The Retirement Newsletter: Happy Birthday! The Retirement Newsletter is 1
Issue Number: -83 — how much has the Retirement Newsletter made in its first year?
Welcome
Welcome to issue number -83.
This week is a special birthday issue; the Retirement Newsletter is one.
I can’t believe it. The newsletter has been running for a year. And it nearly didn’t make it to its first birthday as I was busy with my day job this week and almost didn’t write it.
Happy Birthday to The Retirement Newsletter.
So, how has the first year been? Well, I like numbers, so here goes.
The first-year stats
I like numbers, I like statistics, so here are some numbers.
First edition
I published the first edition of The Retirement Newsletter on the 20th of June, 2021.
Unlike most first editions, a copy of the first edition of The Retirement Newsletter is worth nothing. Thirty-one people read my first newsletter on Substack. A year later, this has grown to around thirty-five people reading the newsletter on Substack. Yes, The Retirement Newsletter is huge, and I am waiting for a call with an offer to buy me out for a massive sum.
Total number of editions in the last year
In the last year, there have been, including this one, 55 editions. I was expecting that to be 52 or 53. I am not sure why there are some extra editions.
Total subscribers to the newsletter
On Substack, and this is why I am expecting the big buy-out, I have 45 subscribers.
Over the last few weeks, I have seen a bit of a jump, which is good, but I was hoping to have reached triple digits by now.
I also re-publish the newsletter on Medium; on that site, I have gained 240 subscribers in the past year.
So, people are seeing my content, but I would like it to be more.
From my subscribers on Substack, I am getting around a 35% opening rate on the newsletter emails. I have no idea whether that is good or not.
The most popular edition
Well, this is a tough one to answer.
On Substack, it was I am not a Baby Boomer?. The edition went to 29 subscribers with 136 opens. I must admit that I don’t understand that stat. The same article only got 25 views on Medium.
On Medium, the reposting of What does a comfortable retirement mean? gained the most views — 175. But, the same piece on Substack was only read 23 times.
Bottom line, I am unsure what is happening with the subscriber and reading numbers.
My hard work
Fifty-five additions, but how much work is that?
As I write the newsletter using a program called Ulysses — a great writing tool — I can answer that using their hand stats function:
55 editions
A little over 60,000 words — just short of an average novel that comes in at 70,000 to 100,000 words. So a little over 1,000 words per issue.
Over 330,000 characters.
The total reading time is 4 hours and 14 minutes. Or 4.6 minutes per issue. I am happy with that as I aim for 4 to 5 minutes of reading time per issue.
Out of curiosity, I ran a word cloud on the 60,000 plus words to see if there were any reoccurring themes, and I will leave you to judge. The bigger the word, the more times the word has appeared in the newsletter.
Yes, I think the Retirement Newsletter is obsessed with retirement.
Have I made enough money to retire?
OK, so I guess this is the question that you want me to answer.
Have I made enough money with The Retirement Newsletter to retire? If you have been following along, you should know the answer from the stats above. And the answer is no. Shocking, huh?
Have I made any money? Well, yes, I have.
On Substack, the newsletter is free, so it has made no money. But, I did receive £3 (about $3.60) from readers buying me tea. So, thank you for that. They are much appreciated.
On Medium, I am part of the partner programme, and so I have made some money from members reading my material. And my total on Medium is $63 (£51.50). And that is over nine months, as I did not qualify for the programme until September 2021.
So, total annual earnings: £54 or $66.
The future
With that giddy income of £54 or $66 for the year from The Retirement Newsletter, what are the plans for the future?
A sensible person would pack their bags, call it quits and go home. But I am not sensible. I am not writing the newsletter to make money; I write it because I enjoy writing it and because it gives me something to do. Plus, if one person reads the content and it helps them, my job is done.
What are my plans for the future of this newsletter?
I am determined to keep publishing until the issue counter reaches zero. That is, I will publish until I retire and then who knows? And as this is issue -83, there are 83 weeks to go, so another 83 editions.
Do I know what I will be writing about in the coming issues? Yes!
You may find this hard to believe, but I do plan things out. And coming up there all be issues on:
The great academic lie — why do I want to retire?
My next quarterly review, where I will be panicking about my savings.
More material on hobbies and side-hustle. I currently have six articles in the works.
I will be revisiting ageism and looking at what it means to be a boomer or a Jones.
Reflecting on what it means to be retired and ending a 40-year career.
The delights of nature.
And my health.
And believe it or not, that should take us to Hallowe’en.
Useful links
Links from above:
Buy me a cup of tea — buy me a cup of tea to say thanks
Classic Word Cloud — handy tool for generating word clouds
Medium — the ‘holiday home’ of the Retirement Newsletter
Substack — the home of the Retirement Newsletter
Ulysses — a great writing tool for the Mac — worth checking out.
Reflections
I like walking, and last week I wandered into a field that the farmer had planted out with wild daisies. This is the second year he (or she) has done it, and you may have seen a shot of the field from last year at the start of Issue -85: Planning my funeral. Anyway, here are a few shots from this year. Enjoy.
Next week
Next week, in issue -82, I will be looking at the real reason I want to retire — the great academic lie.
Thanks
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please don't hesitate to share it with your friends or on social media.
If you would like to say 'thanks' for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea?
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.