Review of 2012 Stats

Ed. Note: As in past years, I’m taking a break from my normal business of posting retirement, tax and other personal financial planning topics to report on the blog itself and the statistics we’ve seen in this, the 9th year of publication for this blog. I’ll be back to regular programming with the next entry. – jb

Over the past year, this blog has seen continued growth as in years past. This year I released An IRA Owner’s Manual, and many of you have picked up copies, thank you!  In addition, this year Sterling Raskie joined the staff here at Blankenship Financial, and he’s been adding content to the blog, giving you an additional perspective on all things financial.

In November we launched the first "1% More" initiative, rallying 23 other bloggers to publish articles encouraging Americans to save at least 1% more in the coming year.  This was a fulfilling project and we look forward to doing it again in the future – hopefully it will make a difference!

Through your comments and email questions I have come to meet literally hundreds and hundreds of you over the years – and we’ve learned a lot together. I’ll take this opportunity to thank you for your tremendous support by reading, asking questions, and making comments on what I have written. I hope these interactions have been as fulfilling for you as they have been for me.

Planned for 2013: more of all the wonderful income tax, IRA, Social Security and other retirement, investment and financial planning articles that you’ve come to expect; an updated edition of A Social Security Owner’s Manual; more posts from Sterling, including a series he’s been working on relating to fiscal and physical fitness; book reviews as a part of the arrangement with McGraw-Hill; and continuing the pace of approximately 150 to 200 posts throughout the year. Please pass along any suggestions for new topics that you’d like to see written up and discussed.

Listed below are the Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row end of year statistics and Top Ten lists for 2012. A huge THANK YOU goes out to everyone that has taken part in this blog over the years!

General Statistics for 2012

• 151 total posts
• 289 comments & trackbacks
• 278,146 page views – averaging 760 per day (2011: 148,842 page views – averaging 408 per day)
• 1,018 RSS subscribers

Top 10 Most-Viewed Posts for 2012

1. Charitable Contributions From Your IRA – 2012 and Beyond
2. Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Increases in 2013
3. 2013 Social Security Wage Base Projected
4. The “Tax on Sale of Your Home” Email Myth
5. IRS Table I (Single Life Expectency)
6. A Little-Known Social Security Spousal Benefit Option
7. Understanding the Underpayment Penalty and How to Avoid It
8. The Spousal Benefit Option for Social Security Benefits
9. Charitable Contributions From Your IRA in 2010 and 2011
10. Proposed Social Security Wage Base Increases

Top 10 Referrers for 2012

1. Forbes
2. StumbleUpon
3. FiGuide
4. Google
5. Facebook
6. Twitter
7. Yahoo
8. TheStreet
9. The Finance Buff
10. Morningstar

Top 10 Search Engine Terms for 2012

1. annual gift tax exclusion
2. 2013 social security wage base
3. qualified charitable distribution 2012
4. social security wage base
5. underpayment penalty
6. file and suspend
7. social security limit 2013
8. net unrealized appreciation
9. college
10. spousal social security options

That’s it for 2012 – Happy New Year to all, and thanks again for all your support! – jb