Another year ends… and here we are celebrating the blog’s 11th anniversary!
2024 retrospective of the blog
I’m starting off with other projects related to the blog, and then I’ll end up with the blog.
My book: “Free by 40 in Switzerland”
As a reminder, my book will become a national bestseller once it sells 3'000 copies.
And at the time of writing this article, the total sales have reached… 2'947 copies sold!!!
So 2025 will be the year when the “National bestseller” banner (AND a proper preface… spoiler!) will appear on the book’s cover. I can’t wait!
But anyway, all that is mainly for my ego…
Because what I get more pleasure from is getting feedback from readers like this:
I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me with this project since the beginning.
“Start investing in the stock market (in Switzerland)” beginners program
I came across the recommendation of a dentist (!) in 2024, who had become a blogger.
He said (I’m paraphrasing):
If you’ve already created a product on your blog or elsewhere, don’t go straight on to creating another. Instead, review it, improve it, make a v2 that people will like even more!
I found that interesting as I was about to start writing a new program or book.
But rather than going down that route, I decided to make 2024 the year of v2s!
After having requested and consolidated feedback from all the participants of my beginners program for investing in the stock market in Switzerland, I got down to work.
After several weeks of toiling on this big v2 update, I wasn’t disappointed in having followed the advice of a dentist! Here’s the feedback I received after launching it:
It brings me enormous pleasure (and a sense of pride as well) to help these readers overcome their fear of the stock market. Because I know it will have a very meaningful and tangible impact on their future life and their financial independence.
“Real estate investing in Switzerland” program
Likewise with my real estate investment program, I reviewed it in depth and released a v2.
It was Alberto’s feedback on his experience that had the biggest impact on me:
It doesn’t get any better than that!
With that, you can imagine how my motivation was boosted like never before (if it needed to be)!
“Real estate investing in France (as a Swiss resident)” program
This program is the latest to be added to the list, so there was no need for a v2 (yet).
It’s funny because it’s thanks to everything I learned in this last one that I had the courage to take the plunge into real estate investment.
Once you get into it, including receiving rental income every month, it’s pretty hard to give it up :)
Important note: as investing in real estate in France requires being able to speak French, this program is only available in this language. If I receive enough requests to translate it into English or German, then I might change my mind :)
“Club MP” private newsletter
I don’t often highlight this section, which is probably a mistake.
In this “Club MP” private newsletter (fee payable) I share more spontaneous news, like when I bought my second rental investment property in Switzerland as it was happening :)
In it, I also document each of my buying/selling transactions in the stock market in real time, as well as all the unfiltered figures of my wealth:
Plus I use it to thank all the MP supporters up to now! As well as for all the discussions we have behind the scenes :)
YouTube videos
I nearly forgot my YouTube channel!
It’s a format that I both like and dislike.
I like it because it makes a change from writing, and it’s more alive. And I like it less because as I want to maintain my anonymity, video loses its alive aspect.
Nevertheless, the quality of those who appeared on the channel was very high in 2024! I’ll leave you to make your own mind up about the videos posted:
FI Planner
And before moving onto the main event, here’s the latest project: FI Planner.
If you missed this update, all the details of how this “Swiss financial independence planner” project came about are in this article.
The first piece of good news: we’ve found a name for it! (So it’s FI Planner)
The second piece of good news: we’re progressing much faster than we’d hoped. We’re in the process of pampering our first 10 clients of the prototype with personalized support.
The tool is functioning perfectly, but still needs some manual interventions from us, and also a proper design (but that’s for later).
Our goal is to launch the tool in 100% automated mode (meaning without Patrik’s or my human intervention) by the end of 2025, with a target of 100 regular clients.
I’ll show you a screenshot of where we’re up to currently:
If you’re interested in getting more regular news about the FI Planner project (than via my usual articles), you can sign up through this specific form:
The one, the only, THE blog!
So, my old friend, I wish you a very happy 11th birthday.
I sense that adolescence is approaching, with the desire for new projects… I’m excited to see where we’ll be when you reach 18!!
Anyway, let’s do our usual review of the blog’s statistics.
Page views
As normal, I’ll start with what’s good for the ego (but which says nothing about the health of a business, by the way), which is the number of page views last year:
Not so bad for a little personal project when we see that there were 1'274'301 page views of the blog!
Newsletter subscribers: +32% growth!
5'698 were subscribed at the end of 2023, and 7'554 were subscribed at the end of 2024.
I’m (pleasantly) surprised myself by this 32% growth (given it was +9% last year). But when comparing to previous years, it’s pretty much around average. I think that my regularity in publishing articles on a weekly basis has paid off.
Nevertheless, it’s the open rate of my newsletters that interests me the most. This means that out of 100 people who received my newsletter, how many actually opened it:
- 2021: 65%
- 2022: 71%
- 2023: 67%
- 2024: 67% as well
That’s perfect. Because the risk with an increase in subscribers is having a reduction in the open rate.
And knowing that I’ve set myself a range of 65-75%, we’re still on target. All’s well 👍 — especially compared to the industry “standard” which is around 17-38%…
Chart showing the number of subscribers to the Mustachian Post blog newsletter (updated end of 2024)
Traffic
And here’s a graph illustrating the number of visitors as well as the number of page views:
Graph showing the number of visitors and page views of the Mustachian Post blog (updated end of 2024)
The “decline” in 2024 has to be due to my change to Google Analytics 4.
As for the rest, if the difference from the previous year is not huge (around -20 or -50%), I’m not really concerned.
Articles
A good result is publishing between 35-40 articles.
As mentioned above, I’m therefore very happy to have achieved 36 articles published in 2024 (not counting the updates to existing blogposts).
Also, if you have any (constructive) feedback on the content and the direction the blog is taking, I’m open to hearing it! (simply respond to any newsletter that you receive in order to reach me)
Media
On writing this, I’ve just realized that there was no promotion of the blog in the media in 2024.
Well, actually, that’s not entirely true as, from memory, I received requests from two radio stations and podcasts. But they were unable or unwilling to change my voice so that I could maintain my anonymity. No big deal.
However, in 2025, I can already announce that I will appear on a new podcast.
On that note: if you’re a journalist or member of a community (like a university newspaper or any other type of media), contact me via media[at]mustachianpost.com if you’re interested in an interview on the subject of financial independence in Switzerland (aka FIRE). And we can have a good chat about it in person.
Blog income and expenditure
And finally, THE section that everyone’s been eagerly awaiting, including me: how much did the blog make and cost!
First, I want to add a note that is important for me:
One of my reader buddies recently asked me:
“But Marc, aren’t you worried about making people jealous? And that some people might no longer read your blog after reading this article?!”
I responded: “Are YOU jealous when you read these figures?”
“Well no, obviously not. On the contrary, it inspires and motivates me to chat to another Swiss entrepreneur who thinks the way I do!”
So my response was therefore: “Well, there you go! That’s exactly why I’m so transparent: to inspire readers. To provide them with some value. And the advantage of this strategy is that those who remain are the people with whom I want to chat and who then inspire me (i.e. and not the jealous ones)!”
And here are the figures:
I’m really pleased with the success of this little “personal project”, which has gradually transformed into a sustainable entrepreneurial project.
And talking of sustainability, I always have a little voice in my head that tells me I could already be FIRE if I wanted to… I could give up my job, and my extra free time would no doubt enable me to increase the blog revenue. And therefore be able to be properly financially independent.
But the other side of my brain (you know, the voice of the repressed and fearful entrepreneur) tells me not to risk it. And to see my current job — which I actually quite enjoy — as the primary investor in my entrepreneurial adventure :)
The expenses, however, have increased by 69%! This can be explained by various investments:
- Creation of a v2 of my programs
- Editing, post production, translation, and publication of videos on my YouTube channel
- And of course, more book sales mean more printing costs :)
And as Warren Buffett says so well: distribution of dividends (i.e. paying myself the profits) should happen when there really is no better option for making the company’s available cash work for it ;)
Business ethic
Since 2020, I’ve copied and pasted this paragraph so that newcomers are aware of my policy on this subject:
“Profit is related to the subject of ethics. In other words, how not to get drawn into “making cash at any cost with the blog”, and end up losing readers one by one.
Because so that we’re clear, I’m the first to unsubscribe from a blog if I start to see that opinions are becoming biased due to money.
This subject is something that is close to my heart and translates into things like:
- Saying clearly to one of the banks I recommend that they won’t have exclusivity on my blog, as everything rests precisely on my honest comparisons (which they did actually understand very well)
- Continuing to recommend Interactive Brokers * as the best online broker for a Swiss investor. And this is even though I get a lot less affiliate commission than with other local online brokers
- Not accepting any sponsored articles (I get several requests every week!), because for one, they’re never tailored to Switzerland, and two, it would undermine the blog
- Being transparent in telling you which are affiliate links so that everything is clear between us (if I forget at some point, don’t hesitate to let me know — I need to improve on this again, as I’ve forgotten way too many times in recent months, sorry!)
- Not judging or religiously pushing my choices, like for example when a reader told me that he was going to stick with Raiffeisen, because it pays for itself with all the museums that he can visit for free every year with his family. And on the contrary, these chats encourage me to do some further thinking
- Never selling on email addresses of the readers who have subscribed to the newsletter
- And, lastly, even though this seems blindingly obvious to me, only recommending tools and services that I use and have tested myself in my daily life”
Forum
And lastly, here’s how the forum has evolved in 2024:
We’ve really hit our stride in these last four years :)
Once again, an ENORMOUS THANK YOU to our three moderators — Julianek, Bojack, and newcomer Dr.PI — for their contribution to making the forum a high-quality place.
Outlook for 2025
The year of the FI Planner…
Since the start of my journey towards financial independence, I’ve always dreamed of having an accurate and reliable calculator, rather than just the 4% rule.
I’ve therefore decided that this “FI Planner” project will be my main focus for 2025.
I’d give anything to know what stage it’ll be at by 31.12.2025! Patience, patience…
…and ever more useful articles for you dear reader
Obviously, the “FI Planner” focus is on top of my main core focus: publishing an article every Thursday morning, in order to help you achieve your own financial independence in Switzerland!
Furthermore, if you have a subject related to money / investing / stock market / real estate that you’re struggling with, or a financial situation that you don’t know how to tackle, then continue to email me like some do. It gives me ideas for pertinent articles (because if you have a specific problem, there’s a strong chance that you’re not the only one in Switzerland!)
In terms of quantity, I’m keeping my objective of publishing 35-40 articles on the blog.
…and new disruptive interviews
I’m going to put less energy into YouTube in 2025.
BUT, I’ve got two planned that you won’t be expecting; in the sense that they’re people that you wouldn’t think of.
Stay tuned! (you can subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to receive a notification when they’re released)
…and the year when my book is going to become a “National Bestseller”!
Finally, the last plan for 2025 is that my book is going to become a national bestseller in Switzerland!
Well yes, some say 3'000 copies sold, others 10'000, and then others 7'000. Basically, everyone takes the figure that suits them, but the minimum is 3'000, according to everything I’ve been able to read on this subject (and there is not that much information).
In order to celebrate all that, I’m planning to add a new preface to the book. Well, three prefaces I should say! Because I want a specific one for each language (as French-speaking Swiss don’t have the same references as German-speaking Swiss, or English speakers).
I’m already excited!
Thank you, genuinely!
I’m ending this article about the blog’s 11th anniversary by saying a big THANK YOU!
To those of you who have followed me since the beginning, or those who have joined more recently.
Without you, this would be meaningless…
Thanks!
And off we go again for a new year of chatting about money, FIRE, dreams, entrepreneurship, investments and so much more!
* This symbol indicates where my article contains affiliate links. If you use any of them, you won’t see any difference compared to a standard link — but the blog will receive affiliate commission. I thank you for that. As usual, I only write about and review things that I use in my day-to-day life, or in which I have confidence.
Main photo credit: pexels.com
