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Why I Bought Rockstar Finance

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It’s my pleasure to announce that I have purchased Rockstar Finance.

If you’re a blogger or deep into the personal finance blogosphere, you likely know what Rockstar Finance is.

If you’re simply kinda interested in personal finance and reading a few blogs, you might not.

So in this post, I’ll tell you what Rockstar Finance is, why I bought it, and where it goes from here.

The History of Rockstar Finance

Rockstar Finance (RSF) was started in 2013 by my buddy J Money at Budgets are Sexy.

It began with a simple idea: highlight the best personal finance articles every weekday, both on the site as well as through an email list.

Or, as he said it: “If it鈥檚 awesome, it goes on the site.”

It started slowly but over time became a hit. Readers loved that they could get an email each weekday that listed the best personal finance posts. It helped them find new and interesting posts by bloggers they often didn’t know. 

Over time the site grew and began adding more features.

Next was a directory of personal finance bloggers. It lists details on money bloggers (at least all of them who want to be discovered) like name of site, net worth, and social media accounts.

J Money used this collection to begin polling bloggers. He’s asked them for their favorite books, best money apps, and top podcasts so far.

More recently, RSF added forums for both personal finance geeks (talking about money) and bloggers (a “secret” lounge where we chat about all things blogging — yes, very nerdy and I love it).

Those are just the highlights. There’s lots more and plenty to keep both money nerds and bloggers very happy.

The Potential of Rockstar Finance

Every blogger who’s ever been featured on RSF knows the impact. “Being Rockstar’d” is a great thing for a blogger, driving up to 5,000 visitors to their site.

For even a medium-sized blog, that’s a pretty good number. I know the times it’s happened to me that it drove tremendous traffic…and many of those people stayed at ESI Money as long-term readers.

At Fin Con this year I talked with J Money about the potential of RSF — just as a fan. I suggested several ideas to grow the site. It was a fun chat.

Little did I know that he was thinking of transitioning out.

That is until I received an email in November asking me if I might be interested in talking.

Uh, yes!

I’ll let J Money tell you himself why he wanted to phase out and eventually sell but let me just say his reasons are very noble and he’s making what I consider to be a great, family-focused choice.

The Sale of Rockstar Finance

I’ll spare you details of the conversations we had after I received that email (though you probably would love to hear them, I do need to keep some things private), but I can tell you that we came to an agreement that we both love.

J Money was able to benefit financially, free up his time, and still remain part of RSF (more on that in a minute).

I was able to get a business with tons of potential which could help readers and bloggers alike.

Best of all, J Money and I are kindred spirits despite the fact that we’re opposite in many ways. He’s cool, creative, and a totally awesome guy to know. I’m not that cool (more awkward than cool), analytical, and an awesome guy to my mom and wife (but the jury’s still out on what others think). Anyway, just being around J Money has raised my coolness factor to heights it hasn’t seen since I was king of the fifth grade playground. Yes, it’s been that long.

Why Buy Rockstar Finance?

Many of you are probably wondering why I’d want to buy RSF. After all, I’m retired, right? What am I doing buying a business (which will certainly mean more work) when I’m supposed to be kicking back and relaxing?

Well, there are several reasons but they fall into two main categories.

I’ll break them into sections as follows…

Financial Reasons

From a pure financial standpoint, I believe RSF has a lot of potential. I think it will be a good investment and I wanted a good investment.

The backstory is as follows:

  • When I retired, I set up a budget. It revealed (though I already knew this) that my assets would churn off enough income for us to live off of. This is why I don’t need to sell any assets to fund my retirement.
  • Initially my budgeted income sources were (in order of impact): rental income, dividends from index funds in taxable accounts, P2P investing, and businesses (two blogs).
  • Over time, things changed a bit as P2P didn’t work out and I started withdrawing cash.
  • Separately, ESI Money took off.
  • In addition, my real estate investments did better than expected — so much better that I willingly initiated some major maintenance (parking lot, remodels, new furnace) to lower my income (and taxes) this year.
  • Furthermore, our spending is much lower than anticipated in retirement.

Combine the points above — much more income, liquidation of some assets (P2P loans), and lower expenses — and the result is a pile of cash. By the time I bought RSF, I had almost $350k in cash.

The “problem” with this was there was no great place to deploy it for both growth and income. The options:

  • I could buy more real estate but 1) I like to buy when prices are low. The markets I’m interested in are sky-high — it would take a 50% crash to make me consider a purchase, 2) I’m not really interested in crowd-funding real estate, 3) Buying more real estate would add no portfolio diversification, and 4) I feel like I’ve already won that game so perhaps I should stop playing.
  • I could get into dividend investing. I considered it, but it doesn’t really get me that excited. Plus the income side isn’t that great.
  • I could plow it into index funds. But that wouldn’t help with diversification or income.

So I parked the money in “high interest” accounts. “High interest” is as much of a misnomer as “Affordable Care Act” is. These days “high interest” means a 1% return if you’re lucky. Ugh.

I had previously considered buying a business (shortly after I retired) but most of them were:

  • Too expensive
  • Time intensive (would require me to spend TONS of time on them — like a full-time job)
  • Location dependent
  • Not something I was interested in (they didn’t get me excited)

Then RSF came along and allowed me to:

  • Invest in something I enjoyed
  • Generate decent income and have an opportunity for growth
  • Diversify my investments
  • Own a business that didn’t require a great amount of time
  • Be location independent

In addition to all these, RSF has the side benefit of allowing me to serve the personal finance blogging and reader community, two groups of people I’m quite fond of.

So it made sense. In addition, there were a couple other considerations worth noting:

  • This investment is not that risky for me. Yes, it was low six figures, but in the scheme of my net worth it’s inconsequential. It’s also not vital for my financial independence. If I lost it all it would not make one bit of difference for me financially. Yes, if you live like no one else, you can eventually live like no one else.
  • I want to generate more income so I can give more. Giving has always been a big part of our lives and is easier to do when you make a higher income. This past year we continued to give but did so from assets (we donated appreciated index funds). That’s fine, but has a limit and I want to do more. RSF has the chance to generate decent income so we can give more (we’ll still give appreciated index funds through our donor advised fund but will then replace those assets with the income — effectively allowing us to increase our cost basis without paying taxes.)

Those are the financial reasons for the purchase. Now to the next reason…

Personal

There were several personal reasons to buy RSF. Here are the major ones:

  • I enjoy building businesses. It’s fun to me. It’s not work. Developing strategies, creating plans, implementing programs, working with teams (Steve and Cait are part of the RSF team in addition to J Money) — all of these are enjoyable to me. The longer I’m retired the more I realize I’m not really as much “retire early” as I am “financially independent”. Yes, I’m retired from my career, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work on things I enjoy — like blogging.
  • I’m good at business. I really don’t want to brag in any way, but I did have a fairly successful 28-year business career. Of course there were lows as well as highs, but overall things were mostly positive. So I think I can make RSF even better than it already is.
  • It’s a flexible, low time cost business that can be run from anywhere (can we say “Caribbean”?) As long as I have an internet connection and an awesome team like I do, I can run RSF. And it’s not going to require me to spend 8 hours a day on it (in fact, I think ESI Money will requires more time because creating content takes a lot of effort.)
  • I want to give back to the personal finance blogging and reader communities. I’ve been blogging for 12 years now. During that time I’ve developed some great friendships and added new ones — both with bloggers and readers. I have a fondness for these people and want to continue serving them by highlighting great content. When you get to a certain age (and financial status) your focus shifts a bit and giving to others takes a larger role in your life (or at least it does for me).
  • This is a potential business my kids could be employed by/own/run one day. And if not them, perhaps their spouses. Sure, they’d have to learn a bit about personal finance, but not so much that they’d have to write content — they just have to recognize good content.

In the end, buying RSF is simply fun and easy. So why not give it a go?

The Future of Rockstar Finance

Many bloggers and readers are likely wondering what the future holds for RSF.

There are two parts to the future — the short-term and the long-term.

In the short-term, there won’t be any major changes. If we weren’t announcing the change in ownership no one would probably ever know notice any difference. (That said, there is one program we will launch soon that I think readers and bloggers will LOVE!)

There are three reasons for this. One is simply a practicality: time. It’s the holiday season and right after that I’m planning a big vacation (which I’ll tell you about later). I also have a trip planned in late February, so I won’t have time to make a ton of changes for a couple months or so.

Second, and really more importantly, I want to take time, gather input from a wide range of people, and hear what the community and the RSF team have to say before I decide what to do. Yes, I think I have some great ideas, but I know others do to. And I want to hear their thoughts on how RSF can serve them. I guess this is the marketer in me who simply wants to know his audience better so he can give them what they want.

And finally, Rockstar Finance is doing GREAT the way it is!! There’s no rush to change anything when all is going so well.

In the long-term, there will probably be changes, but I have no idea what they will be. My intention is to make RSF bigger and better — for both readers and bloggers. What this means specifically, I’m not sure at this point. I need to hear from people, consult with J Money and the RSF team, and then decide where we go.

BTW, as you may be wondering, J has agreed to stay on as a consultant during the transition and then later (after his child is born) as needed. My guess is that he’ll be as active as ever with RSF, but now he can just focus on the strategy part.

No matter where we decide to go, my commitment is to make the site an even more impactful resource for all involved.

That’s it for now. Thank you for your past and future support of RSF. It’s going to be a fun ride!

Update: See why I sold Rockstar Finance.

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Comments

  1. Ms99to1percent says

    Oh wow congratulations ESI & J!!! This is the biggest news of the year!!! If it was April 1st, I would think you鈥檙e pulling our legs :-).

    Looking forward to seeing where this takes the pf community.

    Reply

    • ESI says

      Ha! We joked once that if we had done it April 1, no one would have believe us! 馃槈

      Looking forward to helping you grow your site — you’ve got some good stuff over there.

      Reply

  3. Benjamin Davis says

    This is good news. I am very happy that J is still part of the family. J is such a nice dude!

    I wish you the best of luck John. In case you need help, do let me know!

    All the best
    Ben

    Reply

    • ESI says

      It’s been fun reading all the great posts out there and picking the best ones (I begin selecting what’s featured on Thursday). Hope you keep reading because there’s some GREAT stuff out there.

      Reply

  5. Mike says

    Congrats ESI! I’m glad to see RSF is staying in good hands. I was a bit worried about who bought it when I started reading the email, but this is good.

    Reply

  7. Lily | The Frugal Gene says

    You made a wise investment John. I have no doubts about the future of online content and RSF is a solid buy.

    If I had a decade of blog experience, you would have had a competing offer from me hahaha xD But seriously, congrats!!!! So glad this kept in the “family.”

    Reply

  8. Julia says

    I’m a relative newbie on this site (mostly lurker!) but I’ve read items from his site. I look forward to seeing what happens – and I’m a big fan of people making choices that allow them to spend time with their families. Congrats to both of you!

    Reply

  10. The Green Swan says

    That’s awesome ESI! Sounds like a great opportunity for you and I like how you game plan future employment opportunities for kids, should they desire it. Always nice to have options for them, or fall backs. That’s a similar thought I’ve had with my business asset. I’m really excited for you and the future of RSF.

    Reply

  13. Mike H says

    Congratulations, ESI. It’s nice to hear that there was a win-win arrangement in this purchase.

    Will you be creating content and writing articles at all or just providing direction, guidance and bigger projects like what you alluded to in the post?

    Thanks,

    -Mike

    Reply

    • ESI says

      Probably a bit of everything for now. As you might imagine, there’s a lot to do and I have plenty of ideas.

      You wouldn’t happen to know a currently unemployed sales/marketing guy that could help, do you? 馃槈

      Reply

  19. Mustard Seed Money says

    Congrats on buying Rockstar Finance!!! It has been an amazing community while I’m sad to see J $ sell it I am excited to see where it will go from here. I can’t wait to see what you have in store 馃檪

    Reply

  20. Accidental FIRE says

    Huge Congrats John, based on your reasoning and financial situation it seems like a great deal for you. And running everything from the Caribbean could be even better 馃檪

    Looking forward to seeing what’s in the hopper!

    Reply

    • ESI says

      Appreciate that!

      Saw your podcast notes today that there’s a big announcement from you too. Can’t wait to listen to it at the gym later!

      Reply

  25. Amy @ Life Zemplified says

    Congratulations! This is very interesting news! I can almost see the wheels churning as you imagine the future of RSF. So excited for you and J$!

    I hope your internet slow down has gotten better. And you’ve always been way cool in my book.

    Reply

  27. Jason says

    Congrats on buying the site. I look forward to seeing what new things will be coming down the pike. Because of RSF featuring an article of mine my page views doubled and my subscribers went up by over 500%. It is a great site and I am sure will only get better!

    Reply

  29. Miss Mazuma says

    Equal parts congrats to both you and J!! You know he thinks the world of you to hand over this baby so I look froward to seeing how you raise it. ?

    RSF gave me my first big break (and 2nd,3rd,4th…) and I am forever indebted. You now have the amazing opportunity to do the same for a bunch of new blogs and I have no doubt you鈥檒l add your own spin. I鈥檓 super excited for you!!

    Be sure to let me know if you ever make it to the Chicago area. I head up the local Rockstar Forum meetup group and we鈥檇 love to host a meetup for you (similar to the FinCon meetup but usually with more alcohol and less people ?). If not, I鈥檒l for sure see you at FinCon next year and hopefully by then your predictions for my blog will have come true…if only I would sit down and write!!

    Reply

  30. Physician on FIRE says

    Big news! I can’t think of a better guy to take the reins from J$. And Yes, you are a good guy. Not just to your wife and kids, but to others as well. Like me, for example. I assume you’re also an excellent golfer because a) you’re retired, and b) how do you measure yourself against other golfers? By height. 馃槈

    Have fun with your new acquisition — I’m excited to see where you take it!

    Cheers!
    -PoF

    Reply

  32. Ten Factorial Rocks says

    Wow, did not see this coming! But ESI, what a purchase! It鈥檚 clearly among the best sites to own in the PF blogging world. I know you will bring the best of your business experience to take RSF to new heights! I was delighted that quite a few of my articles were featured here by J$ – hope I can count on that happening in the future as well!

    Reply

  37. Jamie | Medium Sized Family says

    I’m not a fan of change, so I was sad to get the email this morning. But when I learned that you were buying it, I was relieved! I trust you’ll do a fantastic job with RSF. (And then I felt silly, because I know J. Money wouldn’t leave it in the hands of someone who wasn’t awesome.) 馃檪 I look forward to seeing where RSF goes from here! Congrats.

    Reply

  38. FIRECracker says

    Congrats! Thanks for being so transparent about why you bought RSF. I will be forever indebted to the RS team for sharing my articles and I can’t wait to see all the new and wonderful things you have planned for the site.

    Reply

  40. Paul says

    Congrats to you and J – both better off as a result, which is how transactions are supposed to work! Best of luck with your newest poker in the fire

    Reply

  42. Passivecanadianincome says

    Congrats to both of you. Glad j is still part of the site and think its cool what hes doing to spend time with the family. Congrsts to you esi for taking the chains and look forward to seeing what you come up with!

    Reply

  43. OMGF says

    I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with Rockstar Finance. You’re very right about the site’s potential. It’s a great resource that I hope you’re able to reach even more people with. Curious to see how you’ll reach those who don’t even know they should be looking for you. Best of luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

    Reply

  46. Willie T says

    Congrats to all involved. Just found ESI earlier this year and spend a ton of my free time working the things I am reading into my FIRE plan. Had not heard of Rockstar until this email but if ESI likes it enough to buy it I am a fan. Guess what I will be reading tonight.

    Reply

  49. Sarah | Smile & Conquer says

    Wow, congrats John! I just read J’s email and now your post and when I first read the headline line there was definitely a moment of ‘Oh no, not Rockstar!’ But then I kept reading and found out it was you taking on the role and the reasoning behind it all and I’m excited about the changes coming down the pipes.

    Good luck and have fun.

    Reply

  50. FIbythecommonguy says

    Congrats and thanks to both for being transparent in the change of ownership and the reasons behind it. I look forward to the future of RSF and being a tiny part of it. It sounds like more good things to come.

    Reply

  53. Mr Crazy Kicks says

    Congratulations, sounds like a win win! I’m glad to see this resource is staying inside the community. I’m certain that I’m not alone when I say that if it wasn’t for Rockstar Finance, and the great people behind it, I might not have kept my blog going.

    Best of luck with your new venture, and awesome retirement project. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you grow the community 馃檪

    Reply

  57. Financial Samurai says

    Great move! Whatever you spent, it is a good one because valuations for online properties are so cheap compared to EVERYTHING ELSE!

    I鈥檝e considered buying more assets too, but I just don鈥檛 have time with the newborn anymore. Just trying to keep my head above water now.

    I鈥檓 pretty sure you will do great with RSF. Who said retirement would be boring right? You just never know!

    Best,

    Sam

    Reply

  58. Dreamer in Chief says

    Congratulations on this move! It’s awesome to see the torch passed to such a great member of the community. Can’t wait to see what you (and whatever team you keep/put in place) do to keep the momentum going with Rockstar. Good luck!

    Reply

  59. Tawcan says

    Love it John. Looking forward to what RSF will become in the near future. You already have a great team working on the site, adding more brains will make it even better.

    In John we trust. 馃榾

    Reply

  60. Matt Spillar @ Spills Spot says

    Congrats to you both! While I’m sad to see J$ sell it, I couldn’t think of anyone better to be taking the reins. RSF has been one of my favorite sites these past few years, for the community and for finding new blogs to expand my knowledge. It has definitely made a HUGE impact on the PF community and I have no doubt that you’ll continue the legacy!

    Reply

  61. Billy B @wealth well done says

    Pretty cool, John. It was a pleasure meeting you outside on the patio at Fincon the first day, and I am already looking forward to experiencing the next adventure at Orlando.

    I’m currently in the “building wealth” stage of life, so I find it cool to see that passion, and life dreams, continue to be the biggest motivators even when you enter into the “accomplished wealth” stage of life like you’re in. Keep executing your passions and dreams and you’ll be wealthy forever. Peace, brother.

    Reply

  66. Chad Carson says

    Great move – J and John! It’s good to see a win(J)-win(John)-win(all of us) transaction like that.

    Like others have said, I owe Rockstar and J a lot for helping me to get started and grow in my early days. I think generosity is at the heart of what Rockstar is all about, so that’s my first feedback for what to keep as a heart and soul of RSF 2.0.

    Can’t wait to see what you both do going forward! Let me know how I can help.

    Reply

  68. Carlos says

    Congratulations !! Looking forward to reading about the new enterprise and how it complements your future and your finances.

    Reply

  70. The Vigilante says

    I love the attitude in deciding to purchase. Like “eh, it could thrive or fail, and I don’t care financially. I just love it and want to grow this community!” You’re personally invested in it, and you’re great at what you do, so you’re going to do fantastic, I’m sure!

    That said, I’m glad J Money is staying around in a consulting role, too, because I think his unique personality has a lot to do with the success of the site and particularly the forum!

    Reply

    • J. Money says

      Thank you, sir! I’ll def. be sharing my opinions with John for the good or the bad haha, but then it’ll be up to him whether to listen to me or not 馃檪 But we’ve had a lot of great discussions so far so we’re off to a great start! And that line up there pretty much solidified it with whether he was the perfect fit for the job or not… Wanting it because he was passionate about it and not for the $$$! Very rare to find that concoction, so beyond thrilled it we found each other throughout this 馃檪

      Reply

  72. Josh @ The Golden Goose Guide says

    A big congratulations, John, on the acquisition! Between you, Rockstar Finance, and the community, It’s hard to imagine a better outcome for everyone. Rockstar Finance has such a unique place in the curation of content, and with the number of PF blogs and niches increasing, intelligent curation is going to be ever more important to its readers. It was my first one stop shopping experience years ago, when I began finding that online personal finance sites were now competing with my beloved world of books. Not only that, but I have a special place in my heart for RSF as one of the first places I reached out to after starting my own blog within the last month. Keep up the building and the dreaming.

    Reply

  76. Foreign BornMD says

    I鈥檓 new to the blogging and personal finance community, and I have already benefited so much from the Rockstar Website and community. I am inspired to do more #actsofkindness, write more posts and inspire more readers to take more accountability for their personal finance. Looking forward to collaboration and awesomeness.

    Reply

  79. Robbie says

    Seems like you made a wise decision! Happy to hear you will be continuing to grow the personal finance blogger community. And, instead of a Mohawk, maybe you should go with a handlebar mustache or ponytail? It could work!

    Anyway, looking forward to the new ideas you come up with and watching Rockstar grow!

    Reply

  81. Money Beagle says

    Congrats. Looking forward to seeing how things evolve. Glad that there aren’t too many changes in store, because as the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    Still, very exciting times.

    Reply

  82. Mr. FWP says

    Wow, John, congratulations on the big purchase! That’s outstanding! I was reading J$’s post about it and was worried at first – until I read that you would be the one taking over. That’s fantastic. I hope to support you and Rockstar even more in the future. I hope you enjoy your new endeavor!

    Reply

  83. Adam @ Minafi says

    Congrats John! This seems like an awesome fit for J$, Rockstar and for you. I’m excited to see what happens next.

    After meeting you in person, I think you’re the same kind of awkward as me and ton of other people who communicate more online in than in person. For me, I when I have a chance to write, I’m able to better communicate my ideas and convey my thoughts. It can be awkward to be as eloquent on the spot.

    At least things get easier when more people know you and you know more people – which Rockstar will no doubt help. 馃槈

    Reply

  84. Myfinancekits says

    I actually read about the sales of Rockstar Finance somewhere else. What a coincidence that I landed on your website to learn that you are the one who bought the website. This is indeed a landmark not just for you but for personal finance bloggers. I join other well wishers to congratulate you on this landmark achievement. Congratulations!

    Reply

  87. MrWow says

    This is exciting and huge! I love it! Congrats on both sides!!

    I’ll never forget the first time we got picked up… I kept getting all these alerts that our traffic was through the roof. Had no idea why, but sure enough I looked in my email and there it was, my article in the news letter.

    Looking forward to the future and seeing where it goes.

    Reply

  88. Pete McPherson says

    WHAT. HOW DID I MISS THIS EARLY IN THE WEEK.

    Congrats to you both! This is really, really freaking cool. I mean I approve 110% of what J has built, but I could also easily see you do very well with this!

    Man. I’m excited to see where this goes.

    Ciao!

    Reply

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