A mind boggling 12 million and growing.

The word "million" has a magical feel to it. This is probably why having a million dollars is more often than not a milestone for many people.

A million is magical.

Six million is more magical.

What about twelve million?

Some might remember that it took almost 5 years for ASSI to receive a total of 6 million page views in October 2014.

However, from then to now, in less than 2 years, that number doubled to hit 12 million:

That means my blog agar agar received more than 3 million page views a year or 250,000 page views a month in the last 2 years!


OMG!

I so stunned like vegetable!


Related post:
ASSI reaches 6 million.

Getting up to speed and a nice surprise!

I was away for a short holiday with my parents and I am now trying to get up to speed.

Lots of emails, comments and messages to reply to. I think most will know how it is like.

In case you are interested in what I did during my vacation, visit my travel blog: here. I will have more updates in the next day or two.

OK, as I was getting up to speed, I received a nice surprise.

See the following email dated 12 August 2015 from a reader. That's just yesterday:

Hey AK,

 

Will like to congratulate you on this first, know how much it means to you. Top 500 sites in Singapore, taken at 510pm.

 

You have done a great job in promoting financial literacy and educating Singaporeans. It is not easy to maintain a site and you have done it for 6 long years.  

 

Congrats AK!

And the attachment:

 

Yeah! And I wasn't even blogging in the last few days.

Thanks, everybody, for being so forgiving and for making me smile.

OK, I just checked. It seems like it was a touch and go. ASSI's rank is now 511 in Singapore.

Haha... ;p

Related post:
Why some might never be rich and why we soldier on?

Why some might never be rich and why we soldier on? (UPDATED)

I had a blog post published in December last year titled "Helping more people discover a path to financial freedom". 

Note that I did not say "the" path.

I want to highlight again that there are many paths we could take and it is never my way or the highway.





When I was chatting with a reader last night on FB, he shared with me the problem he has with convincing his elder brother to do something about his financial health. 

Apparently, his brother is doing very well in sales and enjoys a high income.

Now, when we are doing very well in anything, there is a chance we might feel invincible. 

That is a nice but dangerous feeling to have.





It is worth reminding the reader's elder brother that he might not always make so much money but when a person is doing so well, good advice could sound rather sour. 

They easily fall on deaf ears.

The elder brother doesn't necessarily have to invest his money, he just needs to be prudent and save more of his earned income. 

If he continues to enjoy good health and be very successful in his job, he might have so much money that he does not need to invest to grow his wealth. 

However, he must first listen and appreciate a couple of hard truths.





Here are 2 reasons why he might never be rich:

1. Spends money freely. 

Bought himself a brand new $300K car, for example. 

Having said this, he is not selfish. 

He has been very generous towards his family, showering them with expensive gifts on their birthdays (which makes the problem worse). 

I don't know what kind of housing he has.





2. Doesn't believe in having insurance. 

He says he has about $100K in savings at any one time and that it should be enough. 

There are two issues here really: not having insurance and an inadequate emergency fund. 

If he were to die, how long would that $100K last his parents. 

If he were to not die but were unable to work, how long would that $100K last him and his family. 

I shudder at the thought.





It is very clear to me that the reader's elder brother does not have a sound financial plan and he really doesn't understand why he could be setting himself up for trouble. 

Unfortunately, for many people, they would have to experience failure before they understand what they did wrong.

In "Helping more people discover a path to financial freedom", I said that I was sure readers were spreading the word about my blog. 

Quite a few readers have told me that to convince people to take ownership of their financial well being and to take action to improve on their financial health is harder than they think. 

Tell me about it.





Although I might not be blogging as much as before, I am spending more and more time online. 

It is probably unhealthy. 

So, I am going away on a short holiday with my parents and I wouldn't have any access to the internet for a few days. 

Also, I haven't gone on a holiday with my parents for about two years. 

They are quite excited about the trip.





Before I go, I will leave you with this thought for the long weekend:

Financial freedom is out there. 

Financial freedom is not a race. 

There are no losers at the end of the journey. 

It is not a competitive sport. 

At the end of the journey, everyone is a winner.





So, although it might not be an easy thing to do, look for friends to go on the journey together and keep putting one foot in front of the other. 

Soldier on! 

Now, this is an appropriate metaphor as we celebrate SG50!






Related posts:
1. Journey to financial freedom is not a race.

2. If we are not rich, don't act rich.
3. Survivability and opportunity. (Added in 2018.)

Helping more people discover a path to financial freedom.

A couple of years ago, ASSI squeezed into the ranks of the top 1,000 websites and blogs in Singapore. Today, we managed to squeeze into the top 1,000 again after dropping out for 2 years.

Yeah!

With many more websites and blogs in Singapore as time goes by, I have no doubt that being in the top 1,000 again is only possible because my blog's readers are quietly spreading the word and helping to increase readership numbers. ASSI is also very fortunate to have very good guest bloggers who contribute high quality articles which help to enrich the space.

All of you are the other half of ASSI. So, thanks very much for making ASSI the vibrant blog it is today and for spreading the word that financial freedom is not just a dream.

Traffic ranking by Alexa.

Related posts:
1. Top 1,000 websites in Singapore. (2012)
2. Be ambassadors of financial freedom.
"Even if the horse would not drink, at least try our best to bring the horse to water. We could be saving more than one life if the horse eventually drinks."

ASSI reaches 6 million before Singapore.

Before Singapore hits 6 million in population, ASSI is going to hit 6 million pageviews first. Might happen in the next hour.

It has been almost 5 years since I started blogging. Lots of ups and downs and never did I think ASSI would come so far.

I think I will have to pop a bottle of oatmeal! Oatmeal?

Yes, champagne is too expensive but a picture? No problem. It is the thought that counts. LOL. ;p

Ad hoc Annual Report for ASSI.

A potential advertiser asked me for some blog stats and I got this from Stat Counter today:

Click to enlarge.

The green bar for 2013 is so tall that a couple of numbers could not make it into the chart.

I left out year 2009 which was the year I started my blog since it didn't have numbers for a full year.

If I was not asked for this, I would not have gone to Stat Counter to check the numbers.

I thought since I have the numbers, I might as well publish them and share with my readers. You guys are the other half of ASSI. You make the numbers.

Thank you.

The TOP blog post of all time in ASSI!

One might think that the blog post which has received the most number of pageviews in ASSI has to do with personal finance or investment. It stands to reason, doesn't it? So, which blog post is it?

Since many people like step by step instructions, could "7 steps to passive income from the stock market" be the top blog post?

Or perhaps it is one of the blog posts on my full year income from S-REITs since they usually generate many comments and well wishes from readers.

Intuitively, we know that people are drawn to reading scandals and tragedies. People seem to have a morbid fascination with other people's misfortune. So, maybe my blog posts on China Minzhong's scuffle with a short seller made it to the top.

Well, I suppose the list could go on.

The results?

Click to enlarge.

Startling. Beaten by a stuffed toy.

Related post:
Singing Bone Hello Kitty.

That's IT with AK71.

OK, amusing blog title? Go ahead, please laugh.


Muahahahaha!


LOL!


ROFL!


Fell off your chair? I hope you were not sitting on a high chair.


After all, AK71 and IT don't mix well. ;p

So, what is this blog post about? It is just to record some observations as to which OS and web browser are number 1 now amongst the readers of ASSI. Statistics are for the last one month:

Number 1 OS is still Windows although at 49%, it is probably not as dominant as before.

Android has a very small lead over iPhone. Actually, reading blogs on a phone must be quite demanding. I don't know why people do it. Of course, with bigger screens available from Samsung and HTC, for examples, perhaps, that is why Android has a slight lead.

Nonetheless, Apple is one against so many. If we add iPad and iPod, then, Android is beaten. Apple is just an amazing company.

What about browsers? It has always been Internet Explorer for me. Only when I started blogging a few years ago did I learn about other browsers. So, being the dinosaur that I am, I am a bit surprised to find that Internet Explorer is number 3 in my blog stats.

Number 1 browser is Safari with a 27% share and number 2 browser is Chrome with a 25% share. My good old trusty Internet Explorer has a 20% share.

Even though I am a "know almost nothing" guy when it comes to IT, these numbers are still interesting to me and tell me how things are changing rapidly (and that I am probably being left behind).

Related post:
ASSI: 10 quarterly reports in 1 blog post.

ASSI: 10 quarterly reports with 1 blog post.

One of the things I used to do which I stopped more than two years ago was to keep track of how ASSI was doing in terms of visitor numbers and pageviews. Someone told me back then that it was as if ASSI was a company and I was reporting to shareholders on its performance. Guess what? The last time I did such a report was on 2 April 2011!

I guess I am pretty late in presenting the results of the last 10 quarters. Yes, I know. If I were the CEO of a registered company, I would be in so much trouble. Thank goodness I am not.

Click to enlarge.

You know it is like how we live with someone in the same flat for a couple of years and we can't really tell if the person has changed in appearance? It takes someone who has not seen the person for quite a while to be able to tell the difference, if any.

Well, I had such a moment just now when I looked at the graph. Amazed.

I guess, somehow, I must be doing something right and there is even less reason for me to stop blogging now. Thanks to all of you. :)

Related post:
ASSI 1Q 2011Quarterly Report.

Top 1,000 websites in Singapore.

In my first year or so as a blogger, I would track and analyse my blog's traffic and I even published reports complete with charts every few months. A reader said that I was producing quarterly reports like listed companies. Anyway, after slightly more than a year doing it, I stopped. I guess the novelty wore off.

Today, I look at Alexa and was pleasantly surprised to find that ASSI has made its way into the top 1,000 websites in Singapore. I feel that this is probably a milestone and so, I am sharing this bit of discovery here with my readers. If ASSI were indeed a business like some people tell me it should be, I guess a special dividend could be declared. ;-p

Related posts:
1. Alexa (Part 2).
2. ASSI 1Q 2011 quarterly report.

Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg's three-month global Alexa traffic rank is 348,802. Visitors to the site view an average of 1.4 unique pages per day. The site is relatively popular among.

  

Alexa Traffic Rank
	995 Rank inSGTraffic Rank in Country A rough estimate of singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg's popularity in a specific country. The rank by country is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors to singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg and pageviews on singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg from users from that country over the past month. The site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1 in that country.

Buy stuff from your favourite online stores and get them to ship over to Singapore using vPost! Three lucky customers will win a dream vacation!

Details here: vPOST.

ASSI 1Q 2011 Quarterly Report.

ASSI had 32,200 unique visitors in the month of January 2011. In the following month, the number reduced only a tad to 31,815. Given the fact that February is a short month, the average number of unique visitors per day actually increased. In March 2011, the number of unique visitors saw a spike to 40,832 while the number of returning visitors also formed a new high of 20,554. In all three months, ASSI registered more than 1,000 unique visitors a day on average.

Comparing the quarterly numbers since January 2010, 1Q 2011 has the best showing. Page loads increased from 78,184 to 161,049 year on year for a 206% increase. Number of unique visitors increased from 39,151 to 104,847 year on year for a 268% increase.

Quarter on quarter, page loads increased from 147,742 to 161,049 for a 9% increase. Number of unique visitors increased from 88,558 to 104,847 for an 18.4% increase. Returning visitors increased by 18.2% as well, quarter on quarter.

I enjoy blogging since discovering it in late 2009 and would probably continue doing it just as a pastime. However, such strong readership numbers provide me with that extra motivation to blog regularly. I am only human and respond well to positive reinforcement. Thanks to all regular readers for spreading the word and a hearty welcome if you are new to my blog.

Related post:
ASSI 2010 Annual Report.

ASSI 2010 Annual Report.

I am somewhat late in doing this. Somehow, it slipped my mind. Someone reminded me and, well, this is the report of how my blog did last year as promised.

Page loads, unique visitors and returning visitors all formed new records in the month of December 2010. The numbers in the chart are kind of small as this is a full year report. Let's see:

Page Loads: 
52,493 (92.87% increase from January 2010)

Unique visitors: 
32,169 (166.98% increase from January 2010)

Returning visitors: 
15,643 (175.89% increase from January 2010)

I think there are many who would come in to check on what are my latest thoughts on a daily basis which probably explains the 175.89% increase in returning visitors as well as the more modest 92.87% increase in page loads. Most are regular readers who would probably have read my older posts.

Although I am sure my blog would never be as popular as Xiaxue's or Mr. Brown's, that the number of unique visitors increased 166.98% from January to December 2010 is very encouraging. 32,169 unique visitors in December means there were more than 1,000 unique visitors per day on average.

I have said this before but no matter how many times I say it, it would never be enough: I have no doubt that I have some very loyal readers who are spreading the word.  Your support is encouraging and you can bet that I will continue blogging!  Thank you. :)

>1000 unique visitors in a day!

Not too long ago, I was impressed when a local investment blog proclaimed it was visited by 1000 unique visitors on that day. That was really something! After all, local investment blogs are usually not known for generating high traffic. We are in a very small niche and, to make it tougher, it is a very small niche in a very small country. ;)

Anyway, yesterday, on 13 October 2010, Wednesday, A Singaporean Stockmarket Investor (ASSI) was visited by 1069  unique visitors.  This is another milestone for my blog and I sincerely thank one and all who helped to make this a reality! I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy blogging. :)

14 Oct 2010 (Thursday)

 

New highs in September.

I just did a blog stats update in August and was planning to do another update in December which would make my updates thrice yearly.  However, September's numbers surprised me so much on the upside that I just have to blog about it.  Numbers improved and made new highs in all three categories. In September, my blog registered 38,987 page loads, 22,712 unique visitors and 11,841 returning visitors.

On top of these numbers, Alexa reported that readers are spending a lot more time reading my blog. This is a happy development as it probably means that I have readers who are combing my blog for older posts on subjects which interest them.  A summary from Alexa says:

Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has a three-month global Alexa traffic rank of 702,778. Visitors to it view an average of 2.7 unique pages per day. The fraction of visits to the site referred by search engines is approximately 2%. 

Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has attained a traffic rank of 2,437 among users in Singapore, where almost all its audience is located. Visitors to the site spend approximately two minutes on each pageview and a total of nine minutes on the site during each visit.

To everyone who has made my blog as popular as it is today, a big "THANK YOU". :-)

Related posts:
Blog statistics: January to August 2010.
Alexa (Part 2).

Alexa (Part 2) - Updated 2 Nov 10.

According to Alexa, my blog's traffic ranking in Singapore has improved.  However, its global traffic rank has slipped.  This probably means that although my blog is gaining in popularity in Singapore, there are many more websites in the world now and they are more popular than my blog on a global scale.

Our country's government is always telling local companies to go global and that the domestic market here is just too small.  Even if my blog becomes more popular locally, on a global scale, it is still insignificant and, in fact, is getting more so.  That's the message Alexa is sending to me.  This message from Alexa reinforces the perception of how small Singapore really is.


According to Alexa:
Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has a three-month global Alexa traffic rank of 730,608.  Visitors to the site view an average of 2.3 unique pages per day. Visitors to Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com spend approximately two minutes on each pageview and a total of eight minutes on the site during each visit. Roughly 33% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces).

Global traffic rank: 730,608 (was 667,393 on 28 July).
Traffic rank in SG: 2,506 (was 3,808 on 28 July).

Updated on 14 Oct 2010:

Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has a three-month global Alexa traffic rank of 684,209. Visitors to the site spend approximately two minutes on each pageview and a total of nine minutes (up from eight minutes) on the site during each visit. Roughly 28% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces) - down from 33%. Visitors to Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com view an average of 3.3 unique pages per day - up from 2.3 unique pages per day.

Global traffic rank: 684,209. 

Traffic rank in SG: 2,218.

Updated on 2 Nov 2010:

 

Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has a three-month global Alexa traffic rank of 630,248. Visitors to the site spend approximately two minutes on each pageview and a total of ten minutes (up from nine minutes) on the site during each visit. Visitors to Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com view an average of 4.0 unique pages per day. up from 3.3 unique pages per day.

Global traffic rank: 630,248. 

Traffic rank in SG: 2,021 .

Related post:
Alexa


Visit Alexa: here.

Blog statistics: January to August 2010

It has been more than eight months since I started this blog and I am still blogging away. By now, regular readers could probably read me like a book.  I am, after all, almost forty and probably quite set in my ways.  The following is a summary of how my blog has performed in the last eight months:

The number of monthly unique visitors reduced dramatically in the month of June, from 19,449 in May to 15,500. That's a 20.3% decline!  The number of returning visitors fell from 10,297 in May to 8,173.  A 20.6% decline!  Terrible.  What could be the reason?  Well, I had the least number of posts in June, relatively.  Only 46, to be exact.  So, maybe, that has something to do with it.

The numbers recovered modestly in July and improved dramatically in the month of August when the number of monthly unique visitors formed a new record at 19,578.  This trumped the high formed earlier in May which saw 19,449 unique visitors.

I have no doubt that I have some very loyal readers who are spreading the word.  Your support is encouraging and you can bet that I will continue blogging!  Thank you. :)

Related posts:
Blog statistics: January to April 2010.
Alexa.

Alexa

I stumbled upon this today. I was totally blown away.  This is a web information company and it has analyses of all the websites in the world.  Well, it certainly looks that way to me.

I entered my blog's URL in the search bar and a one page analysis appeared.  Amazing!

According to Alexa:
Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has a three-month global Alexa traffic rank of 667,393. Roughly 33% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces). Visitors to the site spend approximately two minutes on each pageview and a total of ten minutes on the site during each visit. Visitors to the site view an average of 2.5 unique pages per day, and Singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com has been online for at least nine years.

Alexa Traffic Rank - 667,393 

Traffic Rank in SG - 3,808

I don't know about the rest of the information but my blog is not nine years old. So, perhaps, we should not take Alexa too seriously.  Having said this, I am still amazed by this service.  No wonder they say there are no secrets on the internet. We have to be careful of what we do in cyberspace!

Visit Alexa here.

Blog statistics: January to April 2010.

What started out of boredom and curiosity last Christmas Eve has become a passionate new hobby. I enjoy writing and I enjoy sharing my ideas. Blogging allows me to do both these things.  I am a happy man.

I am also happy to see that my blog has found support from an increasing number of people both in Singapore and beyond. I am sharing the numbers here with all of you.  You made these numbers possible.  Now, if only the prices of the shares I own would improve so rapidly as well. That would make me even happier.

Thank you very much for visiting, for reading and for those who left comments, thanks for that too. Have an enjoyable Labour Day long weekend.

Related post:
Unique visitors: Crossing the 40000 mark.

Unique visitors: Crossing the 40,000 mark.

It might be a cliche but time really flies.  It has been slightly more than three months since I started this blog last Christmas Eve. Has it been so long? It feels like I just started blogging last week.  I guess we don't feel the passage of time when we are doing something we enjoy.

Blogging has introduced new groups of people in my life.  I used to simply share ideas with friends and family but I am now sharing ideas in cyberspace and reaching out to a wider audience.  I have made contact with fellow bloggers and I have many visitors to my blog, some of whom have left comments and exchanged ideas with me. My social life has become a tad fuller.

Today, the number of unique vistors to my blog crossed the 40,000 mark.  This is overwhelming and I am truly humbled by the support my blog has received so far.  I guess I must be doing something right here.  Although this is really a personal blog, your support and encouragement give me that little push to continue blogging and sharing my ideas.  Thank you very much and have a great long weekend. :)


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