It seems like only yesterday that I was first dipping my toes into the crowded waters of the financial blogosphere with no idea how to swim. But time really does fly, and Portfolio Charts just turned five years old! The site has grown leaps and bounds over the years and it’s amazing to see how far it has come. It’s truly a labor of love, and the intertwined journeys of personal education and creatively-shared knowledge have been tremendously rewarding for me and hopefully informative for you as well.
To celebrate the big day I thought it might be appropriate to briefly talk about the origins of Portfolio Charts, share how you can help guide the future, and initiate a fun challenge to mark the occasion.
For anyone not familiar with the history, Portfolio Charts began mostly as a way for me to easily share some of my personal spreadsheet creations with a few investing message boards I frequent. I had no idea how many people would find it even half as interesting as I did, and I certainly didn’t think that the first person to contact me would be Josh Brown! It was at that moment I understood I was onto something. While the internet is full of academic tools and financial salesmen, there’s clearly a need for reliable, intuitive, and useful investing information for everyday people. I realized I had something unique to offer, so I got busy building and writing.
Naturally things have grown and changed quite a bit over the last five years. Now at 120 posts and counting, the site has been sort of an open journal of my own investing research and data experimentation. While common themes like challenging simplified assumptions, explaining complicated topics, discussing portfolio theory, and addressing the emotional side of investing have remained constant, the underlying tools and methods have gotten a lot more sophisticated over time. From fancy new calculators to data for a growing list of countries, there’s always something new in the hopper. And I like to think my writing skill has improved as well, as I enjoy explaining tricky concepts to non-mathematicians motivated by more than just raw numbers.
Well I must be doing something right, as traffic has reached a point where my little side hobby is starting to take off with a true global impact. I’m proud, humbled, and highly motivated to continue building. So my personal goal moving forward is to spend more time working on Portfolio Charts to publish more frequently and reach as many people as possible. But I’ll need your help to make it happen.
You can make a real difference in three ways:
Share your ideas
Resources like this are only as valuable as the needs and interests of people that use them. So if there’s a feature you’ve always wanted or a question you want me to write about, please let me know. I’m always open to new ideas and I’d love to help you out. I guarantee other investors are wondering the same thing, so your simple request can ultimately help a lot of people.
Spread the word
If you’re reading this now, there’s a decent chance Portfolio Charts has helped you with your investments in some way. Often the easiest way to help others is to simply share the resources that helped you. Every social media reference, emailed link, and conversation mentioning Portfolio Charts grows the community in a compounding manner way beyond a single link, so please spread the word far and wide.
Support the site
To celebrate the site birthday and honor the spirit of its origin, I thought it might be fun to do something a little different with the normal Ko-fi donations. Starting today, every coffee will count towards a group goal with a useful reward — a custom downloadable Heat Map that works with any data you can get your hands on. So if you’ve ever considered financially supporting Portfolio Charts with a small donation, now is a great time to give it a try.
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Long story short, Portfolio Charts may be one person’s passion but I consider it a team effort. So no matter how you personally prefer to help the cause, I very much appreciate your support.
Five years is a good start, but here’s to many more. Cheers!
Portfolio Charts is funded solely by individuals just like you.