Over the past two weeks I spoke with Kyle from the Suburban Dollar, another fairly new (since Feb 2009) blog with common sense perspectives on personal finance. Kyle’s a proud father with many letters behind his name, for degrees I didn’t even know existed! Just one of the many interesting things Kyle’s begun is this original list that keeps track of the reported networth of other bloggers. Don’t miss out on the updates – subscribe to his free feed here.
About the Suburban Dollar
What got you started blogging?
I don’t really know what made me decide to start blogging, I had been following Trent at The Simple Dollar and Jim at Bargaineering for a while and one day I just decided I should jump in the fray as well. I wanted to make myself accountable by writing about about finance. I figured if I write about it I will do a better job of keeping up with it.
What mistakes did you make starting out/ what tips would you recommend to other bloggers?
I think my biggest mistake was just jumping right in. I would have been better off to develop some excess content first and then start publishing. Excess content allows you to do things I haven’t been able to yet like publish guest posts on other blogs. I work a 40+ hr a week job in addition to blogging so it is hard to write a lot of content. I tend to take weekends off completely so if I can’t get ahead during the week I am up late every night writing.
What makes your blog unique, or what is your own vision for your blog?
I am not in finance, I am a computer guy, so I think I bring an Average Joe perspective to the finance community. As I like to say, my site is where finance and reality meet. It is a place where I talk about the practical application of techniques for saving and investing as opposed to drawn out theories.
Do you maintain other blogs, if so, why, and how is this going?
HA! I can barely manage to maintain the one blog I have, the only other site I maintain is a portal for CashCrate referrals, SuburbanMoney.com. It isn’t really a site as much as it is a place to try to funnel in referrals. It will probably morph into something useful in the future.
…And the Soon-To-Be Suburban Millionaire
What has got you the most motivated in the past about financial success? Was there ever a turning point, or was it a book you read, someone you talked to? It seems to me anyone who gets into consistent blogging is already pretty motivated, more than the average person.
I used to not care, I didn’t pay the bills, I never checked the bank account and I spent whenever I wanted. Money was something I had more than enough of and the bills were always paid. I can’t remember what it was that got me going, I think it was a friend at work talking about online savings accounts, from there I started doing research and visiting blogs, that expanded into books at the library. I started tracking our spending, analyzing our debt, and increasing earnings on our stale money. Jim at Bargaineering inspired me, and later encouraged me to start my own blog which has brought me to where I am today.
What would you say are your own financial strengths and weaknesses?
My strength is probably my drive to learn and succeed. Failure is not an option for me when I get it in my head to do something. Whether it is pay off debt, start a blog, or succeed at my day job, I refuse to fail. I don’t have to be the best but I won’t give up. My greatest weakness is that I still haven’t learned how to best communicate with my spouse why I am so driven to reduce debt and not take on anything new. She still talks daily about large purchases we don’t have the cash for, I try to explain my position but it usually doesn’t work. But like I said before I refuse to fail so we will work it out and it is going to be awesome.
What kind of an investor are you?
I wouldn’t call myself much of an investor at all. I have a 401(k) which is the only place I personally have investment money at this time. I invest in mutual funds with a decent track record across various industries.
Where would you like to be in the next 2-5 years?
I would like to see myself employed, still with my current company and a nice side income from blogging or other ventures. I want to have my second mortgage and student loans paid off so my wife can have the option to stay home with our two children.
What’s your own vision for escaping the rat race? Do you believe in “retirement”?
I enjoy what I do so for the time being I don’t really see my self escaping the rat race. It would be wonderful if I could get enough income from other sources that I didn’t have to work a “regular” job but I don’t see myself getting to that point any time in the future. I would like to believe that one day I would be able to retire and live off the fruits of my labor. I think if I continue to invest wisely in my 401k and my wife’s IRA then we will be in a place where retirement is an option. Whether or not I decide to actually retire is a different story, you just don’t know till you get there I guess.
If you were already financially free and knew you would stay so, what would you most want to do?
If I were financially free right now, I would pour all of my energy into enjoying life while trying to start my own business. Like you said in the other question, people who do what we do are highly motivated. We do crazy things like stay up till 2am writing and get up at 5am to go to work at our real jobs. Financial freedom just means to me that I can live on the lake and enjoy my weekends a little more. I am addicted to trying to improve myself and my knowledge so sitting on my arse doing nothing doesn’t appeal to me. Sitting on the lake doing what I want is where I would be.
On a broader note, what do you think is going to happen with the U.S./world economy in the next 5-10 years?
I don’t know that I can answer this without getting too political. I don’t like the direction we are going as a country. The United States Government should not have ownership stakes in any company. That isn’t what it was formed for and it certainly isn’t its job. If we continue along this path towards a more socialist economy I am afraid we will have temporary improvement followed by more deep losses. Thankfully, I am confident that the American people will start to realize what Washington is doing and get things moving in a better direction and things will improve. It is the nature of the beast for things to falter; without failure how would anyone know who was right?
Awesome talking to you! Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?
When you discover you don’t know enough about a subject, read, search, twitter, whatever, but just by reading this article on this blog or any article or book you are taking that first step to being in control of your situation.♣
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Be sure to check out some of the other great interviews in this series. Next up we’ll be talking with MyLifeROI and Neal Frankle (The Wealth Pilgrim)!
Catch up on the interviews with other bloggers here:
How To Think Like An “Almost” Millionaire (The Almost Millionaire, May 1, 2009)
The Four Pillars of Wealth (Four Pillars, May 8, 2009)
One-Month Blogging Success Story (ManVsDebt, May 13, 2009)
In the meantime, if you liked this post, why not sign up (it’s free!) for more updates like this one so you won’t miss any posting of mine – just click on my RSS feed here. [And if you'd like your story to be featured here, let me know by email (see my contact page) or just follow me on Twitter @MoneyEnergy and give me a shout!]
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