theFIREstarter

Well it’s been quite an exciting couple of weeks for the blog. Here’s what’s been happening:

• Scored a guest post spot over at Done by Forty, read it here if you missed it.
• Subsequently this post got featured on Rockstar Finance. If you haven’t heard about Rockstar Finance yet you should check it out, it is basically a content aggregator specifically for Personal Finance articles, but they are hand picked by J Money (of Budgets Are Sexy) so you know you won’t waste any time reading a load of gumph. Consequently to be featured on there is high praise indeed, and I can’t thank J enough for featuring the article on there.
• J also set up a very interesting (to the financial voyeur types amongst you at least) page which is tracking PF blogs net worths: The Ultimate List of Blogger Net Worths. I thought it would be fun to be on there so submitted my Net Worth (I’ll update it on my 2014 Goals page) and so there I am! Quite far down the list at the moment, and I need to re-calculate it (more on this in the next article in my Financial Independence Planning series!) so will probably drop further, but hopefully from next month on I can start moving up the table!
• The crazy couple of weeks has culminated in Monevator featuring my last article on Calculating your Savings Rate in their Weekend Reading section. Again to be featured on such a prestigious money/investment blog is bloomin’ marvellous, and it has seen a further surge of traffic so thanks again to the guys at Monevator for including me there.
  
• I also noticed that JC over at Passive Income Pursuit had added me to his blog roll so again thanks to him! JC is pursuing Financial Freedom with a brilliant plan of buying stocks in quality dividend paying companies, so if that sort of thing is your bag, go check him out.
• On a personal note, I completed the Brighton Half Marathon in 1:34:54 which was a personal best, so maybe my strange training schedule / megadetox challenge I did throughout January did pay dividends in the end!

So anyway, if you are new to the blog, welcome!

I hope you like it and will stick around to see what I have in store for future posts.

If you are new and want to read more, here is a brief list of some of some of the highlights on the blog, if I may be so bold:

• Meet The FIREstarter! – My first ever post. Please excuse the horrendous picture of me, that was done as kind of a joke!
• Start Your FIRE Series – A series on how to get your finances in order. I haven’t added to this in a while but do plan to continue to do so after I’ve finished my current series which is the…
• Financial Independence Planning Series – Only 3 posts in so far on this one but it’s getting quite exciting already, and there is more to come imminently.
• The Badass Cookery Class: A Beginners Guide – Yes, I like cooking! If you aren’t so handy around the kitchen, read up on some tips to greatly improve the efficiency of your time and efforts spent in there. Then check out this recipe for…
• 20 Minute Pork Stir Fry – Needs no further explanation, apart from maybe “scrumptious”
• A Conscious Conscience – Getting all philosophical and introspective around Christmas time
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Fire – I also have a side line into write rap parody… yes really! (Just a bit of silliness here)

If you are still hungry for more check out my all posts ever page which is in the top menu under The Story So Far…

Link lovin’

Finally it would be rude of me to post an update such as this without linking out to some of the stuff I’ve been reading this week:

Dare to Pursue the Unconventional Path (They Don’t Teach You THIS in School) @ FI Fighter – If you have never thought about investing in property before, you probably will do after reading this!

Five Blissfull Months of Early Retirement @ Root of Good – If you can avoid getting too jealous, then this is a very nice read of what it’s like from the other side of the FIRE line. I say good on you Justin and we’ll see you there soon!

Find the Best Broker Online @ Monevator – The UK investing scene has just had a massive shake up with new regulations on brokers charge structure. The dust has finally settled so check out Monevators excellent article and comparison table here to find out if you need to switch. This was great timing for me as I was/am just in the process of opening a new ISA and a SIPP.

How Hungry Is Your Appliance? @ Eco Thrifty Living – How much power might you be wasting on appliances left on stand by? Which appliances are energy vampires? Find out here!

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Pork Loin @ Herb on Herbs – I made this yesterday as we had friends over in the evening and it was decidedly delicious! I would heartily recommend you buy a slow cooker right now if you haven’t got one and try it out.

Enough: Money, Love & Life @ Pura Vida Journey – Another cracker of an article from Nick that will get you thinking deeply about, well, Money, Love and Life unsurprisingly.

Enjoy, and I’ll be back with some more posts on Financial Independence Planning next week!

TFS.x