Iona Bain
It’s been a breakthrough year on the blog. We won an award in November for Money Blogger of the Year at the Santander Media Awards. Our spin-off book Spare Change was named one of the top five feminist books of 2016 by the Independent.
We’ve made our voices heard with media appearances like never before (a special Brexit edition of ITV Tonight and several appearances on BBC Breakfast, including one in a gym full of men working out, oh my) as well as speaking slots at several events such as the Henley Literary Festival and the Association of British Credit Unions. We even met with officials from the Treasury last week to discuss ways to get young people saving more.
We’re gradually building a loyal and thoughtful readership, cementing our policy of being independent and trustworthy. We continue to forgo direct monetisation in favour of a varied and considered platform which captures the real zeitgeist of ‘young money’ issues – what you’re really talking (or at least thinking) about when it comes to money, economics, business and careers. We’ve been a tad idiosyncratic in recruiting family members to write for the blog but we hope this gives it even more of a personal and authentic feel. We’ve been delighted to have many talented external writers contribute articles over the year and in Autumn, we recruited Bain Senior, a recently-retired journalist of 40 years experience, to help us out (he may be in his mid-sixties but he puts the rest of us to shame with his youth!)
This is why we refer to “we” rather than “me” – it has been a proper team effort (so it’s not the royal “we” that we’re using…sorry Queenie.)
This is, first and foremost, a journalistic blog – every article is carefully researched, written and edited. While we can’t purport to be perfect, we take great care over what we do.
We’re still small and non-profit but with your support for our mission – spreading the word about the merits of money management and speaking up on behalf of financially disenfranchised young people – we can hope to have a greater influence over the media and political agenda in years to come. We don’t pay for representation through a PR firm or a speakers’ agency, we don’t conduct paid advertising or SEO optimisation…we just want to get out there through real word of mouth.
We know that playing the typical blogging game might get us more followers on social media or crossover from other blogs’ traffic, but we want our readers to be as genuine as our articles. A small band of engaged readers who keep coming back is worth more than thousands of fleeting eyeballs. We want to concentrate on producing quality journalism, not churning out pap and becoming Twitter goblins.
We hope that it’s not just you who will benefit from our blog in 2017 but your friends, family, colleagues & anyone who wants to feel more “in control” of their lives (as much as they can be!)
Please tell those you love to subscribe. Better still, give them a gift that they will love and help them start 2017 with a real spring in their step.
Spare Change is genuinely a perfect present for anyone and everyone. Packed with brilliant quotes, illustrations and checklists, it tells us (pretty much) everything you need to know to have a happier and healthier relationship with money. No lecturing, no brow-beating, no jargon…just lots of simple, common-sense advice with plenty of humour, inspiration and pizzazz in-between!
Or if you’ve been a naughty little monkey and left it all to the last minute, copies should be available at every good Waterstones in the business and finance section – phone ahead to see if your local store has one!
So while we take a festive break, we wish all our supporters a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year – may it bring wisdom, contentment and a reignited desire to control your money (rather than letting it control you!)
