Alexis Assadi Explains Why He Stopped Blogging About Money

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In this op-ed piece, Alexis Assadi, a former financial blogger discusses why he left the personal finance space. Between 2014 and 2018 he produced podcasts, videos, emails and articles that were consumed by a global audience. But he abruptly stopped towards the end of that final year. Alexis Assadi explains how he matured and developed new interests over time, which ultimately led to the decline of his blog. He also addresses his desire to dedicate his work to operating private companies.

I became interested in investing during university. That was about twelve years ago. One day a banker called me at home and convinced me to put my savings in a mutual fund. I didn’t have much then, maybe a few hundred dollars, but it seemed like a lot at 19 years-old. I trusted the banker automatically because she worked for one of Canada’s major financial institutions. Thanks to her, I invested in a mutual fund for the first time.

I began to feel anxious after a few days. I realized that I didn’t quite understand what I had just done. I didn’t even know what a mutual fund was. The concept of investing was foreign to me, besides the basic notion of using money to make more of it. I wanted details now that my capital was at risk. As such, I began to search for them. And that’s how my journey as an investor began. Of course, my first act as an investor was the opposite of what one should do. A person is supposed to understand the details before making an investment. I didn’t understand that back then and it was one of the first lessons I learned.

Investing quickly became a passion even though I had no formal training in it. I had never taken a business class in school. But I loved the concept of making money through buying and selling assets. It seemed sophisticated and prestigious. I followed most of the financial journals and subscribed to websites like Investopedia and Seeking Alpha. Because of my job during my early 20s I was also spending time with people like Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, and that ecosystem revolved entirely around building wealth. My identity – Alexis Assadi – was being shaped into “businessman” and “investor” as a young adult.

In 2014, I started a personal blog at AlexisAssadi.net to share my experiences with the world. On it, I discussed building passive income, investing in businesses and real estate deals, buying stocks and other related topics. I even wrote a book. My website gained traction and I gathered over 20,000 email subscribers as a result. I sold courses and other products, and I learned a great deal about running an online company.

But for whatever reason my personality changed during the next 18 months or so. I began to realize that I did not want to be defined by money. I had other interests, too, and I felt shallow, abrasive and cheesy acting like I was all about the Benjamins. I didn’t want to be a Robert Kiyosaki or a Grant Cardone, who make enormous sums of cash, in part, by selling to an audience who want to learn to get rich quickly. That’s not a jab at either of them, but it just isn’t for me.

I never produced snake oil, but my material was unsophisticated and was themed on achieving financial independence. Thus, I switched gears and created more mature content that hinged on subjects like due diligence, research and building businesses. I also left my job and set out on my own. By 2016 my attitude, environment and aspirations were completely different from what they were just two years ago.

Towards the end of 2018, I decided that I didn’t want “Alexis Assadi” to be any sort of brand or even a widely recognized name. I wanted to do business largely in private instead of sending emails to the world. By then, I had a good amount of experience with commercial lending and sought to focus squarely on that. I no longer wanted to be a blogger.

This year, I haven’t written a single financial post on my personal blog. Occasionally, I will write an analysis on other websites or discuss ways to do research. But I’ve basically just grown out of penning pieces about personal finance. I’m interested in politics, culture, the environment, law and history. I love to read and contribute to discourses about those subjects. I’m learning to speak Farsi in my spare time. In short, I don’t really care to talk about money anymore. Sure, I may still be a businessman, but I am neither reduced to or defined by my profession.

I worked endlessly years ago to create content and build an online readership. I purchased courses and trainings about how to make a website successful. I followed experts like Neil Patel and Darren Rowse. Each morning, I woke up to check how many people visited AlexisAssadi.net. I remember feeling elated in 2014 when that daily number surpassed 30. A year later it grew past 1,000 per day. I felt proud because I achieved relative success without any sort of formal training – just like I did with investing. But I don’t want to be “public” anymore about money.

I am grateful for all those who read my emails and articles, and who listened to my podcast. They were a big part of my life for years. In fact, once in a while an $8 course sale will still trickle in from my website – probably because it is promoted somewhere in an old blog post. I hope that I have provided value and service to my readers. Now, however, I must move on to pursuing my true passions.

Follow Alexis Assadi on Twitter.