Buy Me A Coffee
After a lot of internal debate, I’ve decided to place a Buy Me a Coffee donation link on The Golden Albatross website for anyone interested in helping to keep the website running. Readers will now see a donation statement at the end of each new article. Buy Me a Coffee is an online company that helps content creators accept one-off or reoccurring payments from their supporters safely and securely. Stripe will process all payments for The Golden Albatross through its Buy Me a Coffee site.
Importantly, donations will not be classed as charitable contributions. That said, 100% of the money received will fund the website or assist with other pension-related educational ideas discussed below. In other words, I’m not pocketing any of the funds for personal use. All proceeds go to spreading The Golden Albatross message.
Justification #1
I took this donation step for several reasons.
First, I want to keep The Golden Albatross website ad-free while at the same time creating a way for it to pay for itself. I don’t particularly appreciate visiting personal finance and financial independence websites and seeing tacky targeted ads for financial products or services contrary to the website’s themes. That isn’t the user experience I want for visitors to The Golden Albatross.
I had hoped that book royalties would provide the income stream to pay for the site, but to date (mid-December 2021), they’ve only just covered the costs I’ve incurred since 2017. Furthermore, unless something drastically changes, the minimal monthly amount I receive in royalties won’t cover each year’s operating costs moving forward. Moreover, now that I’m a pensioner living on a fixed income, anything I can do to eliminate a discretionary spending line in the retirement budget is worth pursuing. This frugality is something I hope the pensioners and future pensioners among The Golden Albatross’ readership can appreciate.
Insert mandatory book plug here!
Justification #2
Second, readers whose questions I answer through in-depth pension analysis keep asking for a way to thank me for my time and attention. If you’ve read one of my Pension Couch or Pension Series posts, then you understand the effort I put into answering people’s pension questions thoroughly. Up to now, my standard reply to those readers has been to tell other pensionable workers about the blog, leave a review for the book, or permit me to print their story. However, several readers have expressed that those steps didn’t feel like enough. So, now they have a way to do more if they feel so inclined.
Justification #3
Finally, I have several pension content-related endeavors I’d like to undertake, each of which need some seed capital. For one, I would love to upgrade the website and add services like a high-quality automated email distro. While currently, the website is (mostly) functional, depending on your device, its look and feel are last decade … if not earlier. Not only that, but I also have some ideas for future pension-related content, like animation shorts, that I’m exploring. While I’m a man with some talents, animation isn’t one of them. If I want to pursue those ideas further, there will be costs.
All Content Remains Free
That said, everything on the blog remains (as it always has been) completely free to access. Furthermore, I will continue to dispense information and analysis freely for readers and Facebook group members, just like I always have. Notably, the donation option isn’t an attempt to create a paywall or subscriptions to access exclusive content. Nor is this option meant to make the readers or group members I help feel obliged to donate.
Worth vs. Worth It
Donations are 100% voluntary. I leave it to anyone who is gracious enough to donate to determine how much the information provided through the Golden Albatross blog, its Facebook companion group, and email is worth. It is a worth vs. worth it decision in proper Golden Albatross form and one I leave entirely up to you. Thank you for supporting The Golden Albatross and the message behind it!
Donate Today
If you’re interested in donating, you can find The Golden Albatross “Buy me a coffee” page here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GoldenAlbatross