Monevator becomes paid membership blog

dealyboy

It was announced at the weekend (via the blog) that Monevator was becoming a subscription service at three levels ...

- Monevator Mogul £8/month
- Monevator Maven £3/month
- non-member free but no access to 'member-only' articles

https://monevator.com/membership/

What access does the non-member have, it was not made clear ... well the first article since the weekend is member-only  .

Now Monevator is an excellent blog and I would even say the contributors do a great job, but am I willing to pay for it? I don't know. What do MSE'ers think? What if the same thing happened to MSE ... perish the thought ... aaaagh! (sorry I thought).

Edit: There is an update from The Investor, dated 8th May, as a response to a comment on the Monevator weekend blog regarding what will be available 'for free' ...

https://monevator.com/become-a-monevator-member/

Well nearly 80% of the new content and c.2000 articles in the archive will still be free (and hopefully updated more if we can make everything viable). But as I said in the article something has to give, after 17 years we can’t still be hand-to-mouth here.

I made the Maven’s level very low-priced because realistically I think that is within anyone who can read this site’s budget to be honest, especially annually.

Those who have kindly stepped up to support us are now our most important constituents, and they will get their exclusive new content accordingly! It’s the least we can do.

Eventually these articles will go into the archives, but it will not be for at least a year, and probably a little longer.

I agree we need to keep reaching as many people as possible. That’s why we’re trying yet another way to fund our ongoing efforts here. 

thegentleway

I think it’s worth paying for good content.

Why should anything of value should be free? 

mscott084

That's a shame as I do like their content, but I'm not regular enough to become a paid member. I think it's a great strategy for Monevator to monetise their work instead of trying to make money from ads and sponsorships.

Alistair31

£8/month is a lot so it’s a no from me. 

I’d rather have suffered some adverts on the site than another subscription. 

Shame really as I enjoyed the content. 

retiringtoosoon

Need to monetise that content 

Albermarle

Alistair31 said:

£8/month is a lot so it’s a no from me. 

I’d rather have suffered some adverts on the site than another subscription. 

Shame really as I enjoyed the content. 

I believe the £8 a month subscription is more for active investors, willing to take a punt on market trends etc.
For your typical buy and hold investor on here ( nor everybody of course) the £3 a month subscription would be enough.

You can still access the site for free ( although could be a dearth of new articles ) with the adverts. I have the impression the adverts have got more annoying/intrusive recently, maybe on purpose !

That's a shame as I do like their content, but I'm not regular enough to become a paid member.

I take a similar view, although you could argue what is £36 if you are DIYing hundreds of thousands of Pounds of investments.

dunstonh

mscott084 said:

That's a shame as I do like their content, but I'm not regular enough to become a paid member. I think it's a great strategy for Monevator to monetise their work instead of trying to make money from ads and sponsorships.

You would also hope that it removes the bias that has sometimes been apparent in some of their articles.

dealyboy

@dunstonh said:

mscott084 said:

That's a shame as I do like their content, but I'm not regular enough to become a paid member. I think it's a great strategy for Monevator to monetise their work instead of trying to make money from ads and sponsorships.

You would also hope that it removes the bias that has sometimes been apparent in some of their articles.

Yes ... I believe they began a sponsorship deal with Vanguard a year or so ago.

Don't shoot me The Investor if I'm wrong with that, it was certainly some arrangement.

ChesterDog

I'm pondering it.

I'm very averse to subscriptions, but I'd say I've made a good deal of money (and prevented losses too) thanks to Monevator, so it's not a business model I begrudge them adopting per se. 

One sticking point is that nowadays I read it really only for interest/entertainment and similarly the comments. My investment strategy and approach is now established, so I'm no longer looking for general guidance and background information, and don't stray over onto the "naughty active stuff". Therefore, I may well be content with just the Weekend Reading, which I believe will remain available for free.

Eco_Miser

As I understand it, the free content will be much the same as it has been, the paid content being additional material, especially the 'naughty' stuff on the £8 a month tier.

dealyboy

@Eco_Miser said:

As I understand it, the free content will be much the same as it has been, the paid content being additional material, especially the 'naughty' stuff on the £8 a month tier.

... well ordinarily the article 'Do rising interest rates spell dark days ahead for our portfolios?' published on 9th May would be one of the three or four standard articles per week, but it is now member only.