It is my first blogging anniversary. In this year of blogging, I’ve published over 80 posts and tried to help young people be more aware of their money and empower them to take control of their finances.

The past year has gone so quickly, and I’ve learnt so much. I can’t believe how little I knew when I was first starting out!

One of the first things I read when I was thinking of starting this blog as that over 60% of bloggers stop within the first six months. By that logic, just being here still is better than the majority!

I thought now was as good as any time to look back at the past year and share the things I’ve learnt – both in relation to blogging and my finances – with you all.

1. The top money tips I’ve learnt
2. My top posts
3. My top features
4. The best external content I’ve read

My top money tips

One of the best things about blogging is how much you can learn. I have taken a much closer look at my finances and paid more attention to my future than I ever have before.

Part of this may simply be getting older. I turned 25 in September, so it’s logical to start thinking about things like home ownership and living comfortably. It’s probably less common to be considering pensions, but they’re important too!

The top three tips I’ve learnt in the past year are:

1. Always have an emergency fund. If possible, keep 3 to 6 months’ expenses in an easy access cash savings account which you can draw on in the event of a rainy day.
2. You can invest as little as £10 a month and it will still make a difference. Once you have your emergency fund sorted you can get investing. You don’t need £1,000s lying around. £10 a month is far better than not investing at all.
3. Develop multiple income streams where possible. A year ago, I was working at my day job and thought the only way to make more money was to get a promotion or a pay rise. Having seen how fragile the employment sector is in the past year, I would be very apprehensive about relying on that again. A senior person in my industry said to me recently: “I don’t know why anyone in the private sector would ever rely on just one income stream”.  

My top posts

Writing content is my favourite part of blogging. I love coming up with new and innovative ways to cover issues and deliver engaging blog posts.

That said, some posts particularly stand out to me.

• The lessons we need to learn from the Football Index crash. This post was outside my comfort zone. It’s not something I have personal experience and I don’t understand football enough to really ‘get it’. But, it felt like an important topic to cover and luckily it was well received!
• Giving rather than giving up this Lent. For me, charity and giving back is as important as making money. As a society we are only as strong as our weakest members. Therefore, I was really happy to come up with this idea of donating an item to my local Foodbank everyday of Lent. I’m hoping to get more people involved next year.
• 5 key money lessons from Netflix. I say I like to cover topics differently to other bloggers and I hope this post demonstrates that. I find TV, film and even music are all great tools to help us think more about money and how you want to use it.

My top features

I’ve been lucky enough to be featured on a range of blogs and podcasts and even on the radio.

Going on Times Radio was a terrifying experience, but so exciting and a great way to showcase my blog and what I can do.

I was also featured on Cash Chats with Andy Webb, where we chatted about some of the personal finance stories that had made headlines that week.

Developing my freelance writing skills has also been a real bonus for me since I started blogging.

Now, I write for The Motley Fool and a range of other personal finance sites. Here is the first article I got published for The Motley Fool. It’s all about becoming an ISA millionaire – who wouldn’t want that?!

My favourite external content

The UK Money Bloggers Community is amazing and you can learn so much from them, both in terms of blogging and managing your money. It’s members range from newbies like me right up to some of the top money bloggers in the country. It’s really helped my year of blogging.

Andy from Be Clever with your Cash runs the community and is very welcoming to new members. His content is also top notch – I’ve made multiple changes based on his blog posts and videos.

Lynne, aka Mrs Mummypenny, has some of the best personal finance out there and is also so supportive and encouraging. Her content about debt is particularly useful. She speaks candidly about her own experiences with debt and uses this to help guide and inform readers.

If you prefer your content in video form, then check out David from Pretty Penny Club

His YouTube videos are packed full of information on a range of personal finance topics. His investing videos are especially helpful. Having started investing myself in the past year, I’ve found his tips useful on many occasions.

If you found this post interesting, please like it and share across social media or send it to your friends. I’d also love to hear your thoughts and experiences. What would you like to see more of on this blog? How have you found my year of blogging? What have been your favourite posts from the past year? Either on this blog or from other creators I may have missed!

Don’t forget to follow me on social media @Katie20Percent to keep up to date with all my latest posts and content!