Seven years ago on 1st March 2014, I started this blog. So it is exactly 85 months ago. How time has flew just like that.
Today, I take some time to re-look into my initial blog articles when I am still a newbie blogger back then. It is definitely nostalgic and a ride back to memory lane.
There are several reasons why I started blogging back then. I wanted to do something different. i.e. start a blog! I wanted to go against my comfort zone as I was (or still am) deemed a “computer idiot”. Starting a blog may be easy-peasy for many, but for me it was an uphill task. Above all, I wanted my children one day to read my blog, and to learn something out of it!
Read: Reasons for Blogging
Read: Purpose
Why did I choose Rolf Suey as my nickname?
This blog is for me to find the true “myself” or “Yourself”. Do you realise that “Rolf Suey” with all the letters re-arranged can become “Yourself”. And the best way to find who your true self is, is to invest in Yourself!
It was also my mid-career crisis that triggered this blog. I do felt old at the time of starting this blog and hence, I also gave the blog title a caption “Better Late Than Never” to encourage myself, and those who start late. Today, I have changed the caption to “Invest in Yourself”, although in theFinance.sg you can still see it as “Better Late Than Never”
THE OILY BLOGGER
Back then, there were already many established bloggers such as AK of ASSI, Dividend Warrior, Alvin of BigFatPurse (Dr Wealth) Jared of SMOL, Uncle Jacob of CW8888, Thomas of Bully the Bear, Kyith of Investment Moat, Brian of FFF, Kevin of Turtle Investor, Mike of Silly Investor, and Andy of Tacomob probably started his blog around the same time as me. And many more….
Feeling the need to differentiate myself from these established bloggers, Hmmm… then I think and think…. And since I worked all my life in the Oil & Gas (O&G), Marine Offshore industry, I decided to focus more about this industry’s counters. After all in early 2014, it is the golden years of Marine and Offshore stocks listed in Singapore Stock Exchange.
So very quickly, I was given the nick name of “Oily Blogger” from Jared aka SMOL.
MY THEME IS STILL PRETTY MUCH THE SAME
Non-commercial
One principle I laid down for this blog in the beginning is that it will be “non-commercial”. This means that I do not write for brands or products to generate advertisement income.
Please do not be mistaken, I am absolutely not against blogs with commercial contents! It is just a personal preference. I wanted to keep this blog “commercial-free”, something like a journal for my kids, myself and for my readers, where my one hundred percent honest opinions will be expressed.
I am glad that after seven years, this principle is still intact.
Oily Articles Still…
As I mentioned earlier, I was called the “Oily Blogger” because I started my first year of blogging with quite many Oil and Gas (O&G) articles, providing insight into the market, the relevant companies in general. After the oil crisis in 2015 many O&G marine/offshore counters had become non-interesting or had actually went bust.
Still, after all these years despite the downturn, I and not tired of blogging about this market. I still write about companies like Keppel and Sembmarine and occasionally also overseas companies like US and China Oil counters. And I thankful for the readers’ support.
Perhaps in a matter of time, more O&G companies will also transit into Clean/Renewables companies. I did wrote an article on that.
It is about Life! H2F3
Aside from investment and stock analysis, this blog is definitely about life. Over the years, topics often converged into these 3 categories of Health, Wealth & Relationships.
Then in August 2015, I devised my own formula of “H2F3”. They refers to “Health, Family, Finance, Friends, Hobbies” and are what matters most to me. Every now and then, I will write about my H2F3 updates. The writing helps me to look back clearly, in order to move better forward.
Refer here for what does H2F3 (Health, Hobbies, Family, Finance & Friends) means.
Today, it is still very much alive! Read: Rolf 2020 (H2F3) in Review
Travel, Property, Kids’ Expenses, Biography etc
Prior to Covid, I also enjoyed sharing my travel experiences on this blog. Once traveling resumes, I will continue my sharing.
I also have great interest in the property market in Singapore as well as topics on children since I am a parent myself.
One topic that I have blogged lesser nowadays is biography of great people. Since 2016, my focus had turned from many great people to just ONE.
FRIENDS IN THE BLOGOSPHERE – THANK YOU!
The past 7 years of blogging has been nothing but fruitful and enriching.
And it is NOT possible without all my blogosphere people. Many of the bloggers and readers become my blogosphere friends or “comments sparring partners”.
I also met up with a few of them in real life.
Knowing all of you here has been one of the most fruitful reward of blogging.
Thank you to all of you.
Wish you all a Happy and Blessed Good Friday and Easter Holiday!
More good years ahead!
Yes, more good years ahead! Hopefully, another 7+7+7… etc still blogging! Just like yourself. 🙂
Hi Rolf, thank YOU for writing. I have learnt a lot from your blog 🙂
Kevin (TI)
Hi Kevin, learning is mutual. Thanks for your blog too!