

    In the end though, you own the blog and you have to do what makes you happy. I support your intention to reduce your workload and spend more time doing the things you enjoy. I just wanted to point out that your critics are not crybabies who enjoy nitpicking over your monthly budget, but passionate investors who really admired a 100% open and sharing guy who has just gone through a huge change, and I think they miss the old Jason.

    Cheers, and keep up the good work.

    Mark

  252. Jason
    I replied earlier but forgot to ask

    Do we still get to keep the little cartoon face picture next to our name?
    I have grown fond of mine..kind of looks like me a bit..

  253. Jason,

    Congrats!

    I have followed your Journey from the beginning with keen interest. You have been extremely open and shared a lot with us. I understand that sometimes one needs to adjust, especially since your FI dream does not incorporate being a full time website operator. Actually I have been wondering the incalculable number hours you have put in this website.

    I have read with horror some of the comments criticising your decision where you provide this site free of charge to us and we give you very little in return. You are the captain of this ship and you alone decide where it sails. Our decision is whether we continue to follow or leave ashore.

    I understand the decision on leaving monthly budgets out, but sincerely hope that will continue giving info on dividend info and your purchases (and especially occasional divestments). Thinking this aloud, your personal budgets, however inspirational they are, should not be really important information to anyone else but to you. The key message from your budgets is here: “Save as much as you can”. I am sorry if I disappoint anyone, but there is no deeper message than that.

    The dividend info, however, is a living proof that FI can be achieved via DGI and info on your purchases is information from someone investing with his own money. I think that I am not only one reviewing your purchases and quite often following.

    Thank you for notifying that ship is going to alter its course a bit, but is still heading into FI. As you and I are heading to the same direction, I request a permission to stay aboard, Captain Jason!

    Teo

  254. Jason,

    I’m glad you don’t quit with the blog! Was a bit afraid of that 🙂

    You’re wright: people sometimes don’t realize what it is, to do X, Y or Z, just until they do or have to do it themselves: cooking, cleaning, working, writing, blogging,… It counts for everything.

    I read your posts and enjoy them, but I don’t respond a lot with comments.

    Now I found it necessary to let you know that this blog is your property and you want to best for us.
    So don’t feel guilty or whatsoever, I completely understand the change you made.
    A happy, healthy Jason is a advantage for Jason and for all his followers! 🙂

    Thanks for all Jason and hope you stay well.

    Jeroen from Belgium

  255. Jason,

    I feel so bad for you with the way you are being treated through these comments. The only difference you said is coming for us is that we won’t be able to see your monthly budget and I’m sure you’ll still be able to mention in a buy article that it was due to saving 55% of your income this month. I personally am excited for you and the changes to come. I wish I had someone that could do all the background webpage stuff and all I had to do was work on content that would be amazing, but I’m not there yet, maybe someday but not yet. And, in this case you become even more of an inspiration because that is where I wan to be. Don’t let what all the negative comments are saying get you down you are an amazing inspiration keep up the good work.

    Tyler

  256. He built the site from nothing and now was able to effectively sell it.Cant say that I am happy things will be different but it does help him follow his original idea of FIRE. Jason and his story inspired me do follow in his footsteps and I will keep going that way and be forever grateful.

  257. I agree with this post. Jason, you being cagey about this partnership is obviously going to ring alarm bells with the readers. If more details were given about the transaction people may feel more comfortable or on the other hand it may confirm their fears.

    I kind of feel like when I was a child and my mother would be vague or tell half truths in an effort to protect me from something she perceived would be traumatic. But you still know something is not quite right but you just don’t know what.

    This is of course an exaggeration, but you have to realize there are a lot of persons who love this site and it goes far beyond just being a blog that people find fun to read every few days. You are inspiring people, bringing about life altering changes in people’s attitudes and behaviour, by sharing your most personal details. There is a lot of emotion involved in that. The reaction people have been having about this change is testament to how wrapped up people are in you and your blog.

    You basically dismiss the negative comments by saying “it’s a free blog, you didn’t pay for it, I don’t owe you anything and if you don’t like it you don’t have to read it”. If that’s what you really feel then you have missed the whole point of what made this blog successful.

    If it were clearly stated that you have partnered with someone for the sole purpose of handling all of the administrative functions of the blog, while you maintain full control of the content, nobody would complain, I think. But what you have written doesn’t read like that to me. It reads more like a sale of “Dividend Mantra” , but lets try to make it look like it’s not a sale.

    I have seen in the past where websites enter into “partnerships” and eventually the original message and vibe of the site is diluted or completely eradicated. The “Simple Dollar” comes to mind. My fear is that we will see more and more content from guest writers, with these articles being less personal and not up to the quality or sophistication of what you write. I expect we will see more ads and advertorial as well.

    I will continue to read this blog and follow your progress and I wish you good luck on this endeavour.

    Regards,

    Marcus

  258. I have to agree with the above. By the time I got to the end of the post, and having to read between the lines, I get the feeling that he sold Dividend Mantra and Jason is essentially becoming a guest blogger on his own site. It is the transparency Jason has had that made this place so great, but the fact that he can’t disclose anything about the deal, leaves me a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s completely his business and he can do as he wishes. As he stated, he doesn’t owe us anything. But it has damaged what made this place so great in the first place.

  259. IP,

    Thanks for understanding. I think a lot of people here truly have no idea what kind of work is involved in managing a fairly large website. I have a lot of love for this site, the readership, and the message at hand. If I haven’t proven that with all that I’ve done thus far, then I don’t know what else I could have done. But it’s just really gotten to the point to where I’m becoming overwhelmed. If me no longer running it full time means some readers leave before even seeing what changes end up in play, so be it. Those are probably the readers I don’t want/need here anyway. I’m here to inspire and educate as much as I can, but I’m not going to cater to those that only want that inspiration/education on their terms. In the end, it’s my life and happiness that’s most important to me. And I have to stay true to that.

    Appreciate you staying on and continuing to read. Like I said, I’m still here. 🙂

    Cheers.

  260. Joe,

    Thanks you. It’s been an incredible and wild ride, and I’m so glad to still be on it. It’s a lot of fun. 🙂

    Freedom is closer every single day, and this move brought me even closer. I’ve tried my best to motivate people to aggressively chase after their own versions of freedom, and that’s exactly what I’m doing here. I would never knock anyone for doing what they have to do to get closer.

    Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  261. Joseph,

    Appreciate that very much. I’ve only wanted to inspire people, so knowing that I’ve done that in some small way for you is a huge win for me. 🙂

    Let’s keep moving forward!!

    Cheers.

  262. JayP,

    I’ve been as forthright as I can through all the years, and that didn’t change here. Moreover, just because I’m 100% forthright doesn’t mean everyone else that I’m in contact with is. Some people don’t want their information out there for hundreds of thousands of people to read, and I can respect that. If you can’t, so be it. But that’s not something I agree with.

    I find it so strange/funny that a lot of people are questioning why I’m not discussing the partner’s financial details, yet these same people would scoff at releasing their financial information for the world to see. I see that as slightly hypocritical. I think the fact that so many people are mentioning the fact that my budget reports differentiated me prove just how rare something like that is. It’s just not my place to discuss someone else’s finances if they’re not comfortable. Again, that’s up to you to accept… or not.

    Take care!

  263. Shankar,

    Appreciate that! I’m hoping the readership grows over time as well, and I hope that this move works out in regards to me having more time to focus on that which I enjoy the most. So far, so good!

    Thanks for the support. Plenty more to come!

    Best wishes.

  264. Jason,

    Thanks for sharing that. I hadn’t heard of it. Definitely interesting, though.

    I’m fortunate that I’m fairly young and healthy, but regular workouts certainly help. I think I might get a physical here pretty soon, maybe with some blood work and what not. But that service is definitely something I’ll keep in mind.

    Cheers!

  265. JaC,

    Thank you. Appreciate that. Takes a lot to really bother me, but it’s unfortunate that so many people are showing their true colors here. Such is life. I guess that’s bound to happen when you impact a fairly large audience. I remember some of the comments that popped up when I was featured in national media a couple years back. It was crazy. But that just motivated me even more. This will too. 🙂

    I know nothing but 100% focus. And that’s what will continue for me. I’m going to be writing like 20 articles per month for the time being, even with the reduced workload. That’s still a lot. And I think new projects will come up here and there as well. I’m just as excited as I’ve ever been!

    Hope you stay in touch.

    Best wishes.

  266. Timothy,

    I’ll do my best to do what you’re saying here. I can’t speak for the other writers that will be producing content, but I’m still going to write what I write and share what I share. It’s still me, so the content I produce won’t be any different. If anything, it’ll be better. I think there was a big improvement in quality once I quit my job last year, and I think quality can improve even more now that I have more time to focus on it. Whether or not that’s good enough for some people is up to them. But I don’t worry about that. I just worry about doing everything I can to be the best version of me I can be, and I hope that inspires others in the process. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  267. Mark,

    I agree with what you’re saying there. I also think it’s more than just the numbers, although I think that’s part of it. Some people have come right out and said, “I came here for the hard numbers.” So for those people, losing the ability to see what someone is making and spending is enough for them to move on. Although, I wish them luck in quenching that thirst because most people don’t share that information. At least, not to the level I did.

    But I have to be honest and state that I was never going to be able to share everything forever. Quite a few people have stopped by over the last year or so and basically stated that I don’t need so much dividend income because I can just continue to blog for the next 30 or 40 years. There seems to be this underlying assumption that I enjoy this stuff so much that I want to continue working for 50 or 60 hours per week (or more) on it on it until I’m dead. But that’s just honestly not the case. There was ALWAYS going to be a day when I was no longer writing so much or sharing my income/expenses. There was always going to be an eventual slowdown in my productivity. I tried to foreshadow that when I discussed living multiple lifetimes, but maybe some didn’t pick up on it. I was always looking forward to “the next thing”. At some point, I’m going to be too busy living the financially independent life to write as much as I do and share all that I do. I wish the same such success for all the readers here as well. So maybe this slowdown in activity and sharing things is coming four or five years early, but it was an inevitability.

    Now, me slowing down or not sharing certain things has nothing to do with me not sharing the details of the partnership, but, again, I’ve been as honest about that as I can. And my opinion on it is that I find it strange/funny that so many people question why someone out there wouldn’t want the world to know exactly who they are and what their financial details are. I’d like to know how many people on this very comment thread publish their income and expenses for the world to see? I bet very few. I’m certainly 100% comfortable with sharing that information. But few people are, which is understandable. As such, it should be no surprise (based on the odds) that the person I’m working with isn’t comfortable, either. Me continuing to share my financial details would no longer be me sharing just my financial details… It would be me sharing my and my partner’s financial details. That seems to be lost on people here.

    But I appreciate and understand your thoughts/concerns. It’s not in my interest to turn people off. I didn’t work so hard on this thing and write more than 700 articles and answer more than 20,000 comments (and countless emails) just to turn my back on people. I’m not doing that. I’m still here. I’ll still be writing… a lot. Most of everything that people came here to read will continue on. But for those that had this expectation for me to continue on forever, I can only say it’s not realistic. Maybe I’m guilty of raising the bar too high and partially motivating readers to have unreasonable expectations. But I’m human. And continuing on like things were was just not possible anymore. I could have just shut the whole thing down and continued on with freelance writing, but I wanted to keep this thing alive. I want to keep the message going and I want to keep this section of the community thriving. That’s really it.

    Thanks for sharing! Hope that helps.

    Cheers.

  268. Amegalo,

    I have no plans to change the way comments are displayed here, but we’ll visit that if there’s a way to more efficiently/effectively manage them. I’m open to suggestions/improvements, but I quite like the way it is now.

    Cheers!

  269. Teo,

    “Actually I have been wondering the incalculable number hours you have put in this website.”

    The answer is: A LOT. 🙂

    Permission to stay aboard granted!

    I’m definitely going to still be sharing dividend income, what’s going on with the portfolio, and anything else that I think will help/inspire/motivate. Most of that which provides value will continue on. I just won’t be able to write so much and do everything else any more due to the increasing strain it was putting on my schedule. I was starting to miss the days of just having a normal workday where I would shut down at 6:00 and go home – this website was starting to consume me for my entire day. I knew then that it was time to make a change.

    Hope you continue to enjoy the ride.

    Best regards.

  270. Jeroen,

    Thanks for dropping by from Belgium! 🙂

    Definitely didn’t quit on you guys. I never wanted it to come to that. I plan on being a member of the community for years to come, although perhaps just not as prevalent as I’ve been in the past. There’s a toll to pay with that kind of workload.

    Appreciate you understanding. A happy Jason is definitely an advantage for everyone. I knew for sure I wouldn’t be able to continue putting out great content at the pace things were going, so this is a big step toward getting back to a healthier schedule that’s more conducive to putting out great stuff.

    I’m still going to be writing quite a bit. So I hope you continue to enjoy that content!

    Best wishes.

  271. Good for you Jason. I figured something like this was coming since you were posting on Twitter, under a new handle, but not this site. At the end of the day we are all on a journey towards less time working and more doing doing what we enjoy. If this move gets you closer to that goal, then good on you. I’ll still support you. Best of luck sir.

  272. Tyler,

    Thanks, bud. It’s unfortunate. You give your heart and soul to something, and people get pissed off when you can’t give your kidneys as well. It’s that kind of attitude – you can’t ever slow down or ever give less, no matter what – that in part motivated me to get away from the car industry. It seems like it’s following me over here a little bit, which is a real shame.

    I’ve done all I can to help people. I can’t imagine there are very many other bloggers out there with 20,000+ comments racked up over this kind of time frame. I’ve tried to inspire and motivate, even while for many years this blog made very little money. So those who think I’m a sell out or do this solely for the money really need to go back to the income/expense reports from 2011 or 2012 or even 2013 to see that I made almost NOTHING for years while I wrote my heart out and tried to help people. It was just over the last year that this blog actually started to make decent income. And, honestly, there are blogs smaller than mine that make way more money. But I’ve never been someone who’s tried to extract every penny out of this. Content has always been my main focus. And now I’ll actually be able to focus completely on it.

    The real fact of the matter is that this thing was becoming overwhelming for me. And this was a solution. Was it the best solution? I think so. Was it the only solution? Definitely not. I could have shut the whole thing down. Or I could have gone on like Pete over at MMM (like one person recommended) and just wrote maybe two articles per month here while I continued to manage it all (which I hate). Would everyone be happy with that? Probably not. Would I be happier with that solution? Definitely not. But you’re never going to make everyone happy. You can’t be everything to all people all the time. As such, I can’t worry about that. I can’t worry about every opinion. I can only do what’s best for me. This blog, in the end, is about one man’s march to financial independence. And this move put me even closer to where I want to be. Those that don’t support this move maybe didn’t totally support the idea in the first place. I can only say that if another blogger out there that I support were to do the same thing, I’d be rooting them on. I love seeing someone move closer to their dreams. The last thing I’d think about doing is criticizing them because maybe their happiness doesn’t totally coincide with mine.

    You have to be true to yourself. 🙂

    Best regards.

  273. IH,

    Thank you. 🙂

    Your comment echos my thoughts exactly. If it were another blogger out there that I support doing the same thing, I’d be saying just what you said just now. All of what we do is designed to bring about more time in our lives, where we can then spend that additional time on our passions. And this move accomplishes that for me. 🙂

    But I’ll still be writing away for years to come. I now have more time to do just that, so I’m very excited. Meanwhile, there are some great ideas being floated around for the site.

    I live out my words. I’m not someone who says one thing but does another. If I were really someone who just wanted the money, the big house, and all the fancy toys, I’d try to grow this thing into a business empire. But it’s just not me. I’m cognizant of who I am and what I want out of life. And it’s definitely not money or status. I just want to be me.

    I wish for the same success for you. You occasionally see those forks in the road. And it’s then that you really figure out who you are. Your actions define you.

    Cheers!

  274. This is really too bad, because with this you ruin all that made this blog so great. Having your personal log of your journey replaced with yet another soon-to-be generic company run blog with staff writers is not what I personally will want to read. Wish you luck with the new arrangement, though.

  275. Geoff,

    I think my portfolio represents a lot of companies that are less known. I’ve covered Visa a couple times here on the blog, and am an investor there. I’ve also covered (and invested in) companies ranging from Praxair to Avista to Armanino Foods. That said, some investors like to stick to more well-known names. Those popular companies become popular by providing products and/or services that people and/or other businesses demand. So that ubiquity offers a lot to like. One doesn’t need to invest in obscure companies to do well.

    I also covered McCormick not too long ago here:

    http://dailytradealert.com/2015/08/15/caution-this-dividend-growth-stock-appears-13-overvalued-2/

    Cheers!

  276. He sold the site and has a contract to still post some articles, probably with a fixed income linked to it. I am out.

  277. PS: in the end, a partner that joins this site, has only one target: to make money and even more money. It will not be good for us (ex-)readers, that’s assured.

  278. Snoke:

    “in the end, a partner that joins this site, has only one target: to make money and even more money.”

    Now that sounds like investing in a Dividend Growth Stock. You Invest in a stock with a given yield at the time of your purchase and expect raises the years after, be it organic growth or an enhanced payout ratio.

    Jason investigates and analyses DGI stocks; why blame him when he wants his blog to sport the “same” business model?

    Snoke, you`re not out. You will come back just to see Jason fail.

    These are tough times for Jason. He has to convince people like you, Snoke, to read his articles.
    He has to convince himself that getting in a partner was a good move/choice.

    Expect superior articles/analyses on stocks from him.

    I do.

  279. Best of luck in your next adventure! It’s hard enough for me to manage the few comments I get on my small blog. I can’t imagine the time required to respond individually to each comment as you’ve been doing since the blogspot days. How you have time to to do stock research, write articles, and have a life outside that, I’ll never know.

    Ultimately, it must get pretty stressful even though you like doing it! Congratulations on deciding to take on someone else to help out. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got next up your sleeve.

    Scott

  280. I agree with you guys. Disappointed in this change. I probably won’t visit much anymore. Not that I blame Jason since this is his livelihood now. I also saw he’s writing for another big name website now and wonder if has something to do with it as well. Congrats Jason and I hope the next leg of your journey is a great one.

  281. Maybe I just read too many blogs… Your portfolio has quite a few names I don’t know much about, just seems like most sites are the same old companies. Maybe I just need a hobby that doesn’t involve a computer!

  282. Jason

    Disappointed but good luck. Interactions/Comments was a big part of your success. Will you still be posting your buys/analysis either here or Twitter? Also think this website would become subscription based soon. Hope that increases your income.

  283. Jason
    Ignore the haters. Haters gonna Hate. I have enjoyed the journey and I look forward to reading your posts. Besides here and DTR where else will I find your writing?

  284. Eric,

    Appreciate the kind words of support. Means the world to me! 🙂

    Best of luck with your daughter’s fund. That’s really neat. I’m sure that will make a world of difference for her when she’s older.

    I’ll keep striving for FI and I hope you continue striving for your (and your daughter’s) goals over there as well. Let’s keep moving forward. Onward and upward!

    Best regards.

  285. Chris,

    I think you’re rushing to judgement there since you haven’t even seen what the new changes will bring, but I understand if it doesn’t work for you. Either way, I wish you nothing but the best as you move closer to your goals. 🙂

    Cheers!

  286. Snoke,

    Since you’ve contributed exactly nothing to this community for as long as I’ve been running this site (that’s, well, since the beginning), I don’t think anything will really change in your absence. Best of luck, though!

    Take care.

  287. Scott,

    Yeah, it’s been nuts. A lot of fun, but still nuts. I sometimes don’t know how I have time for it all, either. It’s a big passion of mine, which is why I’ve been able to keep it all going by myself for this long. But Claudia has been telling me I’m crazy for months now. It was time to listen to her. I could probably continue on like this for a while longer yet, but I’d lose any semblance of the life/time I’m fighting so hard for. There’d be no point.

    Appreciate the support. I’m honestly pretty excited. This allows me to continue contributing to the community in a more normalized fashion that’s sustainable, and it simultaneously allows the blog to continue growing and reaching new people. That’s really a win-win for everyone, in my view.

    Keep up the great work over there. Freedom is out there waiting for us. The light at the end of the tunnel just keeps getting brighter. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  288. Harry,

    “Interactions/Comments was a big part of your success.”

    I agree. But if the 300+ comments I’ve kept up with here on this very post isn’t proof that that isn’t changing, I do’nt know what will be.

    Not sure about subscriptions. Haven’t really discussed that at all. We’ve mostly had discussions about content production, which I’m excited about. But I guess we’ll have to see how it all turns out. 🙂

    Cheers!

  289. Scott,

    Indeed. Takes a lot to rattle me, my friend. You just can’t pay attention to stuff like that. I’m too busy making my dreams come true to pay any mind to those that want to hold me back. 🙂

    As far as my writing goes, those are the main outlets right now. I’ve had so much fun writing for DTA and I hope they keep continue to keep me on. They’re great to work with and I’ve been doing my best at producing some really unique and helpful content. But between the two outlets, we’ll be looking at somewhere around 20 articles per month. So that’s quite a bit right there, even with the reduced pace. If I write for anywhere else, you guys will all hear about it. But that kind of writing schedule is pretty balanced for me.

    Thanks for the support!

    Best regards.

  290. Tawcan,

    Me, too! 🙂

    Let’s see how it turns out. Should be a lot of fun. I quite enjoy changing things up here and there. Keeps things fresh and fun.

    Have a great week over there.

    Cheers!

  291. I’m disappointed, this sounds too commercial and the very nature of the site has been lost. Investors don’t read the blog, but its author and as far as I understood this blog wil be plenty of authors I simply am not interested in reading. This is the same happened to the Dividend Monk: the brand is broken. Good luck anyway.

  292. Jason,

    Congratulations on the next step forwards – I don’t blame you in the slightest for getting someone else to manage the day to day! For me the most inspirational side was the dividend income and see it growing as you are a couple of years ahead of me on that so it provides me with continued motivation to keep plugging away! Its also impressive the emotion that has come out from your readers about how they feel, a sign of the lives you have touched over the years!

    I will wait and see how things change before I pass comment, but on the income / expenses side of things, to be honest, I wont be upset at that not being on. I am always impressed by people who manage to save >50% of their monthly income, but its not something I will ever be able to achieve (My mortgage / insurance / bills take up almost 40% of my income, and I am targeting saving 40% as well, but not yet quite got there), but I will definitely be looking forward to the divi updates.

    Congratulations, and heres to enjoying more of what YOU want to do 🙂

    London Rob

  293. You have been the one that has inspired me the most to make financial changes in my life and start a blog on my own.
    Now having a blog, I know how much time consuming administrative tasks are, especially when you have other responsibilities in life besides running a blog.

    As long as it gives you more time to write quality content for the blog, than your readers have nothing to worry about.

    I fully understand your move, and will definitely keep reading your future posts.

    Take care
    Dividend Freedom

  294. Hi Jason

    I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while now but never commented. I can’t remember how I got here in the first place but i’m pleased I did. Through your blog i’ve found other FI sites and have spent ages reading and learning. I work in foreign exchange so in the off peak periods I often sit at my PC and read sites like this. I just wanted to say thank you for all the great content and everything I have learnt either directly or indirectly from this site. Thank you!

    When I first read your post above my immediate reaction was one of annoyance but then I stopped myself to ask why and deep down I already knew the answer. Jealousy. You’ve come so far and i’m barely beginning but realising it was nothing but jealousy I was able to tell myself to stop being an idiot and cay congratulations. This is much deserved and if you have the chance to make your life better then you need to take it. That’s why we’re all here, to make life better for ourselves by obtaining freedom. I live in England and today i’m at work. If I had my freedom I would have stayed up late watching NFL, slept in, gone out for brunch and then had a nice walk along the beach. Any steps you take towards freedom need to be appluaded so again, congrats.

    Another lesson this teaches us is that however far away financial independance seems, if you work hard and focus on a goal to the extent that you have you never know what unexpected help you are going to get along the way to speed up the process. I don’t believe in The Secret and the law of attraction etc but sometimes it does make you wonder. In reality, I’m sure there’s nothing magical about it and it’s purely effort + focus = results.

    Again, thank you and congratulations. Whatever the deal is, you’ve earnt it.

    James

  295. Hey Jason,

    There are so many great DGI blogs out there, but not many created a 6 digit portfolio while earning just above $2000/mo at an average day job. This fact makes people able to relate to your situation and hopefully see potential for their own financial household. It’s pretty easy to create a $500/mo passive income stream if you earn enough to put $5000 into your freedom fund every single month, like some of the more fortunate bloggers are able to. However, this is not what the average visitor of your blog could do. Especially not the new ones.

    Long story short, without the budgeting area, I think it’s harder to convince and inspire new visitors.

    On the other hand, your current income is a lot bigger than when you started a few years ago. Not only because of the income from dividends, but also because of income from other sources, like the blog. As this is growing, less people will be able to relate anyways.

    Obviously I understand the decision, because it sounds like you’ve hit the jackpot. Less time to spend on administration while keeping growth in pace. You definitely earned this!

    Let’s wait and see for a while. I don’t want to be spammed with articles from people I don’t know and I don’t want more agressive advertisements. As long as you are able to manage that, while maintaining or increasing the quality of your own posts, you’ll keep yourself a happy reader.

    Best of luck to you!

  296. 326 Comments! Whoa. That’s a lot.

    Things either evolve or die. Very glad you’re evolving. Can’t wait to see what comes next.

  297. Congratulations on yourpayday. I’m very happy for you, just wish you would call it what it is, be as transparent about it as you have been about everything else, but I also understand the limitations of a contract. Best of luck.

  298. Jason,

    I can’t say that I’ve followed your blog closely but one in awhile I’ll stumble across it and mine it for insight. So I’d like to take this chance reciprocate.

    I’m sure the outpouring of emotion due to your personal desire to move forward must weigh heavy. However, you must take pride in the fact that you have so successfully impacted people for the greater over the last few years. A few minutes browsing the comments above should be proof enough of the passion that you have instilled in your readers which, I think can be summed up in a single intangible element – hope.

    Change is always a difficult transition. Just like making the difficult decisions which impact personal finance. It takes incredible amount of hard word, sacrifice and thick skin to maintain a blog. In the end what makes things so special is that they don’t last forever.

    Thanks for sharing your journey.

  299. Jason,

    At the end of the day, these changes are necessary because you’ve been successful. In my opinion, it’s not really fair for the folks that you’ve been helping and inspiring to begrudge you that. We’ve been cheering you on, and you’re making it … the goal is in reach. Why stop cheering when the game is close to being won.

    Not being able to see your monthly income and expenses is no big deal from my perspective. Your analysis, recent buys, dividend income, and everything else is far more valuable.

    Good on you! I’ll stop by just as often as I always have.

    Ignore the noise.

    Jake

  300. Congrats 🙂

    it’s all about pay yourself first to get slowly to financial independence 😉
    Just keep this site running with all those dividends articles I like to read.

    Good luck!

  301. Hey Jason
    I am from a developing country and I am not mostly intrested in ur ,recent buys or hard numbers 🙂 since I am from a different geography.

    Why I am saying all this I find all your articles extremely motivating and adding value.

    Happiness lies with in and I am happy that some us realised it and making it our journey rather than destination.

    Sorry for jumping on so many things 🙁

  302. p0ppi,

    I hear you, my friend. But it looks like Matt doesn’t really publish many articles over at Dividend Monk anymore. Conversely, I’m still here. So that’s a pretty big difference.

    Hope you stick around to see what’s coming!

    Take care.

  303. London Rob,

    Thanks for the support. Appreciate you waiting to see how the transition works out before passing judgement. That’s all I ask. 🙂

    I agree on the emotion. I’m so incredibly proud to be in this position to affect people in such a profound way. And it’s not something I take for granted or am willing to just throw away without care. It’s just that I have to balance that respect for others with respect for my own life and time. I’ve given as much as I can (and then some) over the years, which, I think, is what led to a lot of success here. When you pour your heart and soul into something, great things can (and will) happen. But that can really drain you over time. And I don’t want to give so much that nothing is left of me by the time I reach the promised land. I want to also enjoy the time/life that I’m fighting (and working) so hard for. It’s tough to hit that balance, but this is a move that’s designed to in part accomplish that more effectively.

    We’ll see how it goes. In the meanwhile, let’s continue saving, investing, and fighting for the life we really want.

    Best regards!

  304. DF,

    Thanks for understanding. It’s not easy for me to give up day-to-day control, but it was even more difficult for me to continue on with the way things were. There’s just only so much I can really do by myself, especially when I lack interest/knowledge when it comes to running a large-scale website. I had to admit shortcomings and limitations, which is tough to swallow.

    Glad you can see firsthand what goes on behind the scenes and how time consuming things can be. It really wasn’t that big of a deal for most of the time I was running this thing, but the blog (thankfully) continued to grow past my ability to handle it all. But I hope to continue writing great content for years to come. Haven’t lost my passion for that at all. 🙂

    Let’s keep it rolling, my friend!

    Best wishes.

  305. James,

    Thanks for your readership here. It’s very much appreciated.

    And thank you as well for your honesty there. Another reader touched on jealousy as well. It’s natural to feel that way to some extent. I know I felt a little overwhelmed myself when I first started down this path but would see others that were so much further ahead. However, I turned that envy (or whatever you want to call it) into pure motivation. It allowed my fire to burn brighter than ever. I think that’s what’s allowed this blog to become so special/popular in the first place. I’m this extremely motivated person, and I’ve used that propel my success. You then have other people that are maybe not as far along that are then motivated by my own progress, seeing what’s possible in real-time. But as long as we don’t allow those feeling to consume us while simultaneously allowing those emotions to motivate/inspire greater results, it’s all good. 🙂

    I can tell you that it doesn’t take all that long to get to that point to where you’re staying up late watching a game and doing what you want the following day. I stayed up late watching the Broncos-Lions game and then slept in today. I went from that being an absolute dream in a fairy land to complete reality in a little more than four years. Now, I worked incredibly hard, harder than most people can/will. But it just goes to show you what’s possible. While I may not continue to publish my income/expenses for aforementioned reasons, those results will always be out there. The proof of what’s possible in that time frame doesn’t go away.

    So keep it up. Hard work is just as valuable as it’s always been.

    Cheers!

  306. DFS,

    Yeah, I agree completely with what you’re saying there. The nice thing about the budgets, though, is that they’ll always be there. The income, expenses, investments, results, etc… It’ll remain published for the world to see forever. There was always going to be a point where my production slowed, where I could no longer share everything because I was busy, well, living the life I worked so hard to attain. But the great thing is that even beginners can go back through the archives and see what’s possible. Maybe my results would have started to become difficult to relate to anyhow. I can’t say. It’s all relative. But I can say that the accomplishments that happened don’t disappear. What I did can’t be undone. So I’m really proud of that. And I think new readers will (hopefully) continue to find value in all of that.

    This is a transition I didn’t necessarily want. It was my intention to continue the pace up until FI before slowing down dramatically. But it just wasn’t to be, unfortunately. Nonetheless, it created this opportunity for growth/change beyond my own capabilities, which is exciting. We’ll see how it all turns out, but I embrace change. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. Those that fear change fear progress.

    Hope you enjoy the changes. Either way, I’ll still be here publishing great stuff as often as I can. 🙂

    Continued luck as you march toward freedom!

    Best wishes.

  307. If I understand correctly, the freedom fund will still be updated. But won’t you have to add any lump sum you received from your new partner in order to reflect the new value of your net worth? Or will you have to leave that info out for the sake of privacy?

    Forgive me if you already answered that question and I someone missed the information.

    Best,

  308. SR,

    Without change, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the freedom we’re all working so hard for. It was change that this blog (and the journey behind it) was formed on. It’s the genesis. 🙂

    Thanks for the support!

    Cheers.

  309. Clint,

    Sorry I can’t be more transparent on this one. I’ve done my best to be forthright and I’ll continue that for as long as I write. Unfortunately, the other party involved has stressed privacy. I have to honor that. I can only say that not much has really changed for me. I’m still saving and investing just like I have been. This move didn’t really change my trajectory like some readers seem to think. That’s the honest truth.

    Nonetheless, I’ll continue to keep the rest of the journey open to the world. I’m still here, and will remain here for a long time to come.

    Cheers!

  310. Mr. White,

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

    I agree. The outpouring of emotion (be it supportive or critical) does just go to show that I’ve been able to impact people in a rather profound way. That means a lot to me. I take incredible pride in my content and ability to inspire people. It’s not something that I’m throwing away, however. It’s just something that has proven to be so successful that it has (as of late) overwhelmed me. I guess I’m a victim of my own success in some strange way. It’s unfortunate that I’ve had to step back a little bit here, but I have to stay true to myself and my own happiness. While inspiring others has turned out to be a huge source of happiness for me, it can also consume me thanks to my nature of giving my all to something.

    The change is tough. It was honestly necessary, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I take comfort in knowing that much of what people found value in will continue on. I’ll continue to write and share, which I hope continues to inspire and motivate people. We’ll see how it turns out, though. 🙂

    Appreciate you stopping by to drop a comment. Hope you continue to stay in touch. Either way, let’s continue to do what’s necessary to find that happiness, balance, and freedom we crave.

    Best regards.

  311. Remco,

    You’ve got it. More articles focused on dividends, dividend growth stocks, and everything else will keep on coming. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  312. I think you made good choice as long as the DNA of the site will not change, hope to read content which will be more diversified. all the best and i’ll keep coming back that for sure

  313. If you post your next post, everyone that is negative now will forget about this. Watch. Remind everyone why they’re here.

    And congrats. Hope it was as lucrative a deal as it should be.

  314. Jason,
    I knew something like that was going on… that or you were really sick… I’m sure you’ll make your blog become even better and since you proved many times that you were true and passionate I’m sure that you have been carefully selecting who’s going to manage, who’s going to write and what kind of content (and content quality) we’ll get to read. This blog is your baby, one of the biggest success of your life I guess so I’m sure you won’t disappoint us readers.

    Can’t wait to see this blog evolve into something even bigger.

    Cheers and good luck with you new plan!

  315. I swear some of the complainers think they are watching some reality show, and think they have the right to know every detail of your life. It’s a blog, and a free one at that, and if they don’t like the changes to your blog, they should leave or start one of their own. I always enjoyed the thought process you discuss in buying each stock and developing your portfolio, but had very little interest in the extreme frugality part, so I focus on the part I enjoy. Who am I to tell you to ditch the Ramon noodles and have a nice steak? It is the same as some of these people telling you what to include or exclude in your site because they just have to know every detail. Got a kick out of a few complainers who said they are gone, but came back to read your response and then they comment again…lol. I thought they were gone. Anyway, good for you, you keep writing and I’ll keep reading, greatfully.

  316. If I understand correctly, the freedom fund will still be updated. But won’t you have to add any lump sum you received from your new partner in order to reflect the new value of your net worth? Or will you have to leave that info out for the sake of privacy?

    Forgive me if you already answered that question and I somehow missed the information.

    Best,

  317. Well DM,

    Now that we’ve got this ruckus out of the way, what are you waiting on, we want one of those high quality top of the line billybadass Dividend Mantra articles already! Enough of the horsin around, you’ve got people to inspire!!!

    Avid reader

  318. Congrats on taking another step. What many forget is you started this blog for yourself. Not for anyone else. People chose to follow you. You did not make them. So they can be big kids and move along to something else because in the end this blog was about you and still is. When your hobby becomes your job it’s no longer fun.

  319. segev,

    We’re not planning on radically changing the DNA; just augmenting it.

    Hope you continue to stop by. I’m proud of what I’ve built and I think I’ll continue to be proud of what we do here.

    Cheers!

  320. blahblah903,

    We’ll see about that. I’m not really out to prove anyone wrong or anything. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to prove is that financial independence is possible for a regular Joe like myself. Started late, no college education, and a regular job. But passion, drive, and determination can take you really far. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. We’ll see how it all turns out. I’m still chasing the dream just as aggressively as ever. Hope you are as well!

    Best regards.

  321. Allan,

    I’m thankful I wasn’t sick. Well, actually, I WAS pretty sick there with the flu for about three or four days after this article was published, although I still kept on writing through it all (just not here because I was getting this partnership all set up). But, yeah, I’m all better now. 🙂

    I still have a lot of passion. And this thing really is my baby. I’m not keen on the idea of giving up management, but I also wasn’t real keen on letting this thing consume my entire life, which is what was kind of happening there over the last couple months or so. I guess I’m just the type of person that is overwhelmed with my own passion. I have this intense desire that drives me. But it can also overwhelm me, so I’m fortunate that there is this piece of me that tries to keep that in check. I’m all for having passions and doing things that bring about profound meaning and value to your life, but I think it’s also important to not let it consume all of you. You have to have balance in your life so that you really know what you’ve got.

    But I really am excited for the new changes. I’m still going to be putting out content fairly regularly, and I think the additions will add even more value to what we already have here.

    Appreciate the support. I hope all is well over there for you!

    Cheers.

  322. Brian,

    Ha! A reality show. Wouldn’t that be something? My life is far too boring for that. People want drama, right? My life is pretty drama-free, thankfully. 🙂

    Yeah, it’s unfortunate that some people have nothing better to do than to criticize. I have way too much great stuff going on in my life to let those people bring me down, though. Maybe not everyone will enjoy the changes to come. I don’t know. But I think judging something before you really know what you’re judging is a mistake. Patience serves us well as investors, and I think it’s a good attribute for all aspects of life.

    Appreciate the support very much. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing!

    Best wishes.

  323. HD,

    Nothing has really changed for me. I’m still saving my active cash flow and turning that into passive cash flow as I go. My near-term cash flow is a bit heavier than normal, but my overall trajectory and long-term income hasn’t really changed much. This partnership wasn’t really a big change to my finances, all in all. It was simply designed to provide my life more balance. Spending all of my waking hours writing/blogging isn’t really healthy, in my view.

    But as I collect income, I’ll continue to save and invest as much as possible. And you’ll see that show up in the FF updates. This month’s FF update will be particularly exciting due to what’s been a really busy month. Again, my near-term cash flow was heavy this month. But things are going to be pretty much back to normal from here on out.

    Cheers!

  324. Jay,

    Appreciate the avid readership and enthusiasm very much. 🙂

    I’ll be back at it shortly. The next post from me should be the FF update, which will come out before the end of the week. Keep an eye out!

    Best wishes.

  325. Jason,

    You’re absolutely right there. I never intended on the blog being big at all. It was conceived as more of a journal than anything else. I never even really tried to market myself or anything, either. I just got lucky with some mainstream media coverage and people started to really enjoy my content. One thing led to another, and here we are. But I did find a real passion for inspiring/motivating others in the process, and I was fortunate enough to gain a readership from all over the world. I’m very, very happy and so incredibly fortunate to be in this position.

    But, yes, it has become a rather time-consuming venture lately. For the longest time, it was no big deal. But it has become something where I was basically spending all day on it, which isn’t really healthy. If some don’t like the fact that I want a balanced life, then I guess they don’t really support Jason as a person. Not real upset to see readers like that go.

    Appreciate the support. I truly hope you enjoy the new chapter. 🙂

    Cheers.

  326. I worked at steak ‘n shake for two weeks–it was the longest summer of my life 😉

    I am convinced that once you spend any time working in the food service industry, you will always leave a tip even if the service is terrible. And even when it is terrible, you won’t complain about it that much if at all.

    Point being: Ain’t it funny how experiencing something changes your perception of certain actions? I think there is a reason why people who run their own blogs are much more receptive to Jason’s decision than people only on the consumer side.

    When you produce content for a website you operate, there is a lot of no-gain tedium that takes up your time. About two days per month, you will have to spend 3-4 hours teaching yourself how to put out some online fire just so you can maintain the status quo. And about three times per year, you’ll have something that takes up your entire day for 1-3 days straight. That’s before you even do things designed to improve the status quo.

    The expectation that budgets will be revealed everything forever is unreasonable, even though Jason has been providing it every month. It seems like the kind of thing you do in your 20s and maybe 30s, but once the true anchors of adulthood start to really forge themselves, the “It’s my private business” impulse eventually takes over.

    There is a reason 99% of the readers here do not post their own personal budgets. Now Jason may do the same. Although it is my understanding it is not Jason’s idea, I don’t blame him for eventually finding it attractive. Imagine if Jason has an 18 year-old son in 2040? Do you think that kid would want to have his friends looking up daddy’s income each month? No way.

    Although the dividend income will continue to be posted, there will also come a time when that no longer will be included. And that’s okay. You get to see it work month by month in Jason’s life while it lasts, and if you act upon this website at all, you will see it happen in your own life as well. The internet isn’t just open to benevolent supporters–it is open to people that seek to cause you harm as well. Eventually, Jason’s candor will diminish due to this. It’s the natural cycle of things.

    The concern regarding Get Rich Slowly is fair. The quality of that site is a shell of its former self, and I understand why “guest writers” sends a shiver down everyone’s spine. I think “The Simple Dollar” went through something similar. But guest writers does not have to imply mediocrity. If memory serves correctly, Robert Brokamp was a guest writer at Get Rich Slowly that turned out to be pretty popular by delivering value-added investment content.

    So keep that in mind–when you hear “guest writer”, you are having a Pavlov Dog moment based on the mild-mannered wishy washy creatures that followed J.D. Roth. That was out of Jason’s control, and there is no prophecy predicting that his guest writers will do the same.

    Imagine if Jason and his new partner seek 4 updates per week. One could come from Jason, and then it only requires finding three high-quality writers. That is a doable task, and if the new writers are chosen carefully and correctly, the website could grow to unprecedented heights as the combination of quality and better SEO create a force to be reckoned with.

    The problem with creating financial content is that you can never truly get ahead. As soon as something is published, it is in the abyss of the internet and you have to come up with something new. If you try to write something in advance, financial conditions can change and your material can be outdated before it is even published. If you have high standards for yourself and take your commitment to readers seriously, the work-life balance can be nerve-wracking. It also takes up a decent amount of emotional energy to compose good financial content that is original and fact-based.

    It is understandable that readers don’t see Jason’s announcement as good news, but I also don’t think you can blame Jason for taking action to limit the downsides associated with blogging. Angry critical commenters, website attacks, outdated plugins, a busy life, and yes, even writer’s block are part of the experience. There is nothing worse than being a writer in zombie mode–typing words without giving a hoot what you are exactly saying–and I personally applaud Jason for removing the insidious components of web management from his life.

    Jason, best of luck going forward. You have built an outstanding community of emotionally invested readers, as the response to your latest changes clearly demonstrates.

    -Tim

  327. Great job Jason!

    Growing and going through changes is part of life, it is what it is. And if someone has a business, who wouldn’t want that business to grow and expand? Yet, for some reason change is hard to take, I suppose for the most part we’re creatures of habit and like things being familiar. I’m sure in time a lot of your readers will come around and appreciate what you’re doing as the GP/Owner of Dividend Mantra.

    You’ve done something special, Jason, you created a brand, a solid great brand. Looking forward to your articles.

    Congratulations!

    Raymond.

  328. Jason,

    Congratulations on making the best move for you. I understand why so many folks are communicating disappointment, but I will give the change a chance before immediately concluding that you are a sell out and lost cause.

    I do have one (somewhat random) question though–will you report on one last income/expenses for this last month?

    Best wishes.

  329. I started dividend investing and the slow path to FI at about the same time you started the blog. So while you weren’t my inspiration, you were a fellow traveler with me. I was sad when you put the blog on hiatus some years ago, and I’m sad now that you’re selling out/partnering/whatever.

    The thing that set your blog apart from all the others was that it was both a truly personal journey and full of useful investing advice. Not a combination that you see very often. I can’t imagine how this combination will survive the changes.

    I’m disappointed that the budgets and income will be going away. Not because I care how much money you spent on pizza last month, but because it kept you honest. Far too many FIRE blogs are built on selling a lifestyle while being completely opaque about their true cost of living. The earlier they claim to have retired, the more sparse and disingenuous their numbers.

    Another thing that I liked about your blog was that you came across as a person rather than a caricature. I know people like MMM, but I don’t see the appeal of being yelled at by a pompous internet stranger because I own a dog, drive a car, or in any other way live a lifestyle different than his. I liked hearing about your life. It was real. You struggled and had victories and defeats. And you weren’t a condescending douche.

    I don’t see any good coming out of multiple authors. GRS is a great example of an easy to read and personal blog that has degraded into a pile of long winded generic garbage posts. In just the last week, we have something about budgeting, the 800th post about Roth IRAs, best cities for millennials, and a 7 (I counted) sentence post on social investing. Information content – zero, clickbaity goodness – high. But it generates ad revenue, so I guess it’s working out for the owners.

    I know why you did what you did. I tried blogging twice before. In both cases, I never made it past a few months. It was just too hard trying to deal with all the backend stuff, hold a full time job, have personal time, and then squeeze in some extra time to write content that was something other than tripe. Given the success of your blog, I can easily understand how much time you were devoting to administration, and I can appreciate the frustration you must have been experiencing.

    All blogs have a lifespan. I fear that yours may be at the end of its. A victim of your own success. But maybe you’ll prove me wrong and the new shape of the blog will be something worth visiting.

  330. Hi Jason, hope you are doing good. With the new writers coming in, would it be possible to add articles on MLPs and REITs. Looks like you are not a very big fan of MLPs.
    I was also particularly interested in Monsanto company (MON). If you could write something about these companies, it would be great.
    I read your articles regularly. Easy to visualize and understand. I’m not very much into your expenses and savings anyways… As many people already mentioned, this is your blog. You have always been putting new stuff and we like to read your easy to understand language. Good luck with everything. Regards.

  331. I value your decision very highly and find it very consistent with what you are trying to achieve. Since this is a finance blog in the end, monetizing assets should be the most natural thing for both the authors and readers. Hence, I believe from an investor point of view this is the only reasonable decision, bringing you closer and faster towards your goal.

    Also I am not much of a fan of criticizing before I haven´t seen the actual outcome. I could imagine that indeed the quality of your article might be benefitting with more time at your disposal. From writing my own blog I know how time consuming it is to bring out quality content!

    Congrats to your decision and keep up the awesome work Jason!

    Best

    Investing0711

  332. Hey Jason,
    I’m glad you’re back again, 2 weeks of waiting for a post really made me think something happened to you 🙂
    Good luck in future, I personally started reading here about 3 months ago and can tell from experience, going through and studying 5 years of your incomes+expenses already IS a lot of knowledge to see where I personally can safe money.
    Hope your new site works out well for you+us readers, I’ll keep on reading 🙂

    Thomas

  333. Jason,

    I’ve enjoyed many of your articles since I found your blog this year. I look forward to reading more in the future. I’m happy things are working out for you. People can be pretty mean on the internet. Hopefully, you don’t take things personally.

    Cheers,

    Mike

  334. I’ve often found that change isn’t usually good when it comes to this but I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this can be an exception and I’m glad that you’ve made the decision on how to proceed, nothing worse than not having a decision made.

    Good Luck!

  335. The only comparison I have to this is Get Rich Slowly and JD Roth and for a number of reasons I moved away from reading. I think what’s most important is it’s best for you and what you want. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if I can help in any way.

  336. Sounds like you became sort of a victim of your own success, or more accurately, a slave to your own success. But striving towards FI like you are, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to end up being “chained” to the mechanical aspects of running this blog morning, noon, and night in the process.

    So you took the steps you needed to take, and now move on. I personally think the blog will still be an excellent and inspiring read regardless. And it just may end up being BETTER than before. In any case, you’re not going to get rid of me that easy 🙂 Good luck with it going forward!

  337. Hey DM,

    I’ve been following your blog since 2011 and have been supporting you since the beginning. I’ll continue to support you to the end.

    To be honest, I prefer your monthly dividend income updates over your monthly budget updates. You’ve been delivering quality contents for years and have been successful as a result. Hoping you’ll continue pumping out good quality articles.

    Most importantly, I hope that the new changes you’ve undertaken in your partnership initiative allow you to have more quality time with your wife and more time for yourself. I would love to eventually read a couple articles about new passions you’ve discovered while taking time off (i’m simply inventing things but for example: article on running half marathon, article on trip overseas, etc.)

    Your initial goal was to retire by 40, does this new change imply a possible revision to that goal? is retiring before 40 more likely as a result of this partnership?

    $25,000 dividends,

  338. Congrats on your success and arrangement. Knowing you, this partnership had to be beneficial to both you and the readers or you wouldn’t have done it. Change is always hard, but I’d rather have quality DM content than have you stretched too thin producing poor quality articles. It’s always best to take a step back and bring in help before you compromise the quality of the content. This isn’t what any of us necessarily wanted, but it is a natural step in the evolution and growth of a business. I wish you the best in this new chapter! Looking forward to reading about the 100 million recent buys you’ve tweeted about lately ;).

  339. I think most of us completely understand why you made this change. We have seen your income from the blog and writing was going parabolic and I am sure the work involved in it was too. To me the trick for your future will be to keep the emotional connection we all have to you and your journey – while the reality is you now are making much more income than most of us from your work writing and this blog which you have now outsourced. No doubt the workload from the blog was not consistent with your philosophy, and the blog grew to be a huge money maker without your really setting out to make it that. But my bet is you do lose some of the little guys who got you here and probably will grow with a more mainstream and higher end audience. Good Luck!

  340. Utdelningsseglaren,

    Thanks so much. I’m excited to see how things go here. 🙂

    Wishing you all the best over there in Sweden. Appreciate you following along.

    Cheers!

  341. Paul,

    Thanks for seeing how it all goes down before passing judgement. I’m personally excited to see how things go, but I’m personally biased. I knew deep down inside that some kind of change was inevitable. From my perspective, this is the best way to keep things going.

    I was planning on publishing August’s income/expenses, but I just don’t think I’m going to be able to do so now. Not enough room for it. I’ve got the FF update coming up here pretty soon, and I fell a bit behind with some things that were going on in the background here.

    But I can tell you that net income for August was $7,517 (including the $600 for profit from the Corolla that I was amortizing). Expenses came in at $2,547. I spent $779 on four fillings, which totally killed expenses last month. Core spending was under $1,800, though, which is pretty solid. So my savings rate last month was 66.1%. I was definitely on pace to kill the 50% savings rate goal this year, and still will. And I’ll continue to save at that level for the next five or so years, hopefully. 🙂

    Best regards!

  342. Vga,

    Thanks for stopping by to share that. I’m glad to know that I’m not a condescending douche. It’s definitely something I’ve aimed to avoid. 🙂

    I can tell you that while the income/expense reports will go away, my honesty won’t. I’m still me. In all honesty, I was afraid of losing a piece of me to this desire to keep up with everything by myself and keep pushing the boundaries of great content and interaction. It was all really out a desire to help/inspire/motivate people rather than some kind of egotistical thing, but even that burning desire to stay committed to you guys has its limits. It’s unfortunate. And maybe I am a victim of my own success. Not sure. I do hope, however, that what we do moving forward augments everything I’ve built. I didn’t write more than 700 articles and respond to more than 20,000 comments because I wanted to destroy it all.

    All blogs (in the form one might expect or become accustomed to, anyway) have a lifespan. Of course, everything has a lifespan, though. Your favorite TV show will eventually end. Your favorite band will eventually stop producing good music, or music at all. Your favorite writer will eventually start to slow production or try out new things you might not like. So on and so forth. It’s evolution, change, and progress. Some of it for the better, some not. And some people enjoy that change, while some don’t. But I do know that change is inevitable. I can say that my plan all along was to eventually stop writing altogether once I hit financial independence, or, at the very least, slow down dramatically so that I could go on and enjoy what I worked so hard for. I love writing. No doubt about it. But I’ve always wanted to/planned to live multiple lifetimes, cultivating different interests. So this change is coming about a few years early, but it was always going to come in some form or another. I really wanted to write like I do now and do everything I was doing right through FI before making the change, so as to showcase the entirety of the journey from Point A to Point Z. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen in quite the way I planned. I’ll still be around to discuss the journey and produce content, but just not as much content as I thought I’d be able to. I guess my ambition exceeds my abilities, especially with the success the blog experienced. Such is life. I had to accept that.

    Appreciate the thoughts and concerns, though. I share them. We’ll see how it goes. I think if anyone can manage the change well, it’s me. But only time will tell. Either way, I do know that my ability to produce great content will continue, because there was no way I could continue to write good stuff at the rate things were going. So I’m excited about that, even if the pace is reduced.

    Hope you stay in touch!

    Best wishes.

  343. SY,

    Yeah, those are good suggestions. We’ll see what we can do.

    Although, I’ve written about MLPs and REITs fairly extensively. I’ve just decided to invest in the general partners insofar as MLPs are concerned due to favorable taxation and better growth/return prospects. So to say that I’m not a fan of MLPs would be false since one of my largest positions (Kinder Morgan) operated under the MLP structure until recently.

    Appreciate the support. I’ll continue to put out content for as long as I can, or for as long as that desire burns bright. I’d never write just to write, so everything I continue to put out there comes from the heart. 🙂

    Cheers!

  344. Thomas,

    Hey, sorry about the lapse in content there. I didn’t want to publish anything or put any news out until I knew for sure what was going on. Once things were cemented, I knew I could update you guys (and did so as soon as I could).

    Thanks for the kind words there. Glad you’re finding a lot of value in the content that’s already out there. Five years of budgets is certainly more than enough to show what’s possible with a certain savings rate. Those results don’t go away just because I’m not publishing the reports anymore. What happened still happened. 🙂

    If you keep on reading, I’ll keep on writing. 🙂

    Cheers!

  345. Mike,

    Yeah, I have pretty thick skin. Takes a lot to really rattle me. I suppose you have to have thick skin to last when it comes to publishing content online. It’s just too easy for anonymous people to post nasty stuff.

    Appreciate the support, though. Hope you enjoy the ongoing content. I’ll still be writing about 20 or so articles per month (both here and Daily Trade Alert), so I’m not going anywhere. 🙂

    Continued luck as you march toward freedom!

    Best regards.

  346. gottodo1,

    Unfortunately, some change was necessary. One alternative I was considering was just kind of shutting things down because the administration was becoming too much. But this allows me to continue focusing on the aspects I really love, so I’m excited about that.

    We’ll see how it goes. Hope you stick around!

    Take care.

  347. Steven,

    I’m not intimately familiar with Roth, GRS, or his decision behind all of that. I understand he was burned out on it, which is something I can really empathize with. His blog was (and still is) way bigger than mine, so I can only imagine what it took to run something like that. In the end, you have to stay true to yourself. I can say that it looks like that move freed Roth up to take on some really cool projects over the years, so that’s pretty exciting from my standpoint. I really didn’t have a choice on this one, so I don’t have any regrets. But time will tell how everything turns out. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  348. Tom,

    Indeed. Not being a slave to something (be it a job or anything else) is what I’ve long preached, and it’s what a lot of the journey is all about. It’s about being free, flexible, and in complete control of how you spend your time. But being free while simultaneously being chained to something can’t happen. And I felt like this blog might be no longer something I escaped to, but rather something I might one day want to escape from due to the increasing workload. I never wanted it to get to that. I never wanted to have any regrets or bad feelings about it all. And I can honestly say that it never got to that point.

    Thanks for not rushing to judgement and sticking around. We’ve been floating around some really good ideas, and I’m excited about it all. Either way, I plan on being a part of this community for many years to come. Not going anywhere. 🙂

    Let’s keep it rolling!

    Cheers.

  349. $25,000,

    Appreciate the ongoing support. It’s been a wild ride for us both. Congrats on all of your success over there. It’s so fun to see someone achieving their dreams in real-time like that. You’ve made a lot of progress, that’s for sure.

    Yeah, that’s a great suggestion. I suspect that this change will not only allow me to focus on content (which, by virtue, should improve quality, or, at least, keep quality from deteriorating), but should also allow for my interests to expand/grow. So that might bring about new passions that I don’t even have yet, which is exciting. And that then should then circle back around and allow for great content. I think it’ll all work out in the end. But, yeah, if something profound (worthy of an article) develops there, I’ll be glad to share it. Who knows what’s going to happen, but being free/open to things means the possibilities are that much greater. 🙂

    My original goal was 40, and it still is. Looking at where I’m at now, I think I’m on pace for maybe 39. That’s before factoring in these changes. My near-term cash flow has been really strong (as evidenced by the recent income/expense reports) and made even stronger by this move, but my long-term cash flow is now going to take a pretty big hit (this help certainly isn’t free). All in all, I think I’m still roughly on pace for 40, but it’s hard to say now because I’m not totally sure how all of these changes are going to work out over the long haul. But knowing me and what I’m capable of, I can’t imagine I’m too far off course. The trajectory looks mostly the same, but my free time is now going to increase dramatically. And it’s that time that I’m after, in the end.

    Keep up the great work over there!

    Best regards.

  350. Conrad,

    Absolutely. This was the best decision I could come up with that I felt benefited everyone involved. If I thought it would ruin the site, I wouldn’t have done it. I didn’t spend almost five years of my life on this just to ruin it.

    As much as I wanted to continue on with the way things were (and as much as you guys wanted that, too), I just couldn’t. So of all the options I had in play, this was the best. Will it be as good as the way the blog was? For some readers, it won’t be. They’ll just want the old site, period. Nothing I can really do about that. But this is the best option I had, and I’m pretty excited. It gives me a chance to continue focusing on content, which is something that was going to eventually not be possible with everything else on my plate. So for those that still enjoy my stuff, this is the best possible way for me to continue delivering.

    Appreciate the ongoing support. Really hope you enjoy the changes. And I’ll be going over the FF update very soon. That’s going to be a lot of fun!

    Hope you’re having a lot of fun over there as well. Keep fighting. Keep moving forward. 🙂

    Best regards.

  351. Mark,

    You’re absolutely right. I wish the income scaled up without the corresponding workload, but it’s just not that way at all. And as exciting as the thought of making $10,000 or something per month from this blog was, the work required to achieve that would be unsustainable/unenjoyable for me. I’ve never done anything for the money. If I just wanted money, I would have stayed on at the dealership last year. I’ve always been after more time, freedom, happiness, and flexibility. I’m a hard worker, no doubt about it, but not to the point of exhaustion or crowding out my ability to enjoy life. And that’s kind of the way things were going there for the last couple months or so. It’s unfortunate. I would have loved to keep things going on the way they were, even if the income/expense reports would have eventually become a little difficult to relate to for some. I think that would inspire others to reach higher, if anything. But if reaching results in breaking your arm, it’s pointless. This is me living up to my message, as hard as that is to accept for some people.

    I hope to offset those readers lost with new readers that are excited to see what’s next, but we’ll see. I’ll continue to write and do my best at inspiring/motivating with my honest and real-time approach to things, either way. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated!

    Best wishes.

  352. Tim,

    Thanks for stopping by and sharing that. As a fellow blogger, you can kind of see where this is all coming from and the motivation behind it. It’s unfortunate. It really is. I had planned all along on doing this thing by myself all the way to financial independence, completing the story from beginning (practically) to end. Then maybe some occasional updates or something. Now, I’ll still be writing and showing things unfold as I march closer, but it’ll be a little different. However, it was a necessary change. Some people might love blogging from the time they wake up until the point they go to sleep, but it’s just not me. I view this as a passion, not a job. Turning it into the latter from the former would just ruin it for me. This is a good way to prevent that for me at the cost of a lot of money. Just couldn’t do it any other way.

    You’re right in that change is inevitable. We’re creatures of habit, and hate change (especially when the change is unfavorable). But change is progress. Change is evolution/revolution. If it weren’t for change, I wouldn’t be here right now. And who knows what change can do to your life or my life? Who knows what passions I haven’t encountered yet because of change that hasn’t happened yet? What if I continued down that unsustainable path, preventing new/exciting things from entering into my life? What a shame that might be.

    So I hope readers take some inspiration from this. I’m simply living up to the message I’ve been preaching all along, to choose time over money… passion over work… simplicity over complexity. I’m still me. And I’ll still be writing (at a rather prolific rate, even with the new pace). We’ll see how it goes. But I’m excited. I get excited by change. Doing the same thing over and over again eats at me. I tried my best to keep things really fresh here, but I think, at some point, the articles would have just started to become repetitive. I covered a lot of stuff over the 700+ articles I’ve posted, and I hope new and old readers alike find a ton of value in that. Meanwhile, the reduced pace will allow me to continue keeping things fresh.

    Thanks again for stopping by and offering up the support. Keep up the great work over there. Excited to see where we’re both at in five years. 🙂

    Best regards.

  353. Raymond,

    Thanks so much!

    Growing and changing is definitely part of life, or, at least, it should be. We should embrace growth and change, not fear it. But we’re creatures of habit and want things to continue on forever, even if it’s really not for the best. Such is life. But I do have to admit/realize my limitations and act accordingly. Change is just life telling you that it’s time for a new path. Nonetheless, I’ll still be producing much of what you readers love here, so I’m excited. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. I’m so proud of what we’ve all built here at the site. This community has grown tremendously since I first started writing back in early 2011, and I’d like to think I had a lot to do with that. The last thing I’d want to do is ruin this site or somehow harm the community. So that’s not my aim. But I also have to stay true to myself and look out for the best interests of my own life, and working on this from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed isn’t very healthy. Some might argue it is. But it’s not for me.

    I’ll continue to support you guys through the content. That’s not going away. All I want to do is write and inspire. If I can continue to do that, I’ll be very happy.

    Let’s keep it rolling, my friend. Hope you enjoy the changes!

    Best wishes.

  354. Investing0711,

    Yeah, this decision is really rooted in the message I’ve been preaching all along. Choose time over money, freedom over slavery, passion over work. This is me choosing time, freedom, flexibility, and passion. Those that think this decision was driven by money clearly have no idea how expensive it is to give up day-to-day management. That’s all I’ll really say about that.

    It’s definitely time-consuming to run a blog. I mean that not in a way that’s complaining, but just stating a fact. Sounds like you know how that can be. It’s a great thing to build a community and inspire/educate people, and it’s something I’m so grateful for. But it can also consume you. This blog is something that’s largely been manageable over the last five years now, but it has become overwhelming as of late. When something like that happens, you just have to make the best decision you can with all the information you have. And knowing all that I know (while also thinking about how to be fair to both you guys and me), this was the best thing I could have done.

    Change is inevitable. We have to be ready for that, willing to adjust, and make the most of it. I wish that for all of you. I wish for good change, and that ability to adjust and see through the fog. We’ll get through it together. 🙂

    Cheers!

  355. Jason,

    Good luck in your future endeavors. It will be interesting to see how your readers adapt from following one gutsy investor’s journey to a few contributors who (I assume but could be wrong) don’t have any skin in the game. My inspiration from your work comes from your passion and dedication to the process, as well as your transparency and positive energy. I can get the actual investing tips elsewhere. I don’t think I’m alone with that sentiment (see http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=174692). But you know what they say about all good things. I hope this move works out for you!

    Best wishes,
    Joe

  356. Joe,

    Yeah, everyone’s going to have an opinion on something. If you were to worry about pleasing everyone, you’d never please anyone. The internet’s a funny place. Anyone can post whatever they want anonymously. But I’ve put my information out there (and real-life results). Not many can say that.

    As far as you getting inspiration from the dedication to the process, transparency, and positive energy goes, none of that is going way. There seems to be this assumption that I’m gone or something. It’s really not like that. I’m still writing 20+ articles per month, and I’ll continue to update you guys as I go. I’m just not going to manage all the stuff that you guys knew nothing about (and garnered no value from). But I’ll still be putting out great content, which is what made this blog so great. The results and the content will continue on.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  357. Best of luck with the move. Very inspiring reading your blogs, and I’ve decided to venture out and start my own over the past couple of weeks. More as a hobby to keep me honest with my financial goals than anything, and to get me thinking about my finances.

    Best of luck!

  358. G-golly. Am I the only one that wants to move on? It’s all good! He’s right here—time to accept and be happy we still have him, peeps. Let him be happy too, will ya? I liked Tim M. from the conservative income investor . com stopping by (he’s how I found you)—I think he’s an excellent resource and respect his work. DM, I want to say that I appreciated, very much, your recent knock-out purchases in MMM and FAST. Welcome to the party! I also think KMI is a s-weet buy here. You just got it again, so did I. But, I’ll be going in again tomorrow (today) on that and getting more. Currently checking out TEVA and watching the great WB’s KHC. This market is most likely going down, so one needs to have their thoughts in order. This is fun! I’m so excited for you. Whatever just occurred in your life…came at a really great time. Perfect timing! I think that’s just great.

  359. Seriously? Is that a slam, joke, or you just don’t understand? He’s buying income. He’s not comparing himself to an index (in which you pay fees to get little return).

  360. Exactly!

    DM is buying passive and reliable income, therefore benchmarking to whatever index is an purely academic exercise with no relevance whatsoever. It might be relevant if DM were out for total return/capital appreciation, but he is out for passive and reliable income.

  361. Selfishly, I’m not sure which way to feel about this, but I’m obviously happy for you. Can’t ever fault someone for success and doing what makes them happy!

    In my experience people tend to react violently one way or the other to any type of change and this is no different. I’m actually extremely interested to see how this impacts your “business” (i.e. the financial side of this blog, page views, etc.) going forward. That series of articles alone would be fascinating and would probably keep those who aren’t as enthused about the changes from totally abandoning this site.

    Cheers!

  362. A tick shy of 400 comments deep, most simply echoing either disappointment or excitement. Whether it’s Jason or another contributor, the best thing that could happen to this blog is to have a new post, right now. Something to steer the conversation back to the task at hand: let’s talk dividends and see where this blog goes from here.

  363. Definitely a legend… a completely nameless, faceless legend. Remember to share some of the glory with the rest of us!

  364. thats a fairly pragmatic decision.. all the best to you.
    My US H1B visa is little bit stuck .. would like to catch up with you over a drink(and stocks ) if I manage to come that side in coming months.

  365. So where is the content? I think a lot of the negative reactions of these 400 comments stem from a lack of content this month. I don’t care about the backend of the website, and I never really cared all that much about your budgets, but I did care about your other content. And we’ve gotten 1 post in 3 weeks, and that post was about you having more time to write and adding other contributors. Other than that it has been silent? It is just a weird contradiction from those of us who have become used to 3 posts/week.

  366. wgmast01,

    Hey, best of luck with it. Blogging, for me, has been incredibly rewarding – and certainly not just in the financial sense. It’s a lot of hard work, though, and can be, at times, thankless. But I still think it’s a great outlet as well as a place to potentially inspire other people. That’s a win-win. 🙂

    Cheers!

  367. divy,

    Definitely the perfect time for me. There was a breaking point there, and I was getting very close. This move was, overall, not a positive one for my long-term cash flow – taking on help isn’t free for me. But I’d rather have that extra time, and y near-term income was boosted. So, all in all, it’s just the same old, same old for me. Saving, investing, and marching closer to freedom. Just a few years away now. Very excited.

    Sounds like you’re really busy over there. That’s fantastic! Some Industrials are really attractive here. Emerson at 12 times earnings with a yield well over 4%? Crazy stuff, but I’m glad to jump on that. FAST, UTX, MMM, and all the rest as well. Some are cheaper than others, but many of these businesses are world-class. Glad to add them to the collection. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. Keep it up over there. We’re getting closer and closer with every new growing income stream added!

    Best wishes.

  368. Mallery,

    I see you’ve never been here before. I’ll fill you in a little bit.

    First off, I don’t compare myself to any indexes or anything else, as the other readers have pointed out:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2013/12/why-i-dont-compare-my-portfolios/

    That said, I do track my total return on an annualized basis just to make sure I’m above my own hurdle rate (10%, generally speaking). Whether or not those returns are better than what you achieved, my neighbor achieved, or any index achieved matters not to me and my own ability to live off of my growing income. And I quite enjoy seeing stocks decline in price so I can buy more (or so that the company can buy more) for less money. Big returns aren’t what I’m after, but I do suspect that one should see low double-digit long-term annualized total return by investing this way. I’ll probably check my numbers every five years just to get an idea of what the overall portfolio is doing. The last time I checked was at the end of 2014 and it was ~18.5% annualized since mid-2010. Whether or not you or anyone else did better just isn’t a care of mine. I’m on pace to live off of my dividend income by 40 years old, so I’m quite happy.

    Take care!

  369. Tripp,

    Yeah, I’m in the same boat. I root on others’ success. Anyone who would rather see me be unhappy and be overwhelmed just so that they can enjoy what I’m putting out isn’t really supporting me as a person. They’re just in it for what they can get. I’ve never been like that, though. I support people’s dreams and desires, and it’s all I’ve ever tried to inspire. But jealousy is a very powerful emotion, as others have pointed out.

    Change is inevitable for anything in life. People tend to fear change, which is why most people stay stuck, unhappy, in the rat race for most of their lives. Change is scary. But change is also exciting. Just depends on how you see it.

    As far as the financial side of the blog goes, I’ve already stated quite a few times now that we won’t be sharing that due to the partner’s concerns over that being public knowledge. But it’ll be interesting to see how the blog changes over time in the overall sense. Maybe we’ll go over that at some point. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  370. Roger,

    We’re still getting the other contributors up to speed. My next post will be the Freedom Fund update, as I mentioned a few times above. That should be out very shortly here, as soon as September’s numbers are finalized.

    Best regards!

  371. Harsh,

    Hey, any time! If you find yourself in my neck of the woods, I’d be glad to catch up over at cheeseburger at McDonald’s. 🙂

    Best of luck with the visa situation. Paperwork/bureaucracy can be a nightmare.

    Cheers!

  372. Eric,

    I’ve already explained my absence. That was laid out in the post above. And I’ve mentioned quite a few times now that my next post will the Freedom Fund update, which, as you know, can’t be updated until September ends. My pace is going to slow (again, as explained already), so I won’t be writing three posts per week here anymore. We’re still getting some contributors up to speed, so things will be back in swing here pretty shortly. There’s a lot of moving parts going on in the background. But I should have my FF update out here pretty shortly. September’s prices will be finalized here in a few hours.

    Cheers!

  373. First of all, congratulations Jason! You deserve every little bit of success, and you don’t owe anybody a thing. Kudos! It’s been a pleasure watching your journey, and I plan to continue that journey with you.

    I hope you don’t mind, but all of this hullabaloo has inspired me to create my own financial blog focused on Dividend Growth Investing and other personal financial matters. You’ve pointed out so many times that you were the only blogger publishing personal budgets and such, that I’ve decided to fill that niche. I called you out favorably in my first post on my new shiny blog, I hope you’ll check it out sometime. http://www.wealthalmanack.com

    Thanks again for all the value you have added to our lives.

    Max

  374. carson,

    Absolutely. Coca-Cola doesn’t care how much money you make if you’re buying their shares. The key is to increase your savings rate as much as possible (through both a reduction of spending and an increase in income) and then invest the difference. That’s really it.

    Have a look around, though. There are more than 700 articles on the site. And there’s the book as well. I’ve laid out what’s possible with a certain income range, and there’s nothing to say that your income won’t/can’t increase over time with hard work and creativity. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  375. Max,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the support and appreciation very much. I’ve always hoped to add value, and I’ll continue to do my best at adding value for as long as I can. I just don’t want to add so much value that I take away value from my personal life. But I think I’ve found a nice balance going forward. Time will tell. 🙂

    Best of luck with the new site. Like I mentioned above, blogging can be incredibly rewarding. Not really in the financial sense because it’s very tough to make a living doing this, but more in the sense of sharing, inspiring, and being a contributing member of a community. Those are really intangible benefits that are priceless.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best wishes.

  376. You can still focus on the personal finance part. It means you aren’t posting figures – big deal. Your life is different than my life. Where you live is different, so posting figures meant nothing to me because we live completely different lives. I get it helped some people but you can still focus on great ways to save money, tips, tricks etc that people can apply.

  377. Steve,

    Right. What I earn and spend isn’t really relevant to anyone but me. That’s why I’ve discussed over and over again why people shouldn’t compare themselves to others so much. I’ve always enjoyed sharing that information just to show how much “gasoline” it takes to power an engine up to a certain speed, but that mission was already largely accomplished with the almost five years of budget reports that will forever stay live here on the blog. I only wanted to inspire people to live below their means and invest the difference, and I wanted to show the dedication necessary behind that as well as the results. If five years (and the promise of doing it for the rest of my life) isn’t enough to prod people into change by showing that I’m the change I want to see, then I don’t think anything will ever be enough. Moreover, those who thought I was going to share my income/expenses until I was 60 years old or something just came into it with unreasonable/unrealistic expectations. Besides, anyone with a calculator can take a look at my stock purchases, do some calculations, and easily figure out what I’m making, spending, and investing.

    But I’ll still be focusing on personal finance in general and I’ll still continue to share my progress as I go. 🙂

    Best regards.

  378. I found your site 6 month ago. On google just by tying divined income. Been following you ever since. I’m amaze at how much you invested. I want to be at a place in life where I have a choice to work. Not because I have to. How does a person on 30k income build dividends? Right now I got my money invested in Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF.

  379. carson,

    Glad you found the site! 🙂

    Getting to a place where we choose our work and how often we work is what all of us are after. It’s not necessarily about “retiring” in the traditional sense. It’s about financial independence. It’s about having control over your time.

    I’d recommend going back to some of my earlier budgets. I was earning not much more than you are now back then:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/monthly-budgets/

    But I did two things. First off, I decreased my expenses dramatically. I sold my car, eliminated expensive food from my diet (especially restaurant visits), moved to a cheap apartment, and generally spent very little money. Then I did all I could to increase my income over time. I worked hard, got raises, started this blog, and just did all that I could to increase that savings rate.

    Like I said, there are 700 posts. This blog has been up until this point (and will largely still be) a real-time journey to financial independence. I can’t give any better advice than that which my actions have been.

    Hope that helps!

    Best regards.

  380. Congrats Jason,

    While I’m sorry to see another successful website go corporate, I’ll admit that is terribly selfish of me!

    I do hope at the very least that as a result of this partnership you are going to be on track to meet your long team dividend goals this year! If not you need to renegotiate:)

  381. You guys he probably signed a non-disclosure agreement which means that he can’t talk about it. That’s pretty common in the business world.

    A lot of people got mad at J.D. Roth when he revealed that he sold his site….3 years later after he sold it and that’s because he couldn’t talk about it for all those years due to the non disclosure agreement.

    All of you are much older than I am, yet I’m a college sophomore and I understand this nda stuff. You don’t own bloggers. Jason is not public property. He is not the public library. He is not the social security administration. He is not a public road.

    And this is not “The Bachelor” -He is an individual. He is not your mother. He is not your spouse. His “contract” with you is different. I really didn’t expect him to publish this stuff forever. Seriously?

    A lot of bloggers tend to move on unless they’re as big as Dooce or Zoella.

    In fact if you were smart, you’d go and start a blog and publish your own stats, imagine the traffic you would get if you would do that! You’d fulfill a niche!

  382. steveak,

    I’m not sure “corporate” is the right word, but I am sorry the transition is necessary. If I could have kept on the way things were, I would have. But it was just unsustainable for me, especially if I wanted any kind of life outside of my online activities.

    But I’m definitely still on track for the long-term goals. As I noted in an earlier comment, my long-term cash flow has been reduced somewhat significantly by this move, but it’s a trade-off (time for money) that I’m always happy to make… It’s why I’m doing all of this in the first place. Nonetheless, the near-term cash flow remains very healthy (healthier than usual) and I think, overall, I’m still on pace for everything I set out for. 🙂

    Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  383. Well said anonymous! Jason is being treated unfairly. In regards to what you said about filling a niche, it’s funny you say that because that is exactly what I decided to do.

  384. Jason,

    You made the right decision, and I think most people in your position would do the same. Most everyone has some aspect of their work that aligns with their passions and goals and another aspect that completely sucks, but is required to keep things moving. For example, I know a guy who works as an explosives engineer, literally blowing things up for a living. Sounds like fun right? Here’s a breakdown of what he works on:

    -Setting up the test cases (fun, takes days to weeks to complete)

    -Actually detonating and blowing up things (awesome, takes fraction of a second)

    -Processing and data analysis (fun for an engineer, takes days to weeks)

    -Paper work, including weeks of writing up cost justifications for additional funding and administrative crap (absolutely horrible, lots of pressure from management, work and income comes to a halt without it)

    I’m sure he would love to ditch the administrative BS and focus on what he truely loves to do. To him I would recommend paying a secretary or specialist minimum wage to crank out 90% of the backend work so that he can keep doing his real job. To you, I would recommend the same: hire out all the back of the house website stuff, advertising, etc at a reasonable price. I’m glad you did.

    You are in a position to be your own boss and work on your own terms. You don’t need permission from your boss to delegate stuff you don’t want to do. This is want independance is all about.

    Regards,

    Lance

  385. Dividend Mantra,

    I am not sure if you are doing this already. But you can have the market value of the stocks automatically by placing a formula in the cell.

    =googlefinance(“KO”) that would give you the price of KO. You can actually type =googlefinance(“KO”)* number of shares you own to get the market value.

    I do something like this on my own blog. The other stuff would get entered manually still though.

    Here is google doc help site I found.

    http://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093281?hl=en

  386. Lance,

    Thanks. I’m with you 100% on that.

    I remember that, at one point, I was considering quitting my job at the dealership to pursue a career as a financial advisor. It was actually a reader that kept recommending that transition. So I really gave it some thought. And as luck would have it, an actual financial advisor emailed me (not knowing my own thoughts about moving in that direction) just to say that he was inspired by my progress and was anxious to leave the career behind because of all the ancillary processes that were such a drag on his morale and time. He loved helping people achieve financial goals, but much of the time he spent in the office was on tedious “office work”. Moreover, meeting quotas was a big downer, especially if it meant going against his conscience. That discussion quickly took that idea off the board for me.

    But you’re right in that the independence we’re all fighting so hard for is all about doing things on your terms. If I could have kept on doing everything I was doing exactly how I was doing it, I would have. But it just wasn’t possible. Me being my own boss allowed me to make the choice to delegate much of the work that goes on behind the scenes, and that’s something I don’t regret for a second. Now I primarily get to work on the fun stuff, so I’m quite happy about that. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by. And thanks for understanding!

    Best regards.

  387. IP,

    Thanks for sharing that!

    I could actually automate the whole thing. I choose to manually update it once a month so that it gives me fresh perspective on what’s going on. Forces me to kind of “put my hands on the portfolio” for the hour or whatever it takes to update the spreadsheet. It’s about as tangible as it gets, and I find it more effective than just looking at the portfolio on a screen at my brokerage. Actually playing with the numbers gives me a good idea as to what’s going on. Works for me, but I can see how others prefer it to be manually updated. Certainly easier and less time consuming. Although, if Buffett’s portfolio is updated once a quarter, I think my monthly update is more than enough. 🙂

    Cheers!

  388. Congratulations Jason. I’m wondering in you ever take a step back to think about where you are and where you came from. Truly inspirational. Wishing you continued success in the future.

  389. Jason! Huge congratulations on moving ever forward to FF! I had to scroll a very log way down to find the comments section, such is the response to your new found venture, stopping, here and there, and reading a lot of negative feedback on the way. (Yay for the positives though!) You have graciously replied to almost all who have commented (positive or otherwise) which speaks volumes about you! Here you are, a young man who has shared their personal financial history, not to mention, soul (I bought two copies of your ebook, one for myself and one to share) and some still think you haven’t shared enough? What I love about your blog is your optimism, your focus and your willingness to share your research (first class) and I am only happy you are in a position, after starting from zilch with a blog and a dream, to devote yourself to what you want to do with your life! Surely that is what FF is all about? I don’t understand the naysayers! I genuinely wish you the very best in life! Onwards!

  390. I’ve been a reader of your blog for a while now. Very inspirational! I am on my own dividend journey—just starting from scratch. Looks like you’re going places. Don’t forget us little guys!

  391. Turn envy into action. This is not the soviet union or communist Romania. Last time I checked this was America. A place with a lot of opportunities even with a struggling economy. Why do you think so many Europeans in the past left their countries? Mexicans are coming into this country now and many would KILL just to be born in the U.S. and to have the opportunities that we have.

    I don’t know what your life story is but come on you can be better than this. We shouldn’t want people to fail. I’ve found that it’s not hard to succeed because most people of sound mind & body, don’t even try. I’m not talking about the homeless, the disabled, nor the mentally ill.

    In the U.S. compared to other countries it’s easier to succeed. If you want inspiration read “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer. So the book is about how his mom abused him from age 4-12 physically and emotionally. Finally teachers stepped in and saved him. Today he is a psychologist and wrote this best-seller to help other abused people.

    I’m not sure if you have suffered as much as he has. Maybe not. Use people like him and Jason as inspiration to do well in life. Turn envy into action. Use envy to motivate you to improve your own life. Like it or not Jason is already succeeding. That’s why he quit his car dealership.

    He will succeed in spite of you.

    Now do you want to be left behind or do you want to succeed on your own too?

    I don’t know about you but I want to succeed. I’ve worked enough call center and dead end customer service jobs to know that I don’t want to be left behind. I’ve eaten enough “crap sandwiches” to know that I want more than minimum wage jobs for the rest of my life.

  392. Yup, I agree with the perspectives here too. Just read the post and am frankly disappointed. I’ve seen this happen at a few other blogs I’ve enjoyed too — loss of the heart of the blog which is why I came – personal sharing that I could relate to, not about other perspectives and a loss of sharing.

    Oh well, it is what happens to successful blogs in the finance space, and Jason is trying to be financially independent and he has a path forward.

    (Funny enough, I came on Oct 1 to hear about his expenses, income, and dividend income for the month. So much for that!)

  393. Yo Jason –

    Dutch reader here, 23 years old. I never saw a reason to comment but after reading today’s comments I felt compelled to add a few words of my own. Although I have a distinct hunch that you won’t mind the negative comments much, I would still like to say this: don’t you ever mind any of the people that incorrectly cling to the exact details of your savings! This stuff isn’t about the money. It’s about spreading a model of life that is positive, loving and sustainable.

    My upbringing wasn’t always fun, to say the least. Violence and drinking parents and general apathy were the norm. Most of my friends were and still are young, angry, lazy, and aimless. Drugs and rock and roll got involved too many times. I did get to study though (costs per year over in the Netherlands aren’t the 40.000 dollars per year other countries ask), and one day while I was sitting there on the couch, burning through cash, drinking beers and attaining studypoints, I played a videogame called Fable 2. In this videogame, our fantasy hero can procure houses and shops with his quest earnings in order to give him some extra gold coins every few minutes. This made me think. I’m studying history, which won’t make me a valued technician, well-paid lawyer or superspecialised doctor. The only real ‘skills’ history teaches me are big-pattern-analysis and simple reading and writing. Now, my brother -did- study some economy and after quitting a bunch of the ‘eat sushi and attain your targets!’-jobs, he became a value investor. So that same week, I stopped by his for a coffee to ask how to make that Fable a reality.

    Then he gave me your blog. And the thing is: from the moment I started reading, I never cared for the percentages, savings, updates, values and all other useless data. I cared because of the life-saving inspiration contained in these pages. None of the naysayers that are jumping ship actually ‘get’ it. They don’t understand that this thing is about a conscious choice to take control of a life that, while not having a nice start nor a nice income, can become something great with diligence and a lot of sitting on your behind.

    And I am doing just that.

    THANK YOU! You’re one of the reasons I have many things to look forward to such as freedom, personal growth and a smile on my face. I couldn’t care less about your savings. All I needed to know was the simple fact that spending less than you earn will make you able to buy things that grow. To me, you’re not an economist- you’re a psychologist.

    Thank you so much for helping young, angry, lazy and aimless boys like me on the way. When I grow up, I’ll keep telling people of what you did. Even now, some of my friends, the ones that -didn’t- respond incredulously or jealously when I told them about you, have also started on the same path. And we all have you to thank for it.

  394. Adam,

    I do. I do that all the time. I’m extremely fortunate in so many ways, and a lot of hard work has rewarded me in ways that I had never anticipated or expected. I was below broke back in early 2010 – I was worth less than a baby back then – and now I have a portfolio worth over $200k that should spit out over $7k in passive income this year. I was always confident in my ability to see things through and become financially independent at 40 years old because I have a certain intensity, but, still, I felt deep down inside like there was a little audacity there. And yet I’m on pace. It’s incredible. 🙂

    Amazing things are possible when you work hard, live below your means, and invest your excess capital into high-quality assets (especially assets that produce growing passive income). It takes time, sure, but not as long as you might think. And before you know it, you’ll be sitting there smiling, thinking about how far you’ve come in such a short period of time.

    Keep at it!

    Cheers.

  395. Ellie,

    Thank you so much. Appreciate the support and kinds words very much. And I also appreciate you picking up a couple copies of the book. Means a lot to me! 🙂

    Yeah, those who think I’ve “changed” or aren’t interested in/don’t care about you readers is just plain wrong. If I really moved on and don’t care about the blog or the readers, I wouldn’t have taken the hours (and it did take hours) it took to respond to everyone, positive or otherwise. I’m only out to inspire people, and I’ve always felt like the best way to to that was to accomplish as much as I possibly could and share the results. And I’m still really doing that. I can’t share my partner’s information, but everyone will still see what I’m investing in, what the dividend income is doing, and what the path to financial independence looks like. If you have a calculator, you’ll be able to still figure out my income and expenses anyway.

    But you’re right. This is all surely what financial independence is about. I’ve heard some call me a hypocrite. Those people obviously don’t get the message or what this is all about. You SHOULD be using every opportunity that comes at you to further propel yourself closer to your dreams. You should be actively looking for ways to simplify your life, while at the same time increasing flexibility and autonomy. You should be choosing time over money. You should be choosing passion over work. But what you shouldn’t be doing is caring what others think. I I cared what others thought about me, I wouldn’t be riding the bus or living in a very modest apartment. But, like Ramsey says, you have to live like no one else now so that you can live like no one else later. Trying to live up to others’ expectations will only lead you to unhappiness.

    Thank you for understanding that this is it. This is what the message is. I wouldn’t be staying true to myself (or to the message) if I were to continue on working beyond my capabilities (and staying miserable in the process) just to meet expectations or try to make more money. This move brought me closer to FI. And I can only wish similar opportunities present themselves for all of you guys.

    Best regards!

  396. OutlierX,

    Hey, I’m still one of the little guys. I’m not some big blogger out there that’s earning $20,000 per month from blogging, with a $1 million portfolio. I might be further ahead than you (because you’re just starting out), but you’ll be right where I’m now at within just a few short years if you work hard and stick with it.

    Amazing things are possible when you believe in yourself and you’re willing to do what’s necessary. 🙂

    Best wishes.

  397. Jochem,

    Thank you so much for that. Even if I did pay attention to the naysayers (which I don’t), support like this would surely overwhelm the negativity. Thank you. 🙂

    Glad to hear you’re marching down the path, my friend. You’re absolutely right in that the blog is more about the message of taking control of your life and taking the steps necessary to attain freedom for yourself. This started out as a personal journal, and I’ll continue to keep most aspects of that going. But it’s really transformed into a message of hope through action, but it’s YOU who has to take action in your own life. Just passively watching me attain financial independence will be a failure on both of our parts. If you don’t take the message here (and the results that I’ve attained) and use that to motive you into a higher gear, then there are no numbers I could post that will help.

    I hope your life turns into a real-life version of Fable. I hope those gold coins one day replenish themselves while you’re busy sleeping, eating, traveling, or otherwise enjoying your life. That’s the name of the game, my friend. It’s about freedom, flexibility, autonomy, and, ultimately, choice. The fact that I had the freedom and choice to even take this move on (which improves my schedule greatly) just goes to show how important it is to do these things. If I were working for someone else, I have no choice. I HAVE TO do those daily, mundane tasks that eat up my time and make me miserable. But I no longer have to do that. That’s power.

    Keep at it. It’ll be amazing to look back on all of this a decade from now!

    Cheers.

  398. Excellent jump in network DM. All that extra cash is really getting put to work! Happy to see it. When I saw you said that BNS was down 20% YTD I had a little jump, but then quickly realized that was including the depreciation of the CAD/US FX rate.

    All the best!

  399. DW,

    Definitely staying busy. Super blessed to be able to pick up high-quality dividend growth stocks on sale right now. Loving the volatility.

    Yeah, I’m buying BNS on the NYSE. The fact that you have that spread right now due to the currency exchange is really exciting because one has to think that, at some point, things will normalize, which will be a really nice tailwind. Meanwhile, we get that monster yield because of it. A win-win. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  400. Oops! Meant to post this on the FF update! Multi-tabbing madness right?!

    For the New Beginning part:

    Very happy to see that you are going to be able to free up a lot of your precious time from handing off your sites(businesses) admin work. Although I am sad that you wont be continuing your Income/Expenses segment, would you be able to simply just post the expenses part of it to continue that part? You’re also going to have to modify your 2015 goals!

    I also have to say, I am not sure how I feel about having ‘guest’ writers appearing within the same dividend mantra feed. Personally I come here to specially see what you write. For other peoples opinions I go to their blogs/sites etc.

  401. DW,

    That’s okay.

    Yeah, I wish I could have kept things rolling the way they were, but it wasn’t possible. Only those that run a fairly large blog with close to half a million monthly pageviews and this kind of activity really know what’s involved, but it’s a lot of work. The whole point of this journey is to become free of things we don’t want to do, and that’s just what I’m doing. Some people want to be pro bloggers or whatever; I don’t.

    I think a lot of the contributors won’t necessarily have their own blogs, but we’ll see about that. I have a feeling that there’ll be some fairly exclusive content here. It’s funny how many people are complaining about sites like GRS with their system of multiple regular authors, yet way more people visit that site than mine. It’s not even close. So people must like that system or they wouldn’t be dropping by. Reminds me of a post that Tim M. wrote a while ago about how the media wants us to believe that everyone is eating healthy and not smoking, but companies like McDonalds and Altria are still bringing in billions of dollars. Someone is buying that stuff.

    As far as the budgets go, it’s a pretty simple calculation to figure out what I’m spending. You’ll see the percentage of expenses covered via dividend income, so it takes about two seconds to figure that out. The main point behind the budgets was to discuss my savings rate and what that looked like within the larger sense of achieving financial independence within a certain time frame. Just discussing expenses would only be half the story, and, like I said, providing information that’s easy to access anyhow.

    Cheers!

  402. Never heard of GRS before, but having quickly checked it out I see what you mean. It appears to be pretty well all over the place within the ‘finance/investing/self-help’ department. And guessing only by the headlines mind you, seems to be a lot like the fluffy articles found in newspapers. And I totally understand the not wanting to be a pro blogger; I have trouble just finding the time to put out regular posts and work on/think up what I hope are useful articles.

    Either way, I don’t see myself not still dropping by just as regularly as always 🙂 Was getting worried when you had not posted for a couple weeks, although I your tweets, so figured you were just working on something big!

    And good to know/must have missed that you would still be posting percentage of expenses covered by dividends.

    Thanks for taking the time to chat and clear stuff up! Now I just got to get my butt into gear and get to some unfinished articles!

  403. DM,

    Congrats on the next evolution of your site! It’s pretty amazing and inspirational to us all to see just where you started from and where you are today as an investor, and also what you’ve done with the site. There will always be knockers and detractors out there, you just have to keep focussed and steer the course. It isn’t easy to produce a large volume of articles of a regular basis, in a sustained manner, let alone manage and run a fairly large scale website like you have been doing. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize this. I look forward to seeing how your investing journey progresses over time, and how the changes that you’ve made with your site come to fruition. Truth be told, you were the inspiration behind me starting my own site to keep a public record of my own investing experience. Its been a great ride!.

    Cheers,

  404. Hello Jason, first comment from a long time lurker 🙂

    Congrats on reaching a level of success where this has become necessary. While I like the blog as it is, I totally understand that you’ve got to do whatever it takes to avoid burnout. So long as you keep posting your dividend updates (very inspiring), I’m happy. I’m a bit surprised that some commenters are jumping ship already. The new direction won’t be to everyone’s taste, but why not at least stick around for a while to see how it goes.

    Anyhow, I’m looking forward to continuing to follow your journey.

    BTW – off-topic, but I can’t read your site on my iPad because of that black ad bar at the bottom of the screen. It jumps around when I scroll, and clicking the ‘X’ doesn’t help. It just disappears temporarily, then comes back as soon as I start scrolling again. Very annoying! Perhaps your new partner can sort it out 😉

  405. Good luck Jason. I am very sure you have made a great decision as you can focus more on contents creation from this point on which will inspire more and more people. Cheers!

    BeSmartRich

  406. Agreed. I know it’s difficult but one of the main reasons for the blog’s success is the exact things that Jason feels he can no longer do. It’s ironic for sure! I’ve slowly stopped reading regularly since Jason left the dealership because it’s harder to relate too – working a full time job AND doing this is amazing, and a great journey to read and be involved in. Once you take the full time job out it’s not as fun to follow along and with this, which is another step back (plus other writers – it makes it more generic rather than someone’s blog), the blog no longer has much offer. Sorry Jason.

  407. Seems you are being flamed in a popular index site called bogle heads http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=174692&newpost=2644823 for “selling out” on your blog. I have been following your blog for a couple of years and have to disagree with a lot of those guys in that forum. It’s clear that a lot of them have only read a few articles. I’m curious to see what your opinion is with some of those comments. One commenter claims your portfolio has failed to beat the sp500 index since the inception of your portfolio. Although I know your goal isn’t to necessarily beat it as you are focused on the income aspect, have you recently compared your performance against it? At any rate congrats on the next evolution of your blogging! I have enjoyed your writing and will continue to do so in the future!

  408. Integrator,

    Hey, I’m really glad to hear that what I’ve done here motivated you to start your own blog over there. Looks like it’s been really rewarding for you. What I’m really most proud of about this is the fact that I’ve been able to inspire people to positively change their lives in some way or another. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ll always be grateful for that.

    It’s definitely not easy to run this thing all by myself. I imagine there are are very few large-scale websites out there that are still run by just one person. If I were someone who had a natural interest in some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, it’d be a lot easier. But I’m not like that. This allows me to continue producing a prodigious amount of content, which, by itself, can be tough in terms of avoiding burnout over the course of many years.

    I guess we’ll see how it goes. In the end, the biggest goal still remains becoming financially independent by 40 years old. Running a big blog by myself was never a goal, and this move brings me closer to the life I crave. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by. Let’s keep marching forward!!

    Best wishes.

  409. Cat,

    Thanks for letting me know about that. That kind of development/design stuff is a great example of things that I’m not very good at. It’s amazing that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done thus far. I honestly have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to running a website. I’ll see if we can fix that. 🙂

    Yeah, some readers are jumping ship. Although, most of the people complaining have never commented here before. So I see a lot of people that have never shown up in the comment system before and are just now taking the time to drop their first comment – which is a complaint. Most of the people that have contributed to the community and supported what I’ve been doing have also supported this move. I’m not real concerned.

    Thanks for being patient and sticking around to see what’s next. It’s certainly a better alternative than me just quitting on the whole thing due to being overwhelmed.

    Best regards!

  410. BSR,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the support!

    I have no doubts about this, and no regrets. For me to continue on like I was… was impossible. This gives me a chance to keep that fire alive. 🙂

    In the end, I just want to reach financial independence and inspire people in the process. And I think this helps accomplish both of those goals.

    Best regards.

  411. Sean,

    I’m not surprised that people over on a forum dedicated to an investment strategy that’s quite different from mine aren’t fans of my work.

    It looks like some guy decided to sign up for the forum (he has five posts) and copy part of my name (VERY original) just to spread uninformed and incorrect rumors. Not really in my interest or worth my time to comment on that. Another reader up the comment chain asked about returns. I did my best to respond.

    Take care!

  412. Dee,

    This blog is about a journey. It’s evolution in real-time. Those that aren’t as interested in things as I progress from working full-time at a traditional wage slave job to working on things that I have a passion for probably don’t really support the whole idea. To find it less interesting as progress occurs is silly, in my view. That would be like following a baseball team only to find less interest as they near the World Series because the team isn’t as easy to relate to.

    If I have a choice between being easy to relate to but unsuccessful or being difficult to relate to and financially independent, I’ll chose the latter 10 times out of 10. But I don’t agree that I’m difficult to relate to. I came from humble beginnings and I haven’t made an outrageous amount of money over the years. Moreover, I’m self-taught.

    Good luck!

    Take care.

  413. Good move Jason,

    “it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself”
    Leon C Megginson (talking Darwins Origin of the Species).

    Im pretty sure we would all want the CEOs of the companies we own shares/stock in to change when needed?.If they didnt shareholder value would be destroyed.

    As for people saying you under-performed an index the answer is “and?”.I mainly invest in UK stocks and i dont care if i under perform,or out perform the main UK index.Like you im building a portfolio to provide me a dividend income,hopefully one that grows with or above inflation.The aim is to bring in an income from owning parts of great companies that covers all (or most) of my expenses so i can enjoy my free time.Along the journey it means i have some income and growing not depending on my work/labour.Capital growth (or the lack of it) is a side show.

    On the share front i had some juicy divi’s to re-invest so i bought some Ladbrokes (UK ticker LAD) .They are merging with GalaCoral to create the biggest bookmaker in the UK with a strong (and growing) online business.Forward divi about 3%.As more countries look to allow regulated gambling over the medium term i think LAD will be in a prime position to take advantage.The combined business will have large market share in Italy,Belgium,Spain and Australia on top of the UK.All my own opinion of course,

    Best wishes,
    John

  414. John,

    Thanks for sharing that. I totally agree. Some people don’t like to adapt. And some don’t like it when others adapt. But I think adapting to change is really important. To just assume that things will be constant throughout your entire life out of some kind of need for that comfort would be missing out on a lot of life. It’s change itself that set this entire thing in motion for me. If I were someone who feared change, I would have never become the person I am today. And what a shame that would be.

    I’m with you all the way on the comparison thing. If anyone thinks I’m unhappy with an ~18.5% annualized total return from mid-2010 to the end of 2014, they’re crazy. Moreover, I’m ahead of my goal to live off of dividend income by 40. It’d be like my best friend finding out I’m “retired” at 39 by living off of dividend income and congratulating me… only to shake his head because I underperformed some index by half a percent or something. It’s silly. People spend too much time comparing themselves to others. That’s how most people end up working most of their lives in the first place. I don’t compare myself to indexes, my neighbor’s burger franchise performance, or my cousin’s sister’s rental property empire. I set long-term goals and compare my best effort with the result I’m after. That’s it.

    Best of luck with Ladbrokes over there. Hadn’t heard of it, but it sounds like you’ve done your due diligence. Now it’s just up the company to perform and send you your checks on the regular. 🙂

    Cheers!

  415. Little late to the party just saw the post. Congrats it sounds like a big positive change for you and I’m happy for that. I will continue to subscribe to the site and looking forward to receiving great content.

  416. Hi Jason,

    I understand the reasoning behind handing over the management completely, and it’s been a great read so far. It’s given me a great basis for trade ideas I might not have otherwise had.

    Personally, I’ll miss the figures, as I think they add integrity to a post. It’s nice to see what someone risked and how they were rewarded, not just why they did it.

    I wish you luck with the new setup, hope it works and will continue to visit.

  417. Syed,

    Thanks for the ongoing/continuing support. Definitely a big move forward. Sometimes you have to adapt or die. I’d rather adapt. 🙂

    Hope all is well for you over there!

    Cheers.

  418. Grant,

    Thanks! Hope you like some of the changes that will be coming around here pretty soon. 🙂

    Although I won’t be publishing my income and expenses any more, anyone who’s familiar with a calculator will easily be able to figure out both. I leave enough breadcrumbs so that the numbers are still quite obvious. Those breadcrumbs certainly involve all of the other numbers I continue to publish, which makes it easy to piece it all together.

    Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  419. Jason,

    Congratulations on building a scalable business, being self-employed always has the cap of how much work only one person can do in a day. But I must agree with many of the other readers here that the monthly expense reports were a very unique and detailed look at HOW someone gets to financial independence without a large salary. It really puts your money where your moth is and makes the whole process completely transparent and gives a template or ideas on how each person can replicate the success.

    This partner, if they must remain nameless? I’m assuming I didn’t see any identification above maybe i missed it. And not being able to disclose fee’s does sound like anyone you would enjoy business with.

    Honestly the Jason I know through these blogs would find a craft way to use 2-3 elance VA’s to take care of all his admin assignments for 3 dollars and hour in India or some ultra efficient out sourcing.

    Just my two cents, your provide great content and I will continue to check on this site! But those expense reports were my favorite part.

  420. Wow, I don’t want Jason to leave, he has taught me SOOOOO MUCH! This is the first website I found true guidance from, but Hey, I’m gonna try and mimic what Jason did before the new team takes over, I just started my journey about 1 year ago and deployed $12,000 so far, really excited about the future. I hope we can all follow and help each other Check out my journey here http://www.thedividendkid.com/

  421. Nguyen was spot on!
    You may deny it all you want, it is the truth. You should have the guts to admit it Jason.

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