I think you should include some specifics in a paragraph at the end, and explain which stocks apply to which concepts you explained in the article.

It’s helpful to see a real-world example when dealing with something most people have a hard time grasping. While SOME might follow your stock purchases to the letter, for others, it gives a concrete starting point for further research.

That’s how I found my investments! You mentioned specific stocks on this blog, and I used that to find my own funds that have been paying off nicely. 🙂 Without that information, I’d still be unsure of the best place to start in generating passive income.

Tread.

I agree, I think that the article would be more helpful to non-ERE-devotees if it had a bit more in the way of specific detail. I’d find it useful myself, and I don’t think people who haven’t read ERE will really be able to digest what you’ve written about, as it is.

I think your eHow articles *should* be a great success (the first one you posted, I think, was an excellent example of what I like about ‘Jacob-writing’!). As with this blog, you’re head and shoulders above all of the me-too personal finance blogs in that you actually think well and have something original to say.

As a self employed person, I was amazed at the many different ways other people would run a business in my industry. Each method worked in some situations. After looking at the many ways people succeed in various situations, I was able to design a system that worked in my unique niche. I couldn’t have succeeded by copying the wrong model, but I probably wouldn’t have succeeded if I hadn’t been exposed to those ideas and adopted them to my situation.

My process for doing new things is usually:
1) find 3-5 instructionals online, read them all, look at pictures, etc. (aka getting a general idea of how it can be done)

2) adapt it for my situation – parts I may have on hand, tools I have, my own prior experience, etc.

3) start “doing”

4) Google or return to the instructional if I run into a problem in step 3.

Hey, I think I just wrote an “eHow” on “How do to anything?”

In the context of “toe the line”, then you’d have a fine line to tread.

In the context of “threading the needle”, then you’d have a fine line to thread.

Which one do you want? 🙂

I haven’t read the eHow stuff– just trying to respond to the question at the end of the post.

Simplistic instruction might get more eHow revenue, but seems inconsistent with the ERE site. Simplistic investment instruction is available from a seemingly limitless number of places (Dave Ramsey, Walter Updegrave, etc…).

This site exposed me to new concepts, and that seems to be less likely to occur in a numbered bullets “How To” presentation. Despite what eHow would like to present, complex tasks cannot be mastered with 10 minutes of internet research, and a 6 step plan.

The posts on this site combine some stepwise instruction with descriptions of experience, decision making, thought process, judgment, introspection, and reflection. I think you mentioned in a post long ago that children learn what their parents do, not what their parents say. In analogy, an eHow site presents what you say, whereas as this site presents more of what you do.

I don’t discourage the eHow thing– I might do it myself if you do well with it, but I doubt I’ll ever read your eHow posts– unless you feel you can provide a comprehensive and effective response to “How to solve problems”

“Fools rush in where angels fear to “tread”. An old song title that illustrates the use of the word in question. “Tread lightly, and carry a big stick”. (T. Roosevelt). “Don’t tread on me” ( a saying on one of our first American Flags).
We call a series of posts within a blog subject as a “thread”. Thread meaning “series of” or “length of”. Our textbooks are constantly being changed. I don’t approve of that, as I am an old fogy who likes words as he learned them years ago. IE: I have “problems”—NOT “issues”. An “issue” is a subject matter that needs to be resolved or discussed. A “problem” is a difficult situation that confronts you. To me, some people are still “Handicapped”, if they need a particular help for daily life, I have not dropped that and gone to “Disabled”
only. I still prefer the “elderly” and have not gone to “older people”. I visualize a steamy and humid “jungle”, and have not and WILL not go to “rain forest”.
some Gee-wiz’s in education seem to decide that our words need changing to become more upscale or politically correct. Therefore, our textbooks in school are changed to suit their whims. Me? I don’t play their game, but then I don’t have to!

Doesn’t a lot depend on the reader’s philosophy of life? Some want a checklist so they can check off each step as they go. Others prefer a general idea that they can build on through personal study and before making their own decision. I find myself in the latter category. There is nothing I like better than stumbling on an idea that had never occurred to me so I can run with it and see where it leads.