Fearless Money » Site News

Falling Off the Edge of the Earth

Bruce Kroeze — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:57:54 +0000

I guess I fell off the edge of the Earth.

I think possibly the “I don’t want this site to die” blog entries are a great indicator that a blog is about to fade. I knew it when I wrote that last one. Ah well.

So what has really happened?

Well, this site was one of the few things keeping me happy and interested when I was an employee. In the process of successfully and happily reinventing myself as an entrepreneur and business owner, this site has rapidly lost interest for me.

These days, I worry more about pitching $500K global site relaunches than I do about whether a few dollars got put in the wrong bucket of my budget. That’s not to say that it isn’t important, just that my priorities and viewpoints have naturally shifted.

I want to revive the site, but I’m not going to try to summon interest in writing about personal finance. I’m going to talk about the things that really matter to me these days. The need to develop multiple income streams, the joy (no sarcasm intended) of billing clients, the fun of pitching big clients, and ways that I am succeeding or failing in these areas.

Seriously though, my favorite time of the month is billing people. I love it. That and stating my (deliberately “premium”) bid price to a prospective client without batting an eye are my new favorite activities.

Why I am getting back to blogging

Bruce Kroeze — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:39:08 +0000

Wow, it has been too long since I wrote here. Sorry about that, I let myself get overwhelmed with work, and so didn’t feel like I had time to blog.

That is really quite foolish, and I think I’ve learned the lesson I need to from it. Blogging is a habit, an outlet and a necessity for me to grow my business.

It is a habit, in that ideas for blogging come much more easily to me when I’ve been writing regularly. Also, the words flow much more easily when I write more often.

It is an outlet since it requires me to think about how I can be of use to others outside my immediate circle. This perspective shift is good for me, it helps me see the big picture and to keep my skills fresh. Not only that, but blogging is a good way for me to break up the day. I’ve missed it.

It is a necessity for me to grow my business. Possibly not so much for this blog, but my programming blog regularly gets me business leads. There’s nothing better than people who write and are already 75% sold or simply offer me jobs.

Technorati Tags: blogging

We're number 60!

Bruce Kroeze — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:23:35 +0000

According to Your Credit Advisor, this site is ranked 60th in the top 100 finance blogs in the world.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Academy, all I can say is that I deserve the award. Thanks. We’re number 60, we’re number 60, woot!

I did think that the site described Fearless Money in an odd way, ‘Fearless Money takes the approach that the "Universe truly is a benevolent place" and recently quit his job to sample the ambundance of other opportunities.’

I suppose that is true, it just seems strange to hear my site described that way. It sounds somehow flakey when put that way. Oh well, I can survive being thought to be kind of a flake, especially when I increased my income by a easy 50% over my previous salary immediately upon going out on my own.

Still, I’d have thought the blurb I put on my about page was better at describing my attitude.

Iâ€™m a guy who used to always ignore his finances. I was afraid, but Iâ€™m not anymore. My new perspective is very simple, consumer debt is bad, saving is good, and fortune favors the well-prepared.

Straightforward and honest, that’s how I like it.

New feature, My Stocks

Bruce Kroeze — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:57:54 +0000

In my third year of successful (25% or greater profit) stock-picking, I thought it was time to add a sidebar widget to show my current investments.

On the right you’ll see where I am currently invested. Most of them are International ETFs and all but one have been making double digit gains for years. Please refer to my disclaimers before making any investment decision. I am not licensed as a financial professional, and your risk is your own, as it should be.

If I have a moment, I’ll write a better plugin to actually show my portfolio holdings and current returns. Oddly enough, such a plugin doesn’t seem to exist in the WordPress World just yet.

Technorati Tags: stock market, etfs, investments

Maypoles in Portland

Bruce Kroeze — Sun, 06 May 2007 18:30:57 +0000

One of the benefits of getting organized is taking the occasional day completely off. Without guilt.

Yesterday, I went with the family to a Beltane party at a friend’s house. I took the picture above after the maypole dance, which is something I haven’t had a chance to do in years. I was always too busy, or felt that I was. That’s just foolish, life passes too quickly, especially so when you never take breaks.

I’ve also been "too busy" for this blog, and I want to remedy that. So, I’m going to let it get a bit more personal and chatty, while I make an effort to get back in the swing of writing regularly here and at programming blog.

Technorati Tags: maypole, portland

New Theme!

Bruce Kroeze — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 03:43:53 +0000

I did like the old theme, but I thought it was time for a change.

Enjoy the new, more highly optimized and quite a bit “lighter” theme. Please let me know if you find something I’ve broken in the upgrade.

Technorati Tags: cutline, wordpress205, themes

Site Direction

Bruce Kroeze — Tue, 30 May 2006 06:20:55 +0000

On this 100th post for Fearless Money, I am taking the opportunity to discuss the future direction of the site. As you may have noticed if you are a long time reader, the site has changed direction, I think for the better.

When I was new at this, I talked about what all the other financial bloggers did. Boring. I just don’t have the touch to pull off “reblogging” in a way that adds any real value. I’ll leave that to the masters of the link-out and the republishing. I read their blogs too, I just don’t feel the need to add my voice to the chorus any longer.

It isn’t just that sort of blogging I am turning away from, it is the whole focus on lack that I am firmly putting behind me. You’ll never read any advice from me that you can make your way to abundance by cutting latte’s from your diet. Fooey. No one ever saved their way to abundance, and if they did, they didn’t enjoy it.

New Attitude

This new attitude partially comes from a seed planted by Loral Langemeier in her wonderful book, “The Millionaire Maker”, where she says:

Too many experts tell you to live small, spend nothing, and barely breathe as you dawdle off into the horizon. That sounds just awful to me. I believe it is possible to achieve wealth and have a latte with breakfast.

In the past few months I’ve found myself returning to that quote often. It has grown into a new resolution in me to not live small, and to cease advising or praising others for living below their capabilities.

This world throbs with wealth

To paraphrase Napoleon Hill, “This world throbs with wealth”. It truly does! My goal is now to create an abundant living for myself and my family. Not in the future after twenty years of savings, but now and tomorrow, and all the days after that.

I truly appreciate the lessons I learned from the likes of Dave Ramsey and various Personal Finance bloggers. I no longer outspend my means. I am far more conscious of the regular spending choices I make. This is a good thing. I doubt my company, Zefamily LLC, would have ever launched if I hadn’t had a year of solid budgeting experience. But I will no longer try to squash myself and my family, scrimping for the kids college and for retirement.

The new direction

The solution, of course, is to make a lot more money. That is the new goal and the new focus of Fearless Money.

From now on, you’ll see more articles about how my business and other peoples’ businesses, since that is the best way for anyone to make money in this country. I’ll continue my investment articles, letting you know how my investments are doing, along with other investments I’m considering. I’ll also add some discussion of personal development articles, sites and books I find useful on my path to wealth. Finally in the mix will be contrarian “positive” views of commonly accepted doomsaying. I’m particularly good at silver-lining spotting, but it has taken me these months to get brave enough to share these views with my readers.

Thanks everyone, you keep me honest, focused, and interested. I truly appreciate the opportunity you have given me to connect and talk about something that has meaning for us all.

Site updates

Bruce Kroeze — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:16:39 +0000

A quick site update. I’ve added a couple features.

First, I’ve added "email this post" functionality to every article. Now you can send anything I’ve written to a friend with one step.

Perhaps more importantly, I’ve added a "Related Posts" section to every article. At this point, the related posts are only shown when you view the article on its own page, not on the front page. I’d love feedback about this. Should I add it to front page articles as well? Is that too busy?

I'm in the Festival of Frugality #13

Bruce Kroeze — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:42:01 +0000

Fearless Money is one of the sites in the 13th Festival of Frugality at Simply Thrifty. I’m honored to be in such good company.

I submitted my article about selling books on Amazon. For reference, there are three of them:

Technorati Tags: festival of frugality

Thanks, JLP

Bruce Kroeze — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:03:22 +0000

Thanks, JLP of AllThingsFinancial. I’m honored that you’ve chosen this site to be your Blog of the Week #21. It is due to your site, and others like yours that I was inspired to start my own financial site.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, of course not all debt is bad. I’m mostly talking about consumer debt, and debt which is no longer attached to any thing or any purpose. It just sounds snappier to say “debt is bad”. Hmm, perhaps there is a good blog post in there.

Thanks!