Why the Name of this Blog was an Epic FAIL… but that’s OK

While chatting and enjoying a homebrew a few months back with personal finance blogging buddy, Mr. Money Mustache, I admitted the following:




“I seriously regret ever having named my blog 20somethingfinance.”

That’s not something that is easy to admit to anyone, especially a respected blogging peer.

And it’s even harder to admit to you – the loyal 20somethingfinance readers.

When I first started this blog over 5 years ago, I wanted to focus on readers my age who had a similar interest in optimizing their finances. I was in my late 20’s and somewhat shortsightedly, I thought to myself, “hmmm…. how about 20somethingfinance?”. Sounds great!

I didn’t know the first thing about blog marketing, branding, or capturing an audience, so I just went with it.

FailFast forward to present date, and I’m not even in my 20’s any more.




Many of you are not either (in fact, over 30% of the reader-base is over age 30).

And a large majority of the 7 million unique visitors (~4-5% of adults in the UNITED STATES?!) who came and left over the years haven’t been either.

I often wonder to myself, “how many tens of thousands of non-twenty-somethings would have stuck around and subscribed and contributed to the blog if only the name wasn’t age-disqualifying like 20somethingfinance.com is?”. Search engines and personal finance tips are age-neutral, but my freakin’ blog name wasn’t. Fail!!! But I digress…

The Shift in Focus

When this blog first kicked-off, I tended to focus almost entirely on the strategic components of personal finance. A lot of the content was targeted towards young professionals just starting out.




Over the years, I have started diving more in to the ideological side of personal finance – values, philosophy, passions, motives.

I’ve also gotten a little further advanced in the strategic and have come to realize that most of the strategic and ideological components aren’t just for “twenty-somethings” – they are for everyone.

Financial independence has become a top priority in my own life. And I’m guessing many of you are in the same boat. And this desire is not tied to age at all.

Yet – that “20” name lives on and the blog has still managed to become too big to change now.

And the goal, strategies, and motivations are still the same.

What’s Next?

Alas, this post is not a swan song. It’s an affirmation.

If you…

  • seek financial independence & partial or early retirement
  • want to hack spending to extremely low levels
  • want to reduce consumption and minimize impact on the environment
  • like learning basic and advanced personal finance strategy and like sharing those ideas with others
  • seek to be healthy, wealthy, well-rounded, generous, and genuine

… then you are exactly who I want to write for and interact with. Regardless of age.

And if you know anyone else who meets any of the above criteria – please spread the word.

Even though the name of this blog was an epic fail, your support has been an epic success. THANK YOU for sticking around, subscribing, and being loyal readers and contributors.

I hope to keep bringing you ideas, motivation, and a little bit of entertainment. Even after you turn 30… or 70.

Discussion:

  • How old are you?
  • What would you rename this blog to?
  • What kind of finance related content/topics do you like reading the most, here or elsewhere?

Related Posts:

48 Comments

  1. Grayson @ Debt Roundup
  2. Jake Erickson
  3. Greg
  4. Chris in Boston
  5. Phil
    • Phil
  6. Rob
  7. Amy
  8. Eric
  9. pd
  10. CashRebel
  11. Trent Shelton
  12. Jared
  13. jim
  14. jim
  15. Jon
  16. Mary
  17. Gail
  18. Melissa
  19. Stephen
  20. sphinx
  21. Hilary
  22. Chris
    • Andrew
  23. Pamela
  24. df
  25. Mona
  26. Tom
  27. Veronica
  28. Wendy
  29. Greg
  30. Natalie H
  31. jin
  32. Katherine C
  33. Raven
  34. Elise
  35. Shevonn
  36. Seth
  37. AJ
  38. Dona Collins
    • Brian
  39. Brian
  40. Audra

Leave a Reply