In his twenty’s, working in one of the largest banks of the United States. He doesn’t need to promote his company’s name because as per him we are all aware of it. He was in love with finance at an academic level and then migrated his way into personal finances. A blogger from weakonomics, Philip, is a person to talk about. Let us know more about him from the interview below.

Jason: Are you sure you are 20? Because a person at the age of 20 working in a bank without a name sounds strange to us.

Philip: No I’m not sure I’m 20, because I’m not. My website says I’m in my 20s, which means I’m somewhere between the ages of 20 and 29. On Twitter and mentioned randomly around my blog I often point out I’m a few years out of college. While that doesn’t necessarily give away my age, it does validate my working at a bank.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance and economics?

Philip: You blog what you know. I majored in finance and money has always been important to me. I started the blog to keep myself informed about the goings on in the finance and economics community. Cars and electronics are also of interest to me, but both of those are more hands on activities and so I don’t believe I could write a decent blog on those subjects.

Jason: You consider yourself to be very smart and talented, smarter than any other financial adviser. What great things you have achieved in your life that can signify this statements of yours?

Philip: I don’t think I’ve ever claimed to be smarter than any other financial advisor. Though I don’t say it in the words you’ve phrased in the question, I do think highly of myself. My grades in college and the positive feedback I’ve received for advice provided have lead to a high self-esteem when it comes to finance. I don’t know everything about. Taxes are my weakest point, I know little about estate planning, and considering I’ve never purchased a home I don’t know squat about mortgages.

What I have claimed is that most financial advisors don’t have your best interests in mind. This isn’t their fault because in their hearts they might have an interest in helping you. However the companies they represent often incent these advisors in a method that may encourage them to not provide you with the best product for you, but what will pad their pockets. I know enough about money and this industry to know who to trust and who not to trust. When it comes to investments and budgeting, I don’t need help but can certainly help just about anyone find their proper portfolio balances. So I don’t claim to know more, I do claim to be smart and that many folks in financial services may not be your best friend.

Jason: You said you started working at the age of 15. Where did you work and how did you manage to come out of debt so soon? Please share your experience in brief with our readers.

Philip: I did what many teenagers do where I come from, I was a lifeguard. I worked for a few years as one in the summers. The work was good and the experience was great. Not so much the time sitting in a chair next to the pool, but the time I spent with the patrons of the pool. I didn’t work at a country club, this was a public pool in a rough part of town. As for getting out of debt. I’ve only ever had a car loan. I paid it off in 11 months by simply putting every spare buck I had into paying it off.

Jason: We just noticed the tagline on your blog is, “30% Personal, 60% Finance, 20% Stupid.” What does this signifies?

Philip: There are a two messages in this tagline. The most obvious is my blog is more about money than it is about you. It’s about economics, finance, government spending, and investing. It’s not teaching you about the proper asset allocation for your circumstances, it’s not advice on budgeting, and Weakonomics does not exist to help you save money. The other message of the tagline is that a lot of what you see out there is ridiculous. Economists are almost useless yet we live and die on their words. Financial advisors rip you off. Guys rob banks using their own ATM receipts for their demands. Conservatives spend freely.

Liberals blame conservatives but do nothing to fix the spending. Insurance companies invest in home loans and at the same time offer insurance on the default of those loans, doubling their losses in a down market. It’s my goal to highlight these people and businesses for my readers so that they too can avoid them at all costs. The sum of the percentages is 110%, which points out there you might find a little humor behind an otherwise serious set of subjects.

Jason: What are the three biggest finance mistakes you have ever made?

Philip: Thanks to supportive parents in college, hundreds of hours listening to Dave Ramsey callers, and smart use of my own money I’ve never really had the chance to make many mistakes. I bought a penny stock and lost a few hundred bucks once, that’s about it. I am still young and may make many mistakes, but I’m doing my best not to. I rely on stories of others mistakes for motivation, and I always enjoy hearing of the successes.

Jason: Where do you see yourself in 10 years down the lane?

Philip: I’m getting married this fall. I expect in 10 years I’ll be gearing up for a 10-year anniversary. It wouldn’t be out of the question to have an MBA at that point. The future wife and I will probably have a couple of kids running around a house that I would hope to be paying down on a somewhat aggressive scale. Overall, I would like to have a net worth of $1 million by then (including the house), but that goal is somewhat lofty.

Jason: Are you afraid of disclosing any identities of your as in your workplace name or your college name?

Philip: I’m not afraid of anything. I don’t disclose this information because I don’t want to be bogged down with talking about my employer on my blog all the time. It’s not important, but I did feel the need to disclose I am an insider to the industry I discuss. I don’t share where I went to college because it would provide additional clues into who I am and where I’m from. In previous interviews and on Weakonomics I’ve said I have spent most of my life in the same state, this includes college and where I work now. I’ve also said I went to public school because I believe there is little to be gained from going to a private school. In state tuition is just too good.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

Philip: I spend more time on my blog now than I do reading Digg, or watching TV. My Nintendo Wii gets lonely sometimes, and I annoy my fiance when I check on something while we’re out together. No significant change has occurred, but I feel like I’m accomplishing something and have something to show for what I’ve done in my free time.

Jason: How long do you think this current economic situation will last and what do you think the answer to it is?

Philip: That’s a difficult question. There are two “theories” out there right now. The first is that we did bottom out sometime in the winter of 2009 and we’re on the road to recovery. This could mean the “end” of the recession in the fall of this year. However that doesn’t mean it’s all roses and candy, unemployment will probably still rise and things won’t be easy.

But we’ll at least be on track to a longer term recovery. The other idea is that we’re scratching the surface of a depression. This could happen of government debt gets out of hand or if the commercial loans on the books of banks start to go bad. Remember much of the problems we’ve seen have been with residential credit and debt, not business debt. If that becomes a problem we’ll likely dip down again and go deeper in the hole. I can’t place odds on which is more likely, however most economists seem to feel more and more optimistic every day.

Jason: What was your best personal finance decision?

Philip: Getting married. By hitching up with The Sheconomist we will be able to leverage our skills and become more productive. I am seriously deficient in the common-sense department and my future wife will fill that void for me. This frees up my cognitive baggage to focus more on finance and my career. Most of my day to day expenses over the last few years have been associated with spending time with a girlfriend instead of a wife. Once married many of these expenses will come down. There’s more to my marriage than a business relationship, but I have to say it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done and will ever do for my personal finances.

Jason: How do feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

Philip: I wasn’t really aware I was joining a debt consolidation community. At the moment I’m kind of hungry and somewhat chilly, but I don’t think those are feelings associated with Debt Consolidation Care. I suppose if I ever needed to consolidate my debts, I’d feel pretty good right now. I guess I need to get some debt.

I really enjoyed interviewing Philip on his views on personal finance. If you have really enjoyed the interview too then please leave your valuable comments.

My Friends,

I have heard many complaints, both in this Community and elsewhere on the Net, about outsourcing to India, among other places. There is even a lot of talk about it in the political arena. I have something to offer to the debate. I hope it serves as food for thought, and I hope that it inspires people to take up the banner of freedom and fight to protect and ensure Justice for all people, regardless of nationality, race, or economic standing.

In birth and in death, we are all equal. It is only in life that we allow our apparent individuality to highlight our differences to the point of exclusion of others.

I understand that many people are frustrated with abusive and harassing debt collectors and ignorant customer service agents, but unfortunately there is not a simple solution. America has become ridiculously (and needlessly) expensive and the financial behemoths that hold her people in a stranglehold are spreading out throughout the globe to divide and conquer to add even more blood to their bloated profits.

The expense of running a business in the US has gotten so out of hand that many companies are forced to move large portions of their operations overseas. We have gotten into such a frenetic “cost cutting” mode and “mega-merger” mania [the creation of Monopolies] that even when some companies move some of their operations overseas, they are sometimes too cheap to hire an American to be in charge of training and customer service oversight. It is the fault of poor management and a need to report higher and higher profits to their “investors” (such as stock market gamblers) or face even more pressure to cut back. Others follow along out of greed, just because it’s cheaper, and they feel they are out of the grip of US Law and so can ignore it with impunity.

I have even dialed information (411) for Reno, Nevada and talked to someone in the Philippines! What would they know about Reno?

Medical care has gotten so expensive in this country that many are forced to travel to other countries for medical care. What about those who can’t even afford to travel? They must suffer with incompetent and substandard medical care or are faced with the indignity of denial of service. The medical industry lobbied mightily for the passage of the ill-begotten 2005 adjustments to the Bankruptcy code which now require people to lose nearly everything of value – the majority of Bankruptcies are filed because of crushing medical debt – just because they got sick and either didn’t have adequate insurance, or were insured by HMOs more interested in profit by Denial than serving the ill. How many of us really want to go to the hospital? So just because one gets sick means that they have to lose everything they struggled so hard to gain for themselves and for their families? Is making us slaves to never-ending debt in our best interest and to our benefit? [see * note below]

These issues are not so simple and one cannot just jump to conclusions that put people down based on where they were born, their melanin content, or any other flimsy excuse for dividing us.

On the other hand, it is not psychologically healthy to find offense where none was meant to one’s person. For instance, I do not get offended when called a “cracker” or a “white devil” or any number of the many degrading names I have been called – I am quite an unusual person – even when it is intended to be personally hurtful. It is far too easy to discover the faults of others, it is the discovery of our own that is so myopic.

The only ones who have a vested interest in our divisiveness are those that would exploit us for their own filthy greed and illicit gain (Divide & Conquer, a very effective tool of War). In order to combat that tendency, we should be looking for ways within ourselves to become closer together because we have so very much in common.

The American people itself have historically fought numerous injustices and won many battles for human rights (even in the midst of inglorious mistakes) and thus shone as a light to the world by her example. In these dark times some of us forget that. And we forget that it requires We the People to stand up and reclaim that legacy of respect.

Let us remember that the battle is not with India or China or Europe, etc. The battle is with our own government that has sold itself to the highest bidder, to the chagrin and needless suffering of her own people. And it is We the People that must take back our Dignity, take back our Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – which is being callously stymied with malice aforethought, by burying us deep in the muck of debt until we are Owned in all but name.

The Credit Reporting Agencies have some of our livelihoods in a stranglehold. They stubbornly violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) which allows only truthful and verifiable information to be included in the credit reports, by accepting the flimsiest of excuses of so-called “evidence” offered by some junk debt buyers who are out to steal from people by attempting to collect outside of the Statute of Limitations – and sometimes not even the debt of the hapless victim (alleged debtor) at all – by daring to accept “yes it’s your debt” as verification! If you can’t PROVE it, STEP AWAY and do NOT try to collect it (innocent until proven guilty).

But instead of attacking and insulting each other, let us take this ire directly to the CRAs who would let this travesty continue after the heartfelt pleas of the wronged! Let us take this ire directly to abusive debt collectors who flagrantly violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)! Let us take this ire directly to those who fight to remove our Constitutional rights from us one by one, nailing them with spikes of fear and greed! Let us take this ire directly to the divisiveness each one of us holds in our hearts!

This is where it belongs – against all those who would enslave us. This is where it belongs – against all those who would exploit us. This is where it belongs – against all those who would deny us our Dignity that was freely given by God – by whatever name you use (or even none at all) to address or think about the Mystery of Life in each of us and is truly Sacred.

I echo the words once eloquently spoken by the incomparable Benjamin Franklin: if we do not hang together, my friends, then we shall surely hang separately! And also the words of the great Abraham Lincoln: United we stand, divided we fall! One more (attributed to both John Philpot Curran and Edmund Burke but cannot be definitely traced to either man): “Evil prospers when good [people] do nothing”. These may be considered to be clichés, but they are very important words that symbolize matters of most importance within a free society governed ostensibly of the People, by the People, and for the People and we would do well to keep these words on the tips of our tongues and on the forefront of our conscience. For if Freedom be lost, what do we have to offer our children? A legacy of betrayal?

No, it must not be.

We should fight for Justice because we want to be treated justly. We should treat others as we expect to be treated – on our own individual merits and situation. And we should never tolerate those who would attempt to thwart those rights – neither king, nor CEO, nor politician, nor employer, nor debt collector. This is the Reward of our Struggle and the Responsibility to our children, – our Legacy, the legacy of our Country, and the entire World.

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” [James Madison, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788]

Let Freedom ring!

Thank you for listening.

-

* “Medical professionalism involves not just the relationship between a physician and a patient[.] … It also involves a relationship with society. This relationship can be characterized as a ‘social contract’ whereby society grants the profession privileges, including exclusive or primary responsibility for the provision of certain services and a high degree of self-regulation, and in return, the profession agrees to use these privileges primarily for the benefit of others and only secondarily for its own benefit.” [page 64-5,“Medical Ethics Manual” by the World Medical Association.]

A man who loves to call himself lazy. A man who being the laziest in the family has earned a lot and today he considered himself as a perfect blogger, writer and marketer. Software Engineer by profession, Corey, loves to write on personal finances like on budgeting, career, credit, debt, entrepreneurship, investing, taxes, real estate, insurance, spending, retirement, and estate planning. Let us learn some tips from lazy man and money for saving money and making more money is this economic downfall.

Jason: From where did you get the idea of blogging?

LMM: In 2006 I wanted to learn more about blogging and why people were starting to get their news via blogs. One day I decided to look for blogs in areas that I was interested in – Gizmodo was the one that came to mind.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance?

LMM: I read an article in Business Week about how Boston Gal’s Open Wallet writes about her finances. I thought it was very interesting to write about things that people don’t talk about anonymously. I started reading the site and became more interested. Eventually, I decided that I should write – just to improve my own writing. Since I had been investing in mutual funds since the age of 14, it seemed as good as topic as any.

Jason: What do you do in real life and how’d you get started?

LMM: I used to consider myself a software engineer, but I’ve stepped away from that career. Being as Lazy as I am, I had no interest in learning all the changes to the industry during my own time at home. I got started in software engineer when my parents got me an IMB PCjr at the age of 8. Today, I consider myself a blogger/writer/marketer. I do some freelance writing, contract marketing, and blogging. I bring home a bigger paycheck from my contract work, but that is usually month-to-month. I prefer the times when I’m not contracting full time. It’s a much better work/life balance.

Jason: How long do you think this current economic situation will last and what do you think the answer to it is?

LMM: I see it getting a little better each year for the next 4-7 years. Since I see it as a gradual thing, I’m not sure when to say, “That’s it! We have the answer!” I don’t know what the answer is.

Jason: We just noticed the title on your blog is, “Lazy man and money.” How can I be lazy and still earn money?

LMM: You have to look at the saving money part of the equation as well as the earning money. It’s easy to be Lazy and save money. It’s usually just a matter of discipline and saying, “I don’t need that BMW or McMansion. I can work less and buy a cheaper used car and smaller, more economical home. Suddenly, you don’t need to make six figures… perhaps you can get by on a part-time job. It’s also about recognizing how interest works. If you are paying interest to credit cards each month, you need to work harder for nothing. If you have lots of money invested, your money does the work for you.

Jason: What are the three biggest financial achievements you have ever made?

LMM: I’ve had a lot of slow and steady gains. I’d say the biggest achievement was when Lazy Man and Money made enough money to cover all my necessary expenses. If I lost my job, I could eat, pay rent, utilities, etc. just blogging. It’s great from a cash flow perspective, but it doesn’t allow me to save what I would like to. That’s why I either need to work on my businesses to make them more efficient, or continue to take contract jobs and invest wisely.

Jason: Where do you see yourself 10 years down the lane?

LMM: Retired. My wife and I have a fairly extensive plan for how we’re going to reach that goal. I wrote a short 5 part series on our early retirement plan.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

LMM: It certainly has. I once wrote the Top Ten Ways Personal Blogging has Helped Me. That’s still true today.

Jason: Please advice our readers how to pay off their debts?

LMM: I would say that you should take the following three steps:

1) Work with debtors to try to reduce the loan’s interest rate. This may or may not work, but it’s worth a try.

2) Look at your assets. If you have a new Corvette, consider selling it and pick up a used Kea. This is an extreme example, but many people can save hundreds a month with a switch from the cost of a new premium car to a used car that gets you from point A to point B.

3) Look at your monthly commitments. Are you making payments on that car… maybe you the above switch helps you get out of that debt completely. Do you have a Netflix subscription, HBO, an expensive cell phone plan that you can cut back on? This all goes towards making sure your income exceeds your expenses. Don’t forget to add the interest you are paying to those expenses.

4) Be caution of debt consolidation… Heed the advice of Wikipedia on Debt Consolidation. Look out for the pitfalls there – especially if you are putting your house on the line.

Jason: How do feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

LMM: I am… hmmm… I didn’t know that. To be honest, I’ve never really cared about debt consolidation. I’ve focused my money research around things that are applicable to my life. Since I don’t carry debt, it’s not anything that I’ve ever looked into.

That said, I wouldn’t care about debt consolidation… I’d care about debt elimination. To me consolidation doesn’t improve things unless you can lower your interest rate while keeping your unsecured loans, unsecured, while not paying any fees for the service. If you come out with the same rates, pay fees, or have to put up collateral (like your home), it simply doesn’t make sense.

Jason: What was your best personal finance decision?

LMM: I think it’s starting Lazy Man and Money. It goes back to the aforementioned ways that blogging has helped me. It forces me to focus on my finances more. Not only that, but it also brings in some income each month outside of a normal 9-5 job. There were 8 other reasons listed in there.

Jason: What is a major personal finance issue that is on your mind right now?

LMM: My tenant in Boston called the other day and said she lost her job and can’t pay the rent. The link has the whole story, but that’s a big deal financially for me. However, in general, I think the country has too much debt, too much unemployment, and credit has become too hard to get. Baby boomers are finding their life savings decimated at the worst time – as they look to retire.

Do you really think it is so easy to be lazy and earn money? Do you really think Corey is a lazy person or he is doing this just for publicizing his blog? Do leave a comment on this before logging out from this post. All the comments will be highly appreciated.

At Debtconsolidationcare, we make sure that there’s a sense of belongingness to our community. In an attempt to do so, we have come up with the “Hall of Fame” Badge – a symbol of recognition of our members’ contribution towards the community.

As of now, community members making more than 1000 posts qualify for the Hall of Fame (HOF) Club membership. Once a member qualifies for HOF, the community starts a thread “Vote for your name in the Hall of Fame” in the pub forum. This is where the member receives votes from others (members) participating in the community. Once the member gets 10 votes, he becomes a member of the Hall of Fame Club.

Till date, a HOF member used to receive a check of $100. In addition to this, they’ll now receive the “Hall of Fame” Badge, which they can use in their blogs and websites. Using the HOF badge, members can promote themselves as a member of our community. If you’re a HOF Club member, feel free to get the badge code from the member area.

Aiming to have a healthy six figure bank account balance, Single Guy Money was successful in paying his $ 40,000 debt of his car loans and credit cards. A man with a dream of living a non-mortgage debt life by the end of 2010. Let us read his views about his journey as a finance blogger from the interview below.

Jason: From where did you get the idea of blogging?

SGM: I happened to be searching for personal finance information and ran across a personal finance blog that had been around for a few years. I spent hours one night reading the entire blog and I was intrigued by the idea of anonymously posting my personal finance information for everyone else to see and maybe gain something that would help them with their own personal finance.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance?

SGM: Personal finance has always been my passion. I used to sit down with my grandfather and watch him write out the checks to pay the bills. He always told me it was important to pay out less money than you are bringing in.

Jason: What do you do in real life and how’d you get started?

SGM: In real life, I work for a large insurance company in the claims department. I’ve been with the company over 8 years and got the job my attending a job fair. I’d actually never heard of the company and just figured it would be something I could do temporarily until I found a job that I really wanted to do. I hated it for the first year or so and then I got the hang of it and stuck around. It has turned out to be a great company and my salary has more than doubled since I started.

Jason: Your bog’s tagline says, “My goal is to be free of non-mortgage debt by May 2010. ” What preparations are you making to achieve this goal and how?

SGM: My plan is to save a large cash cushion to handle any emergencies that may creep up. Once that goal is funded, any extra cash will go towards my student loan. Once my student loan is paid off, the only debt remaining will be the mortgage.

Jason: We noticed that you have made loads of financial mistakes in your life. What are the three biggest finance mistakes you have ever made out of all?

SGM: My three biggest mistakes by far are: buying a new car every couple of years and continuing to accumulate more debt with each purchase, financing my lifestyle during college with credit cards and taking on a lot more student loan debt than I really needed.

Jason: How long do you think this current economic situation will last and what do you think the answer to it is?

SGM: I wish I knew the answer to that. I do think it will not end quickly and may around for the next couple of years. I do think if people had taken more responsibility, we would not be in this situation. If the bank tells you can afford $10 a month and you can only afford $5, you only finance $5.

Jason: Where do you see yourself in 10 years down the lane?

SGM: Ten years from now, I would like to be completely debt free; including mortgages with a nice, healthy six figure bank account balance.

Jason: How do you feel after paying off almost $40,000 of your car loan and credit cards?

SGM: It feels awesome!!! I can sleep better at night and I am no longer worrying about the bills.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

SGM: Blogging has changed my financial life tremendously. I now feel accountable to my readers. I know that if I mess up and make a stupid purchase, my readers will let me know. I actually think about and plan for purchases now instead of just going out and buying stuff I don’t need.

Jason: What was your best personal finance decision ever made?

SGM: My best personal finance decision was finally paying off my car loan. I not only paid off the current vehicle I was financing but I paid off over 12 years of car loans. I can now use the money I was paying the bank to build my savings account. I now make car payments to myself. When the time comes for my next vehicle, I plan to go in and write a check for the full amount.

Jason: Please advice our readers how to pay off their debts from your past experiences?

SGM: The first and best tip I can give the readers is to be patient and don’t give up. You didn’t get into debt overnight and it won’t be paid off overnight. Every bit of extra money you get, throw it at the debt. Every little bit helps. Adding an additional $10 to your payment will add up eventually and chip away at the debt. Before you know it, you will be done and you can move on to the next debt. Don’t try to do it all at one time. As the saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Jason: How do feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

SGM: I think it is absolutely awesome and I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of it. Debt reduction kicks butt!!!

After reading the interview of Single Guy Money, Do you think he will be able to achieve his goal of living a non-mortgage debt life by the end of 2010. Do not forget to leave your views about Single Guy Money and his interview with us.