IWillTeachYouToBeRich turns 2 years old today

August 17 17 Comments latest by ryanvilla

Two years ago today, on August 17, 2004, I wrote my first post for I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

Today, I took a minute to catch my breath and look back over the last couple of years. Good god, I had no idea what I was getting into when I wrote my first post (which you’ll notice still has 0 comments). Here are some stats I just dug up:

Number of posts: Over 300
Number of comments: Over 2,000
Number of ads run on or off the site: 0
Number of people I’ve given my 1-hour talk to in person: Over 4,000 around the country
Emails received and replied to: Thousands (I lost count)
Growth: I don’t know how this happened, but iwillteachyoutoberich.com receives more visitors before noon each day than I received in all of May 2005

The traffic is cool, but who really cares about that. Today, I think this blog has some of the smartest readers of any blog, anywhere. Check the comments and I think you’ll agree. Notice the lack of trolls and the actual conversation that goes on!! How novel!!

As I’ve written this blog, I’ve tried to keep a few simple things in mind: Getting started is more important than being the smartest person in the room. It’s ok to make mistakes. Read a lot so you know when to call BS, but not too much–action is more important than reading. Ordinary actions get ordinary results. And there’s a difference between being sexy and being Rich.

This year, there’s much, much more to come. I have an entire series planned on getting your dream job (how to find the best job, how to out-interview anybody, and how to win at work), more advanced and beginner topics on investing, more posts on personal entrepreneurship, more talks around the country, and a couple of big announcements to come.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for reading, commenting, and emailing. I know it’s hard to dig through some of the older posts, so today I went through and picked 5 of my favorite posts from each category. Take a look. And thanks for being with me.

Introductory Articles
Why do you want to be rich?
The Best Decision vs. The Financially Smart One
Cheap versus frugal
A big fear I have of this site
2006 Makeover, Step #4: Open your retirement accounts

Investing
An analysis of 1000+ IWillTeachYouToBeRich survey responses– and some new decisions (Best feedback ever)
Dumb: “Don’t invest; you can’t beat the pros”
All about stocks and bonds
All about mutual funds
Read Warren Buffet’s letters

Miscellaneous
What are we doing on this site?
I bought a tie (I love this post because of how angry the comments are)
Cost vs. value: Why I bought a new car (Sorry guys, but I stand by what I wrote)
Probably one of the best comments this site has ever gotten
Boy am I stupid

Personal Entrepreneurship
Barriers are your enemy
We love to debate minutiae
Your College is Not a Technical School
On greed and speed
The Myth of the Great Idea

Saving
Here’s how I set up my financial accounts
Letting your parents manage your money is dumb
The Power of Compounding
Time is NOT money–at least, not yours
Cook at home, you lazy bastard

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Posted August 17, 2006 under Stories about customer service, Personal entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous, Saving, Investing, Introductory Articles

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