Thank you to all the followers and visitors of The Common Executor for keeping the blog relevant in 2019. In 2019, the blog had a mediocre year because of low visitor interaction resulting in only a few posts. Additionally, at times, important life events occurred which stalled efforts to reach goals set for 2019.  Nevertheless, the blog still nearly reached the 2018 level providing a silver lining to a lackluster year and a motivation to get this blog back on a growth path in 2020.

The Year in Review

In 2019, traffic decreased by 2060 visitors as of this writing. However, interest in the articles remained high and was a big reason traffic nearly met the 2018 level.

Additionally, revenue from the Amazon Affiliation nearly equaled last year due to robust holiday sales, which improved a lackluster year. So, when the final numbers come in for the month, revenues for the year should equal or slightly exceed 2018.

Finally, the poll of the year asked, “What is your main concern about Estate Planning?” The results were as follows:

• 85% selected Other for a response.
• 8% replied that their net worth was too small to bother planning.
• 8% admitted to being completely apathetic to estate planning.

The purpose of the poll was to determine why people evade estate planning. Fortunately, some visitors were honest, admitting to their reservations while others remained skeptical. In the end, reliable information remains necessary for executors and estate planners to avoid disastrous estates.

Plans for Next Year

In 2020, I will continue to post in response to visitor interaction and to changes in federal estate law. Recently, the congress passed the Secure Act as part of a new spending bill. The law has some effects on estates and I will be updating articles to reflect the new laws.  So, I plan on more posts as well as updating existing articles.

Finally, the only goal for 2020 is to return the blog to a growth path as many visitors still see this blog as relevant.

Top Posts in 2019

In 2019, the top posts were exactly the same as 2018 except in a different order. The top posts for 2019 are as follows:

• How to Handle a Belligerent Beneficiary
• Inherited Traditional IRA | Distribution Rules for Estate as Beneficiary
• Closing an Estate in a Formal Probate Process
• Good Record Keeping: Crucial for an Executor
• Communicating with Beneficiaries: Executors Should Use Common Sense

That’s it. Have a great year in 2020.