Happy 5th Birthday to IansBNR!

I looked back the other day and realized it had been almost five years since I started writing. Hard to believe. As today marks five years, I thought I should do a brief anniversary post.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do a rehash of a bunch of old posts or a top 10 list or anything trite like that, but it’s probably a good time to share a few broad thoughts and updates.

I had no idea how long I would do this when I started or whether people would be interested. It was just a fun way to share some thoughts and maybe stir some things up.

I’ve always enjoyed writing and have never been shy about voicing opinions, so figured it was worth trying and see how people reacted.

If you’ve been here since the beginning, I’m not sure whether to thank you or apologize! But I guess if you didn’t like it, you would have stopped reading by now.

If you’re newer, you’ve probably missed most of the good stuff, but there is that Best Of tab if you’re interested in some of what you may have missed.

How Often Will I Write?

You’ve probably noticed I’ve been writing less the past few months. That isn’t by grand design, but more a coming together of several things.

First, I’ve had some other priorities of late which leave less time for writing. When there has been time, I often haven’t felt like I’ve had much to say of late, so I decided to take a bit of a break.

I aim to get something out about once a week in normal course, but that’s not always going to happen. I’m not going to force something out just because it’s expected (not to say I’ve never mailed one in, but I try to make it an exception).

I guess what I would say has changed recently is rather than forcing myself to make time to write regularly, I am now writing when I feel motivated to prioritize it. Quality over quantity.

So things may be a bit more irregular than you’re used to, but, hey, it’s a free publication so the value to cost ratio is pretty solid.

Why Don’t You Charge?

This has come up a few times. No, I have no plans or desire to make this a paid product. Why?

First, see above. Then, I have to commit to a writing schedule and I don’t want to do that. Second, I like having editorial freedom and that could be compromised if I make this a commercial newsletter.

More importantly, I’ve realized my motivation is to share knowledge. That goes beyond what I write about here (and I’ll have more to say about it in the future), but the insurance world is far too opaque, even to people who work in it, but certainly to the average insured, so I am looking for ways to change that.

Future Topics

One challenge going forward is obviously I have written about a lot of things by now (at almost 250 posts to date), so the pool of uncovered topics is dwindling. I have built a little bit of a backlog of future topics, but it’s not as deep as it used to be.

I am pondering some other areas to delve into that are maybe a little more instructional than opinion (e.g. how I evaluate reserves). I’m also considering doing some civics lessons and political history given the election year. I’ll probably experiment with a few other things as well.

I’ll also add I am open to reader suggestion if there are glaring omissions on topics I should have previously addressed.

I do have a new post started that hopefully I’ll get out later this week with some luck.

Final Thoughts

I think that pretty much covers things. I’m happy to keep going another five years if people remain interested in reading.

I’ve considered reposting older articles in weeks where I don’t have anything new ready, given many may not have seen the original, but that feels like a copout. If a lot of people think that would be a good idea though, I can do that fairly easily.

Thanks again for reading and hopefully I’ll be able to pick up the production pace in the near future.