It’s been a long two weeks, but I think it’s been worthwhile. Thanks for your patience and feedback as the seven Staff Writer candidates shared their articles with you. I still think all seven are great, and wish I could bring all of them on board. It’s going to be difficult to decide whom to add as a Staff Writer.
Before I return to full-time at GRS tomorrow morning, I’d be grateful for one last batch of feedback on the candidates. Again, this isn’t an election, but I will consider your thoughts as I make my decision. What did you think of the authors and articles over the past two weeks?
As a reminder, here are the author bios (and links to their tryout pieces):
Jason Barr is a GRS reader and the author of a personal-development blog called Start Being Your Best. He’s 32 years old, has been married for seven years, and has a 2-1/2 year old son. He’s now a financial analyst, but he spent five years in the army as a Chinese linguist. You can read more of Jason’s background at his site. Jason’s contributions over the past two weeks were What I learned from failure and What is the value of a college education?
Karawynn Long has been blogging since before “blog” was even a word. There would be no Get Rich Slowly without her. I discovered her web journal back in 1997 (via her toilet-trained cat), and it led me to start my own online diary. She inspired me to write for the web. Karawynn now blogs about money at Pocketmint. Here’s more about her story. Karawynn contributed A visit to the Island of Misfit Foods and Discovering (and challenging) your financial values.
Neal Frankle is a Certified Financial Planner, and the author of Wealth Pilgrim, a blog about his own financial journey. He’s an active member of the personal finance blogging community, and has previously contributed two guest posts to Get Rich Slowly: How to read a mutual fund prospectus and How to find financial serenity. For background on Neal’s personal story, check out his recent article about how he went from homeless to homeowner. Neal’s audition articles were The benefits of starting a side business and Do you spend differently with friends?
Lynn is a long-time reader of personal-finance blogs. She is the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of her family, and is working hard to increase the financial health of her family after years of many poor financial choices. In the past, she has written for other financial publications, and is eager to contribute to Get Rich Slowly. For valid reasons, Lynn is writing under a pseudonym. Lynn shared Where to find free activities and events in your area and How a haircut led to a handy acronym.
April Dykman is a long-time GRS reader and active commenter. If you participate in the discussions, you’ve probably interacted with her. She contributed an Ask the Readers question last year about whether she should buy a car or pay off debt. (You told her to pay off debt, which she did, and she doesn’t regret it.) April’s personal site has a bit more info about her. April’s articles were Freedom from mindless spending and How to earn free plane tickets and cash back by shopping online.
Adam Baker is a relative newcomer to the personal-finance blogging community. He writes about money at Man vs. Debt, and is a frequent contributor to The Personal Finance Hour. Baker and his family recently sold everything they own to move from Indianapolis to Australia. They’re now in New Zealand, hoping to find a job. Here’s more information about Baker’s background. Baker’s try-out pieces were: How to use couchsurfing to see the world and The “do-I-have-enough-for-this?” effect.- A.J. Clark is another GRS reader who asked to audition for the Staff Writer job. A.J. is recent college graduate who writes software in the financial services industry, while trying to find his financial footing in the Real World. For valid reasons, A.J. is writing under a pseudonym, so I can’t give more background or provide a photo. His try-out pieces were Hoping to finish ahead by starting behind and What is your appetite for risk?
In theory, I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a brand-new post. In truth, I’m writing this on Friday morning before leaving for a weekend hiking trip. Depending on what time I return Sunday night, Monday’s post may appear at 10am instead of the usual 5am! I’m back from my hiking trip (very fun!) and tomorrow’s post is finished, so everything’s on schedule for the morning.
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Well, here’s my feedback on everyone, like you, I don’t have an obvious favorite.
Jason’s first article was basically just another “how I got here” anecdote, of which I’ve heard too many to care, unless you’ve gotten somewhere *really* exciting. “In credit card debt” just really isn’t that exciting though. His second article was more interesting, and could open up an good discussion. He focused on the financials, but there’s a lot more depth that could be gone into on this topic as well, and I’d be interested in that follow up.
I thought Karawynn’s first article was really kind of useless, it seemed triviallly obvious. The second one brought up a lot more interesting issue, but I feel like it could have gone a lot deeper into what determines how we perceive standard of living rather than focusing on the author’s upbringing in particular. A follow-up to this article could be really good.
I thought Neal’s first article was presumptuous and actually, for a lot of people, plain wrong. I thought his second article actually brought up a really intersting idea, though.
Lynn’s articles really didn’t resonate with me very much, but the second one was ok. I thought the first one was really uninteresting.
I liked April’s first article more than her second one. That’s largely because I have little interest in going out of my way to find deals on things, but also I felt her experience with airline miles is a bit light (as she’s never redeemed them) to be writing this article. It just didn’t seem that well-founded.
Adam seemed pretty solid, both of his articles made me think of something interesting, even if wasn’t 100% directly related to the article. Maybe not my absolute favorite articles out of the bunch, but solid and consistent (as consistent as you can be with only two opportunites).
A.J. Seems sincere, but just too immature to be helpful. I don’t mean this as any offense to him, but it seems like many (most?) GRS readers are already farther along than he is, which means he’s got little to offer these people (including myself — I feel like I should be giving him advice rather than the other way around).
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Hi J.D,
I have been reading GRS for sometime. Would think that Jason Barr would be a excellent choice for the staff writer position.
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Karawynn’s post is the the one that really caught my attention. Maybe I just related to it more than the others. I felt like she was saying something that really needed to be said, and that is not often heard expressed. It is hard to step back and look hard at yourself and your upbringing, I realize now that the first step to making a financial plan should be analyzing your expectations/assumptions. This would be great advice for engaged/newly married couples as well.
I also like her persepctive as someone who has lived and learned, and is sharing not just her knowledge but also her mistakes. Any writers that add that personal touch, instead of just dictating “this is the way it is and this is what you should do” will hopefully be the ones that make the “final cut” because that is what makes the editorial voice of GRS work, at least for me.
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As you say, it’s very tough, and each writer has obvious strengths, but I enjoyed Karawynn’s piece on financial values and think that given her own length of experience blogging (longer than any of us, I think?) and being a key inspiration for this site – as you say, “There would be no Get Rich Slowly without her” – I’d probably want to make her one of the writers for sure, if it were up to me. Also, for his wealth and range of experience and demonstrated commitment to positive psychology in regards to wealth I really like Neal Frankle as a choice, too. I’ve been a regular reader of his blog for some time now. His approach and style, it seems to me, would fit the culture of this blog and the strengths in psychology that you’ve previously mentioned you want to emphasize. Both of these candidates have also obviously demonstrated length of commitment and dedication to their own work, as well.
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Maybe you do have more young readers than you realize. I thought A.J.’s posts were great.
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All of the writers did good work. My particular favorites were the second posts of both Karawynn and Lynn.
Overall, I’m less interested in the “how-to” articles (couchsurfing, fairline tickets, etc.) because much of the material has been covered elsewhere and is largely focused on a single interest. What I find more meaningful are the lessons and discoveries of people dealing with their own money moments, because they provide me with a different perspective on my own.
Again, all of the authors did good work, and this is clearly a case of choosing the best of a great group. I disagree, as I have throughout this process, with the comments of Tyler Karaszewski, who seems not to appreciate the difference between constructive criticism and dismissive arrogance.
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Overall, I liked Karawynn and Jason’s articles the best. Both wrote thoughtful articles with practical advice.
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My opinions are just about like Molly’s on every point.
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My vote goes to Lynn. Why? Because for me, the most significant thing in my financial life is the impact my kids have had on our family finances, and she definitely brings that perspective. I find it an good complement to your experiences. She is also an excellent writer and the only one for whom I can say that I enjoyed BOTH the articles she contributed.
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I found the whole ‘audition’ thing to be off-putting and unkind, and it turned me off your site pretty fully–oh well! Why not just be intelligent and humane enough to include some people’s articles as guests on some intermittent basis without hiring them fulltime, and then if you felt the need for a staff writer, discreetly hiring someone, perhaps one of the people? This is way too creepy and unappealing and unkind to six people–too much cheap ‘reality tv’–
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This may seem unfair, but I feel strongly that your writer should NOT be a financial planner or advisor.
You want someone with an open mind and an unbiased approach to matters financial. Sometimes the professionals believe what they learned in school is gospel and cannot grow.
Best regards
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Karawynn’s wonderful! I thought her work was not only readable (I love a good story), but gave good, practical advice. And that, after all, is the name of the game.
She also gives a female viewpoint to your blog, which only expands its versatility. (I also enjoy hearing from your wife, when you let her talk, J.D.!)
Jason would be my second choice. I enjoy his wide range of experience. But I’d vote first for Karawynn.
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I agree with you, J.D. — a hard decision, as I liked many of the articles. However, as far as someone whose voice I’d like to regularly hear on the site, I’d have to say Neal Frankle. I liked his articles that he submitted, as well as the ones that I read on his site. I also like that he is a finance professional who also likes to write about the psychology of finances. His life and personality are different from J.D.’s, but not jarringly so — I think that he would contribute a different and complementary voice to the site.
The other authors were nice to read, but I don’t need another “professional amateur” like J.D. (i.e., someone who is mainly documenting their personal financial journey without particular credentials). Don’t get me wrong — they are enjoyable, and I like some of the frugal tips offered, but save those for guest posts. I think regular posts from someone whose living is helping others with finances would be a worthwhile complement to the already-great articles that J.D. writes.
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My “vote” would be to Karawynn. Her articles were two of the strongest & she’s married with stepchildren. One of the areas where you have trouble covering material is families with kids. You generally need to refer to your readers. When I read Neal’s article on creating a side business & immediately wondered whether he had kids & if so, whether his wife was the primary caretaker. I don’t think a woman who was a primary caretaker would toss out “oh just start a side business” without at least some mention of how to balance work and family.
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I was pretty biased against Mr Frankle, as I don’t really see the point of having someone with a well-established moneyblog writing here too, but I liked his posts (and his previous guest posts). Thought Karawynn and April fit the GRS mould in terms of tone and writing ability. But overall I thought all of the articles were fine but didn’t really get too excited about any of them. In an ideal world in which I were queen of the realm I would prefer JD posts or a range of guest posts to the staff writer. Not that you’re making me queen any time soon, I know! Best of luck with a difficult decision.
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I really enjoyed Neal’s posts and it would be great to have a CFP contributing to the site. All the writers were entertaining and I really enjoyed hearing their stories, but I feel like there are already a lot of people writing on personal finance blogs about they accumulated a lot of debt and their efforts to overcome bad spending habits. That kind of story is not very useful to everyone.
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I liked April’s first article the best, but I also really enjoyed Lynn’s pieces. I guess I did enjoy seeing a woman’s viewpoint on the blog and money matters.
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I really liked Adam and A.J. I’m still in college and love learning about personal finance. I felt like I could really relate to A.J. because we’re both younger. Sometimes the stuff on GRS seems mostly geared towards older people/homeowners. I read Adam’s posts on Man vs. Debt already. I do like him, but don’t really care to see him here too. I just wasn’t super interested in the other posts.
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I thought Karawynn was the best writer, and I liked Adam too (as I’m a proponent of couchsurfing). I agree that a perspective from someone with kids would be nice, but I’m not crazy about Lynn’s use of acronyms. Props to Jason for questioning the monetary value of college, that was interesting.
Also, I guess I’m biased, but, um, I doubt I would read the blog of someone wearing a suit (and how interesting that Neal posted about clothes!)
Overall, I think Karawynn is the only one who came close to the personal feel of Get Rich Slowly.
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Karawynn was my favorite. The posts spoke to me in a way that the others didn’t. Some great stuff from everyone, but her life seems like my life.
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I liked Karawynn and Jason the best. This is my first post but I thought you would like to know what a lurker has to say.
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Put simply, I think it comes down to not only which articles reached me as a reader now, but which were in the “interesting enough that I might need to know that someday” file.
For that, only one writer of the seven really scored – Adam Baker.
I try to remember with my blog that it’s not all about me the writer, but also about the lives of the reader – now and in the coming years. GRS is a resource I hope to be referring to over many years as a good source of ideas and experience for all sorts of situations.
Again, I feel the only writer that met my needs was Adam Baker.
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If I had a vote, I’d probably pick Karawynn. The article about financial upbringing was interesting in discussing the sort of hidden background ideas that people have their whole lives and never question. I think that is actually the only topic in the whole set of fourteen that would not easily be found elsewhere, so it’s valuable to bring up.
April Dykman’s flow article was good, by in effect discussing the economy of personal value – what a person is actually trying to achieve in their life. The true precious resource is time, not money, so fundamentally the flow article gets at the very heart of what everyone’s economic decisions should be about. I didn’t like the airline mile thing at all, though. It’s an investment in a currency that can be devalued at will by the entities who issued it. It’s like being paid in scrip that can only be used at the company store.
Jason Barr’s analysis of the value of a college education was far too generalized. It’s clear that many people get enormous value out of their college education. Why is that? What can someone do to switch from a worse outcome to a better outcome? At least address those questions!
Neal Frankle’s side business article was okay, but doesn’t fit the site. Seems like the point was “this won’t get you much money and it won’t get you much freedom, but you’ll get lots of satisfaction.” That may be true, but how will that help me get rich slowly? April got to the flow idea much more directly and effectively.
Lynn’s articles were okay. I think the free-events article was a little borderline for this site, and doesn’t really fit.
Baker’s couchsurfing article felt like an informercial. It was a real turnoff. It would have seemed much better if he’d cited an alternative way of looking for couchsurfing opportunities.
A.J. Clark’s writing was very self-directed, almost diary-like. I think that might speak to some readers, but to me it feels like he isn’t addressing the reader.
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Jason and Karawynn seem to fit in the best with the overall aims and style of GRS.
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(Before the audition process I’d had virtually no knowledge of any of the candidates.) April was the best in my mind. Her writing was high quality and her posts “meaty” and intelligent. Some of the other candidates’ articles seemed more like fluff than quality audition pieces. I agree with Cindy at #12 that your blog would have more balance with a female viewpoint.
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Although they were all good, my personal favorite was Jason Barr. His two articles were the most thought-provoking for me.
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I thought AJ did the best job. i like his inexperience because his thoughts are fresh and different. I think the new voice needs to be different from JD. I dont think it is good to give a lot of the same viewpoints.
I also thought karawynn was good. Probably my #2 choice. I like that she is a woman. it gives me something different than my own male viewpoint. both sides of the coin, so to speak.
Any of them are satisfactory though.
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I usually read GRS along with dozens of other blogs in bloglines, so I do a lot of skimming. Two of the articles held my interest enough to read them all the way through: Karawynn’s article on our financial upbringing, and Jason’s article on our purchasing habits with friends. I’ve been thinking about Karawynn’s article ever since, trying to figure out how to add good solid money-management teaching into my homeschool curriculum. I did not feel the same way about Jason’s article, and frankly, I thought it was confusing advice.
I know I didn’t do all my research and read all the articles, but for someone who only hits the site when I find it personally interesting, I thought you’d like the input.
I’m looking forward to having JD back though, that’s for sure!
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I would be happy with Karawynn, Jason or April. I don’t envy your having to choose!
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I enjoyed the pieces from Karawynn and from Adam.
Enjoyed a lot of the other ones too. I join several of the other commenters in feeling this audition brought out some of the “dark side” of GRS readers. People seemed to feel invited to personally attack the writers and decry how little they liked the voice, the writing, the topic, and how much they’d rather read something by you. Must be flattering, but it was a negative vibe around here! Especially unwarranted since I felt these writers put a good effort forward into trying to fit the GRS philosophy and tone. Anyway, I hope once you’ve made the selection, we can move on and not keep doing this every time the new staff writer posts something.
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RE: The “process”
I’m not sure what the best way to handle this was. I understand some of you felt the auditions were a poor way to pick another writer, and I’m sorry they bothered you. It wasn’t my intention to make anyone feel awkward or bad. I genuinely wanted feedback from GRS readers, and I wanted to expose you to new writers.
I agree that it’s too bad some people felt it necessary to pick on the candidates. As I said, I think they’re all great. But handling negatives comment is a very real part of writing a blog, so dealing with the criticism is, in a way, a key part of the audition process.
If I were to do this again, I think I’d look for a different method. Specifically, I think I’d do anonymous tryouts. But I still think it was important to allow the community to have a say on the future of the site…
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I really enjoyed all the articles. Been on vacation, and man did I have much good stuff to read when I got back!
My favorites are Baker and Karawynn!
But all were good, so why don’t you take all? Rotation-system works perfect… one article every 2 weeks. Gives you more time too!
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My favorite piece of all 14 by far (and it was one of only two — the other being the frequent-flyer-rewards post — that made me post a comment) was the second piece by Karawynn. Very well-written, and very thought-provoking.
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You have a tough decision to make!! I especially liked Adam, April, Lynn and Karawyn!! And most of the others too
Have fun picknig the staff writer(s)!!
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I liked Clark & Barr’s posts/voices the best. Truthfully, JD is still my favorite.
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I enjoyed Adam, Neal and Karawynn myself. They were the only ones that had posts that I actually read the whole way through, and I read all of the regular posts the whole way through. A lot of the others had topics that didn’t resonate or they written in a way that made me think they didn’t resonate.
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I’m a faithful reader though I don’t participate in commenting. Of the audition columns, I most valued the ones focused on values and philosophy. How-to info is all over the place; I’m much more interested right now in being aware of my own thinking and in hearing how others reason and feel their way through money issues.
All the writing was very competent — some truly excellent. Based on these pieces, I think Karawynn would add the most to value to GRS for readers like me.
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I find I can remember what A.J. Clark actually said in his articles, so they have stuck best with me. Plus, I really like his choice of topics.
And I am not young, though maybe younger than most in ‘investment years’!
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My Opinion alone:
Adam Baker is my favorite based on providing the most actionable content, followed by Lynn for solid content and a different perspective from JD, and Baker for discussion-provoking posts.
Kudos to everyone though — this has been a fun 2 weeks
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I really liked Neal’s posts, it seems he would contribute a lot to GRS. Lynn’s posts weren’t as helpful; it didn’t seem like anything we didn’t already know.
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I read GRS for the financial information and for the psychological aspect of it that J.D. likes to write about. I’m MUCH less interested in his garden (no offense). There were good articles from (almost) all the candidates. That said, I couldn’t even get through April’s haircut, I don’t care about anything called “couchsurfing”, and I thought Jason’s advice on college was borderline irresponsible. At the end of the day I have to give the edge to either Neal, Karawynn or A.J.
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My vote is for Lynn or April. Good balance of personal stories and clear, helpful tips!
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All the writers were pretty good. I think I liked Jason best. Karawynn would be my second choice.
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Karawynn’s voice seemed to blend into GRS the most, and both of her posts were very interesting to me in very different ways.
But they all seem to be good writers with plenty to say.
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April’s first article was my favorite. Karawynn’s second article was pretty good, too.
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My votes are for Neal and Adam. Both had articles that really caught my attention, and neal especially has an interesting back story that really intrigues me.
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I enjoy articles about the psychology of money and the relationship between personal finances and finding our life’s purpose/goals/values.
I especially enjoyed April Dykman’s “Freedom from Mindless Spending” and Karawynn Long’s “Discovering and Challenging Financial Values.” I would love to see more posts like those.
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Just wanted to take a minute to formally thank JD and all the readers for the opportunity to audition.
I enjoyed all the posts and learned something from each one.
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I liked Karawyn and Adam the best. I preferred their voices and experiences to the others.
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I really enjoyed the perspective offered by Lynn. It’s not only that of a frugal woman but a frugal mom, and though I wouldn’t say that your blog is missing anything, she would be adding more variety to the content.
I just think it might be a good balance to add a woman’s perspective.
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