I’ve exchanged some of the stress and risk in my life for a more comfortable situation.
At the end of October, as some readers have been aware, I relinquished my ownership of Consumerism Commentary. There was an announcement in the Wall Street Journal that I’ll link to below for those who are curious about some of the circumstances. Despite no longer owning this website, I am deeply involved in its operation, particularly from an editorial standpoint, though not limited to just the articles. I still write all the articles published under the names Flexo and Luke Landes and oversee and edit any content by other contributing writers such as Ellen Cooper-Davis.
Very little on Consumerism Commentary has changed or will change from a reader’s perspective due to this shift in ownership. It does change my immediate financial outlook, however.
Although little has changed about the way I work from day to day, I am technically an employee. This arrangement has benefits as well as drawbacks. I have better health insurance coverage than I had with COBRA coverage with my old employer’s plan, and it’s certainly better and much more affordable than I would have had with individual coverage. I don’t need to worry much about the effect of changes in a competitive marketplace on revenue because my pay check is consistent. Theoretically, a large company has the resources to grow this website’s presence larger and more quickly than I might have been able to accomplish on my own, and I can focus on more important things, like writing, without spending much time on other business matters.
On the other hand, I have ceded some of my independence and must now create a new strategy for moving to the next step in my life.
I don’t intend to go into much detail about the change in ownership, a change that has been in development for well over a year, but it is worth mentioning due to its effect on my finances in the future. I’ve used Consumerism Commentary as a way to share the details of my personal finances through monthly reports, goal sharing, and other articles wherein I discuss very personal matters, and I plan for this to continue. If I weren’t to mention this change, it would make it difficult for me to share my goals for the future in context.
I will offer my specific goals and resolutions for the new year soon, as I’ve done in many recent years.
You can read more about this on the official release on the Wall Street Journal, and I’ll have more to share from a personal perspective in the coming months.
Updated June 18, 2014 and originally published January 2, 2012.
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There are personal and professional goals that still are important whether you are self employed or just an employee. I look forward to seeing them. Happy New Year.
Congrats, hope you made good money out of the sale. Read the release, I was unaware that JD Roth didn’t own GRS?? Seems that this is the way the big moneyblogs are going, I’m happy for you guys personally but sort of sad in a way that these are just corporate properties now.
OMG I can’t believe you sold out! Just kidding!…I wish you success. I’ll continue to read consumerism commentary as long as the content and frequent postings continues and stays about the same general personal finance subject.
Thanks, Squeezer! Hope to see you around.
I wish you continued success and look forward to continuing great articles.
Congrats and good luck. I’ve enjoyed reading this blog for a long time and hope it will continue putting out the same level of quality posts.
Here’s hoping that you can find more time for sleeping now.
Sleep? I hadn’t really considered that. I do get more sleep now than I used to, but the sleep I get is often interrupted by my very vocal cat.
Awww you have a kitty LOL I’ve always been a huge fan so when I heard about this I was so happy for you because you put in so much work into this site over the last umpteen years! Im eager to see what you have in store for the next chapter as I am sure it will be equally great if not better.
Congrats on the next step! :)
Just keep posting the important messages, quality articles and the monthly balance sheets and you have me stick around.
Congrats, Flexo.