200 posts, 200 lessons. What I've learned from writing a post per week for (almost) four years
Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!
Almost four years ago, I launched SMwA with Cut Your Cable Bill (which remains good advice!). 200 posts later, I’ve learned a lot about about my readers, and what it’s like to write a weekly newsletter.
SMwA has 720 readers, with most of subscribers coming in at a few specific points, and readership roughly flat over the past year. About 60% of the readers read each post, with about one-third of those interacting with the post in some way, most often clicking on links. My highest-engagement posts of all time? My two-part series on Negotiation Basics (part 1 and part 2) and Please Don’t Trade Stocks. I’m particularly proud of those.
Writing a newsletter has been rewarding in a few key ways: it’s made me a better and sharper writer, it’s helped me make better financial decisions, and I get lots of satisfaction from hearing from readers about how they’ve used these tips in their lives.
Writing a newsletter has also taught me some deeper lessons about “creating content” and building an internet following. I’ve seen many Substacks develop large followings since I started this one in 2019 in the early days of the platform, and I’ve noticed that most successful ones either build off an existing following, focus on high-engagement/high-emotion content (usually politics), or aggressively promote via social media. This is not that, and that’s fine. I don’t monetize this newsletter and will never do so.
Where is SMwA going? When I think about a money-saving topic, I usually find that I’ve already written a post on the subject, and four years in I’m starting to find that I’m running a bit low on steam. There’s value to continually highlighting helpful tips (I’ve noticed many readers come to me about making a positive change after hearing about something for the third or fourth time on SMwA), but since I write this for fun I’m not trying to optimize for anything other than my own and my readers’ enjoyment, and I don’t want to become repetitive.
But, as long as I feel I have new and helpful things to say, I’ll keep writing. And as always, I love to hear from readers about their stories and how the newsletter has helped them.
And now, Andrew’s pick(s) of the week:
I’m a little young for this, but still got some major nostalgia from Young People Have No Idea What We Used to Do After Work. Let Me Regale You.
Also, How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Swallowed Hollywood
And could we all agree…not to do this? Pricey Hurdle Before the Wedding: A Splashy, $4,500 Proposal:
Kim Jae-hyun was stunned when his girlfriend showed him a photo of a Chanel handbag her friend received when getting proposed to at a hotel. “I started calculating how much it would all cost in my head,” he said—probably at least $3,000.
Over drinks, Kim and his friends, some married, others not, discussed whether they could afford a Chanel bag, and if it was really necessary for a proposal. His single friends thought a sincere expression of love before asking would be enough. His married friends disagreed, arguing Kim might hear about his lack of proposal panache the rest of his life.
He originally planned to propose this summer. But now he has decided to wait until the end of the year. “It will give me some time to save up,” Kim said.