My Blog
A lookback at TheFinance.sg 2014
By Derek  •  December 29, 2014
Regular readers would have remembered that my site was inaccessible in early November this year. There has been short outages before but this was far the longest . My web host shut down my entire server because they detected suspicious traffic. As much as I wanted to resolve this issue quickly, I could not because the web host is located in US and it will be extremely costly to contact their phone support. Online chat support was also limited and I can only rely on email. I stayed up till the wee hours in the morning just so that I can reply and have an update on the status. It was during this time that the thought of abandoning the site crept in. TheFinance.sg started in 2007 and like most financial bloggers, it started off as a blog where I pen down my financial journey. I also started to keep a list of a few bloggers so that I can learn from them. Overtime, this list grew and I was reading more than I was writing. Interesting enough, traffic did not fall but rose instead. It would seem that people are coming in because of this 'list'. It hit upon me that I could get something going on here - I could share this list to more people. Readers will benefit from having a single portal to read up on finance and investing blogs and bloggers can get more exposure. Fast forward 2014, I am encouraged by the growing number of readers but I wonder how long this can last. The issue of cost and time weigh heavily on my mind. An increase in traffic and blogs means I have to invest more on web hosting and related services. I also have to spend a small sum to maintain my presence on the Internet. More time is also required to update and maintain the growing list of blogs, and reply to readers/bloggers queries. It soon become evident that in order to sustain this site a new plan is required. In those 'dark' November days, I received encouragement from unexpected sources. Emails came not only from bloggers but also readers as well. It would have been impossible for these readers to contact me because my site was down, but these readers still managed to reach me via my email feeds. The fact that they wanted to notify me implies that they are following my site closely. A big thank you to the bloggers and readers. I will also like to thank a special someone J for her words of encouragement. There were several positives in 2014 as well. The increased in the number of bloggers and readers. I will like to take this opportunity to apologize to the bloggers who want to have their blogs included. I am doing house-keeping and will revert to you ASAP. I also got to meet several bloggers and had an enjoyable session with them. I look forward to meeting more next year. The first Personal Finance Investment Seminar by bloggers will be held in January 2015. The organizer contacted me and I was more than happy to use my site as a platform to reach out to more people. I will be volunteering for crowd control (seems like a job made for me). Anyone who is attending and want to say 'hi' can drop me a comment or via my contact form. Come 2015, I will be making changes to my business model. Yes, I am going to treat TheFinance.sg as a business so that it can continue to grow and contribute to the increasingly vibrant Finance community. Wishing all readers a Blessed and Prosperous 2015.
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By Derek
Derek is an investor who follows Peter Lynch style of investing. He prefers to use simple and straight forward information for stock analysis. He started TheFinance.sg with the intention to bring together all bloggers and professionals who are interested or already in the area of Finance and Investing, and to create a community where everyone is free to write and to share their articles, experience and opinions.
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13 Comments

13 responses to “A lookback at TheFinance.sg 2014”

  1. Mike says:

    Hi Derek,

    Indeed, you have come a long way. I appreciate the traffic directed from your site. I wonder how long we can talk to ourselves and keep blogging.

    Yes, I notice a increase in bloggers, maybe bigger community means bigger audience, and higher advertisement. LOL

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi Mike,

      Glad to hear that and I am thankful for your support.

      My plan is to unite this community and create an identity. Strength in numbers you know, then the BB might start to take notice of us. When we sneeze, SGX catches a cold. LOL

  2. LP says:

    Hi Derek,

    Wah, business huat liao :) Haha, hope you don’t start charging the bloggers and the readers ;) If it’s unavoidable, create a special plan for oldies like us lol!

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi LP,

      Huat? Don’t think so unless some venture capitalist decide to buy over my site. LOL

      Don’t worry. I won’t be charging personal blogs or readers because you made my site what it is today.

  3. jared seah says:

    Hello Derek,

    Thanks for being my blog master and trusting me to do my own “censorship”.

    Yes! Treat it as a business and this site shall be the ring that rules them all,

    To Good Times!

    Cheers!

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi SMOL,

      Calling me your Blog Master gives me the goosebumps. LOL

      Thanks for your words of encouragement.

      今天很残酷, 明天更残酷,但是后天很美好。
      – 马云 –

  4. Roland says:

    Hi Derek,

    First of all, thanks for agreeing to help spread the awareness of the inaugural Personal Financial Seminar! Without the strong support from fellow bloggers, it will not be possible to fill the seminar room.
    I am very glad to hear that the local financial blogging scene is growing and certainly hope what we do can help grow it more.
    Keep up the good work!

  5. RetailTrader says:

    Hi Derek

    thefinance.sg is one of the top feeds for my RSS, and long may it continue! There are many finance websites on the web out there but it’s always good to read articles penned with a Singaporean voice (instead of an ang moh voice!). Thank you for what you have been doing for us, the readers.

    • Derek Lim says:

      Hi RetailTrader,

      Thank you for your encouraging words. Singapore Blogs by Singaporeans for Singaporeans ya.

      I have to apologize for not adding your site yet. I’m setting up a sister site for trading blogs. I will keep you posted once it is up.

      Cheers!

  6. SGYI says:

    Hi Derek,

    Now I get a glimpse of the finance identity you were talking about. Let’s work together to do something greater for the finance community :)

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