A few quick housekeeping things this afternoon. Please let me know if you have feedback on any of these items.

Scheduling
First, I’m thinking of breaking out of the somewhat-rigid schedule I adhere to with 5am posts every weekday. Originally, I published articles when they were ready. Sometimes that was late in the day, sometimes that was early. I think returning to this would give me some additional flexibility.

Earning extra money
Second, I don’t usually draw attention to The Personal Finance Hour once we’re done with an episode, but this week’s show was especially good. Jim and I spent an hour talking with listeners about earning extra money. There’s a recap of the show at Building Wealth Together, but for once I encourage you to give it a listen.

The role of personal-finance blogs
In a similar vein, I was a guest the Behavior Gap Radio podcast this morning. I spoke with Carl Richards of Behavior Gap and Bill Schultheis of The Coffee House Investor for about 45 minutes. We discussed the relationship between personal-finance blogs and financial planning. Are they in competition? Or do they complement one another? And what options are there for people with just $5,000 or $50,000 to invest?

The Secure Student
After the podcast, I had lunch with Mike Young, the CEO of The Secure Student. I wrote about this program a couple of months ago. Based in part on feedback from GRS readers and discussions with kids themselves, Young has decided to revamp his approach. He’s grateful for your suggestions, and now hopes to shift the program so that it’s “created by the kids, for the kids”.

Less e-mail
E-mail is consuming too much of my time. I feel compelled to give a personal response to everyone who writes, but that’s taking several hours per week away from my writing — and I still never catch up. It’s a tough balance: I could provide a detailed personal response to a handful of readers who write with questions — or I could spend that time writing blog content that might be of use for tens of thousands of people. I think the solution is to emphasize the GRS forums as a place to seek answers to questions.

Survey results
Finally, the data from the recent site survey is being processed. I’m fascinated by some of the results:

  • 77% of you want more information on banking (!!!)
  • 87% are interested in budgeting
  • 90% of you like frugality and DIY tips (and here I’d been cutting back on those because I thought you were tired of them!)
  • 85% of respondents want to learn more about investing
  • There’s very little interest in information about insurance.

Basically, it sounds as if your interests are still aligned with mine. I don’t have to worry about flooding you with frugality info or giving you an overdose of investing posts. Good to know.

This article is about Administration, Odds and Ends  Wednesday, 17th June 2009 (by J.D. Roth)