My guest is also a blogger and you may already know him – that’s Jeremy at Generation X Finance – a frequent guest in my “link love” posts as well.

SI: Have you ever been in bad financial trouble? If yes, what did you do to get out of it?

Jeremy: I was in pretty bad financial trouble just out of college. While still in school, I had established a few businesses. I had a web hosting company, ran a few fairly successful websites, and even went on to become a partner for a retail store. I couldn’t find a job in my field after graduation, so I had figured I’d be better off focusing all of my efforts on my businesses. Well, in order to expand beyond the dorm room and part-time income it was providing, I needed to expand. I started with the web hosting company and invested in more infrastructure (new servers, hired some support staff, etc.) This was the time where anyone could get credit, so going to the bank and asking for 10 or 20 thousand dollars in unsecured debt was easy. Since I didn’t have the cash on hand to do it, that’s what I used.

After some time and revenues not increasing enough to keep up with the added debt, I took on a partner to help. After some improvement and regaining some capital, I decided it was time to let go of that business and sold my remaining share to the partner. For a loss. I recovered some of the debt, but not all of it. Then it was time to focus on the other businesses. Unfortunately, I/we fell into the same traps. Business was starting to pick up, but it wasn’t quite enough to really break out, so we utilized the easy access to credit so that we could put the money into what was needed to take the business to the next level. And after a few years when that didn’t happen, I again was faced with selling off my portion of the businesses. In each case, I was only able to recover a fraction of the debt that was owed.

After I was separated from all my business ventures, I tried my best to keep up with all the payments. But being unemployed for a while, and working part-time just to pay rent led to things getting even further out of hand. I got to a point where I was considering bankruptcy and was researching attorneys that could help. But for whatever reason, one day I just said no, and I told myself I wasn’t going to go that route. I had gotten myself into this mess, so I was going to get myself out. It all started with beginning to consolidate some of the debt and to try and get rates reduced. I was able to successfully negotiate some of the interest rates down from 29% to around 9%. In a few cases, I was able to work directly with the bank to convert the revolving credit lines into installment loans at lower rates. It was amazing, just doing some legwork and asking for help enabled me to cut the monthly payments in almost half, and significantly reduce the interest rates, all while converting around 12 separate monthly payments into 3.

Once I finally found employment and began receiving a steady paycheck, I set up direct deposits to come right out of my check and go right to these debt payments so they were paid without even thinking about it. Since money was still tight, I found other ways to make some extra income, from odd jobs, IT consulting, and creating websites. I can honestly say that I hope I never have to go through something like that again, but the things you learn while being faced with a situation like that can’t be learned through books or by a talking head on TV. So, while I regret ever getting into that situation to begin with, I think it provided a valuable lesson and was critical to my success thus far, and will likely prove to be helpful in situations in the future.

SI Note: Quite a story. Maybe the credit crisis is not such a bad thing after all?

SI: Do you dream about early retirement like most people? Do you know what you are going to do with your time if you retire young?

Jeremy: I dream about early retirement every day. It’s not that I dislike my job, because I actually love it and couldn’t see myself doing anything else. But I also love to golf and love to travel. And when you’re bound to a 9 to 5, it’s hard to do much of either. I actually envision my “early” retirement to be more of a pursuit of a dream than an actual retirement. Once I’ve build up the resources, I’d like to retire by building and owning my own golf course and/or resort. I actually have a bit of a background in landscape architecture and golf course design, so it isn’t as farfetched as it sounds. But buying and developing the land for a golf course, and running the business isn’t something you can do without a good deal of capital. And since I learned my lessons about borrowing too much money for business, I want to be in a situation where I don’t have to rely heavily on banks in order to make that dream come true. But then, I could live on, and golf on my very own creation, and that’s what I’d call retirement. And I’d like to have this happen before I have to play from the senior tees!

SI Note: I asked this question because it seems that many people dream about early retirement without having any idea what they are going to do with their time. Lying on the beach is not the answer, but probably doing what you love is.

SI: The situation in the financial markets is pretty bad right now. What’s your forecast for the next few years? Is a big depression coming or everything will be back to normal?

Jeremy: This is a difficult question. From a pure financial market standpoint, things aren’t that bad. Of course, we just saw the largest single day point drop in the Dow ever, and the largest percentage drop since 1987, but as a whole, the markets are still not in terrible shape. From 2003 to 2007, we saw a pretty strong run. The Dow almost doubled from around 7,500 to 14,000 in just 4 years. We’re now sitting around the 11,000 mark just a year off the highs. Considering what we’ve been through in the past 10 years, from a pure market standpoint, things aren’t as bad as they could be. But when you look at the state of the financial sector and real estate, that’s another story. But at the same time, a lot of the real estate crisis is localized, just like the talk of being in a recession. The coasts have been hit, and some major metro areas and speculation areas like Las Vegas are really taking the brunt of this and making all the headlines. But when you begin to look at many places outside of these hot spots, things aren’t nearly as bleak, and in many cases, things are doing quite well.

Of course, it trickles down, and as more banks and investment companies begin to feel the pressures, the negative effects will be more widespread. Is a big depression coming? I don’t think so. I think we’ll continue to see things decline a bit for another year or two as we weigh the effects all of this has on the global economy, but things are much different than they were in the past. The stock market may continue to fall, and home prices may continue to drop, but this is a global economy. We’re also a much larger service economy now than manufacturing was in the past. We will still lose some jobs, we’ll probably have to struggle with inflation, and suffer from real estate woes, but I don’t see any massive meltdown. That is, of course, assuming the government finds a way to assist the ailing financial industry. We clearly don’t have the ability to cope with more major bank failures, and we can’t afford to restrict credit even further. So, I have to preface my comments with the assumption that the government does come to some sort of consensus as to how to address the banks that are in trouble. If they fail to do that, then all bets are off as people are irrational and will begin a self-fulfilling prophecy to create another great depression.

SI Note: So the apocalypse is not coming yet? Sounds encouraging from a finance professional. I definitely hope the US economy starts picking up again soon and the USD raises more against the EUR (that’s entirely selfish hope of an European of course).

So, that’s it. It was pretty long, but really interesting. If you want to read more exciting stuff from Jeremy, don’t forget that Generation X Finance works 24/7 and you can subscribe by email or RSS.

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Her blog is focused mostly on avoiding debt, saving and frugality. Let’s hear what she has to say:

SI: What’s working better for you in reducing your debt – saving money by being frugal or earning more by working more? And how would you prefer to continue – would you trade your free time for more money (working for alternative income) or you would prefer to keep the frugal lifestyle until you get out of debt?

Tricia: I believe that it is important to do both in order to really kick debt reduction into high gear. For a while there, we were cutting expenses and we were bringing in more money. We were paying hundreds of dollars extra towards our debt a month. But then our income decreased and our debt reduction rate slowed down.

After our debt is paid off, we will look for ways to increase our income and will keep our frugal lifestyle. It’s interesting because we have been transitioning to a life with less stuff and it feels great. We are heading towards a life of simplicity.

SI Note: She doesn’t say which is better. Probably any option is fine if you are committed to your goals. One advantage of making more money is that it is not limited in theory – while saving is limited to the amount that you earn (and that only if you learn photosynthesis).

SI: Has blogging helped you in any way to improve your financial situation?

Tricia: Very much so. I do run advertising on my blog so that brings in a few hundred dollars a month as side income. So when you look at it from a monetary standpoint – it has helped. But even more importantly, it has helped to keep me motivated. I don’t know how this happens, but when I am feeling down I usually get an email or a comment that lifts my spirits. Without blogging about our debt, I know I wouldn’t have been as focused on our debt reduction as I have been. It still boggles my mind that we have been at this for two and a half years. I’m not usually one to keep at things for that long, so blogging has definitely helped there as well. My readers are wonderful

SI Note: Oh thanks, we know we are wonderful So here is one more use of blogging except making money – to keep you motivated. When you share your goals with others, you become a lot more responsible in following them.

SI: Did you learn something from the failed business venture that you mention here? Would you try again or do you think people should not take such risks?

Actually, we are starting a new business and taking another risk. However, we have learned so much from the first failed venture. We weren’t really passionate about that business. We saw it as a means to be our own bosses and we didn’t really think things through. Everything you read says you should have a business plan. Believe it! We didn’t have our ducks in a row and the first business didn’t even get off the ground.

This new business venture is different. We are both passionate about it and it combines the talents of my husband and myself very well. It has very low start-up costs (unlike the first business). And most importantly, we have a solid business plan.

I do think risks sometimes need to be made. Sometimes you can get so used to a routine that it’s difficult to move forward. But you can gradually get yourself in a position that lessens the risk. For us, we are lessening the risk by reducing our debt and learning how to better handle our finances. Our financial position was very poor when we attempted our first business, and we only made things worse. We weren’t ready for the risk and we got a little burned.

Si Note: This is a very wise advice. Take the risks, just try to lessen them. Sometimes failure is the best teacher, but it’s still better to reduce the pain.

If you liked what Tricia just said, you may want to browse some more into Blogging Away Debt. Alternatively you can subscribe by RSS or email.

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So, let’s ask Patrick a few questions:

SI: What’s the importance of the education in your life and finances? Would you be doing better or worse if you hadn’t a degree – and is getting a degree worth it?

Patrick: I believe education is one of the most important things anyone can do to improve their situation in life – be it financial situation, career situation, or simply the way they enjoy life. I don’ think the education necessarily has to be a college degree either. There are hundreds of ways to learn without getting a degree. Learning can be as easy as reading a blog or watching an instructional video, or it could be more involved, like going through a doctorate course.

Is a degree worth it? Yes, for me it was. I started my career as an enlisted member of the USAF where I repaired aircraft. I learned a lot in that job, but there was only so far that I could advance without a degree. Fortunately, I was able to get the USAF to pay for my degree, and I took full advantage of that opportunity. I don’t, however, believe a degree is necessary for everyone. I believe people should follow their dreams and base their career decisions on what they want to do. If that means obtaining a degree, then by all means, go for it.

SI Note: Fully agree here, go study if you feel like you want to have a degree or want to work in a field that requires it. Don’t do it only because everyone else does.

SI: How do you feel about taking significant financial risks? Would you like to risk, say 50% of your net worth for the chance to become rich in an year and never have to worry about money again? Or would you prefer to slowly build your wealth and avoid risks?

Patrick: I’m of the mindset that slow and steady wins the race. I will take risk if it is something I believe in, but I’m not willing to risk everything. I’m comfortable where I am financially, and I am in no rush to become “rich.”

SI Note: Well for someone whose net worth is negative, I guess this would be out of question *grin*. But when people are in comfortable situation, it becomes much harder to take risks. It really depends on one’s goals – I would advise everyone who is not happy with his life to be more courageous about taking risks.

SI: Why do you want to be a millionaire?. And what are you going to do after you become one?

Patrick: Ha! This contradicts the last question, doesn’t it? Well, actually, I don’t think it does. Becoming a millionaire is not the end all be all financial goal for me. Becoming a millionaire is more like a road sign on the journey. It is a round number that has a certain aura to it and it certainly lets me know I am moving in the right direction. My goal in becoming a millionaire, isn’t so much about having the word millionaire next to my name, but rather the opportunities that I believe I could have with such a high net worth. I believe it would allow me to have more freedom when making financial decisions, especially those related to employment. I like my job, but no so much that I want to give the prime years of my life to someone else.

SI Note: Since most people will have to work most of their life, all I have to say is – don’t look at the job like giving your time to someone else. Look at it as working on your self development. You may just notice a big chance. Other than that I agree with Patrick that a million buck could give you a lot of freedom.

If you have just few minutes, I recommend you to read Patrick’s article Is A Job Worth Your Life? where you’ll be reminded that money is not everything. And of course it’s best if you subscribe to Cash Money Life by RSS or email.

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So, let’s hear David speaking:

SI: Your blog often discusses saving money. Does it work well for you so far? Don’t you regret sometimes for all the things you are not buying because of saving for the future?

David: Yes, we try to save as much as possible while still having a life. I never regret not buying something because I am saving, as they are just things. Retirement and a house are the two things I save for; nothing else is that important. Why waste good money on a bunch of stuff I won’t want in a year or two just for the instant gratification? For us, it doesn’t make sense. We spend our money on experiences, not just filler for our home.

SI Note: Spending on experiences is a topic I plan to discuss some day too. What I can say in very short is that I don’t remember most of the expensive things I have bought (if any at all), but I do remember all the trips and other great experiences we have had. So what looks more “real” – experiences or things?

SI: What’s the smartest financial decisions that you ever made?

David: Paying off my credit card debt. I got into debt in college buying music, gadgets, etc., thinking I would pay them all off when I graduated and got a real job. No one bothered telling me that my first job would not pay much, and I would then have expenses I hadn’t thought of – housing, car, gas, insurance, food, etc. It took forever and a day to pay them off once I started doing it, but to this day I would not trade that decision for anything.

SI Note: I’ve never had a credit card debt, so I have missed to make such a smart move. But seems most Americans do have credit card debt, so it’s the time to ask: Did you pay yours? Or said in other way: Don’t ask what your credit card can do for you. Ask what you can do for your credit card *grin*

How to get rich quick?

David: You don’t, unless you win the lottery. Everything else anyone would do “get rich” takes work, whether it is working at a career and saving your money or starting a company and getting bought out for millions years later. There really is no such thing as getting rich quick, and honestly, I am not sure I would want to even if I could. The money would not be rewarding at all and would not make you a happier person in the least, without having to work for it.

SI Note: So here is one more blogger who seems to say that those $97 “get rich quick” e-books don’t work. Are you still buying any?

If you want to read more from David, make sure to subscribe via RSS or email. And pay special attention to this article.

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Besides the good posts there you will find some downloadables – just scroll the home page a little bit and you will find them at right.

Enough about the blog. Let’s try to have a look deeper inside Trent’s brain – get your scalpel and join me now:

SI: Man, I can count at least 10 financial mistakes you have done! (Oh, well, you have actually written about them in your blog). Do you regret making them? Don’t you wish you could go many years back and be a wise frugal guy with a white beard yet from the teen age?

Trent: “Bottoming out” taught me a lot of lessons about how I should live my life and what values I should focus on. I’m not sure that simply having all the right answers in college would have really taught me much of anything at all. When I was in college, I was already sure I had all the right answers, anyway, so I likely would have just ignored them – or implemented just enough to keep my head barely above water. I think the path I followed was the best one to follow.

SI Note: 1. But the girls in school would enjoy the white beard, no?
2. I can see myself doing some of the Trent’s mistakes, fortunately not all. What about you – can you look at your financial habits right now and say you have figured the right way?

SI: If I only have the time to read one single post from your blog, which should be it? Why?

Trent: This one sums up my whole personal finance philosophy in five simple images:
Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards

SI Note: That’s indeed a must read post. Managing with our finance is really as simple as following the ideas shared there. Of course, implementation is what makes ideas work at the end.

SI: Let’s say I can offer you a job paying 10x times more than you make now from all your income streams. There is only one little catch: it’s a job that you really hate to do. Is it a deal?

Trent: It depends on whether that job can stay constrained to an eight hour day or not. If that job takes over my whole life, no deal. If I can keep it constrained to a nine to five, where I don’t have to think about it at all when I walk out the door, then sure. But a job with that kind of salary naturally does begin to take over your life – and right now, I wouldn’t trade my personal life for anything.

SI Note: It sound very tempting to me to accept such a job just for one year no matter how much it takes of your life. If you can get paid 10 times your current income for an year, such an offer would give you 9 years of freedom. There is one big problem though – when they taste the big money, most people can’t stop.

Liked what you read so far? Make sure to subscribe to Trent’s RSS Feed or his email newsletter. You won’t regret spending some time reading his posts.

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David doesn’t speak too much, but who says that quality equals quantity? Let’s hear his words:

SI: So you want to be rich… Do you have an idea when you will be rich enough? Don’t you afraid you can be chasing the dream of riches all your life instead of living simple and enjoying more free time?

David: My goal of being rich is to have my passive income greater than my foreseeable expenses on a monthly basis. I just got married, so at this point in my life, my expenses will increase as I build a family, have kids, buy a house etc. Once I grow through that phase and have a better gauge of what my expenses will be, I will have a more quantative answer for myself (and another else who asks me).

SI Note: Hopefully he’ll know when to stop. Many miss that moment and keep going just to turn back one day and see how their life is gone while they have been trying to be rich.

SI: What works better on building wealth – saving or making more money? Which would you concentrate on more?

David: Dollar for dollar, saving money works better at building wealth because of all the taxes and social security payments that Americans inevitably have to give before our earnings reach our own pockets. However, saving money is not something you necessarily “concentrate” on. You have to train yourself to have the mindset of not being wasteful with money. Once it’s ingrained into you, then you focus on making more money. In short, I’d say concentrate on savings first so your money doesn’t leak unnecessarily. Then once you have the right mindset, then concentrate on making more money.

Si Note: Of course if you are barely making money for food and are already as frugal as you can imagine, you’d better concentrate on making more first. That’s obvious anyway.

SI: Imagine you can give only one financial advice to your kid – an advice that should guide him or her in their entire life. What is it going to be?

David: If there is only one financial advice I can only give my kids (or anyone for that matter), it’s “live with your own means”. Spending less than you earn is the key to financial well being.

SI Note: I am sure he’ll be able to give more than one, but most kids won’t listen much. That’s why you better give them one many times so they really remember it. Hmm, should I start a blog about teaching kids in financial intelligence?

If you want to read more from David, don’t forget that this is his blog and there is an option to subscribe by RSS and email.

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Ok, enough intro, let’s give the word to Jaimie:

SI: What’s wrong with debt? Some people live in debt all their life and always get into more debt – and they all seem to be happy. Why do you choose to get out of debt?

Jaimie: Well, that may be true – they may be happy, but we weren’t happy. Debt made us feel trapped, anxious, and on edge, and like we were practically drowning. And, truly, we were one step away from a major disaster for a very long time. Things are deeper than the surface – we may have looked happy, but we certainly didn’t feel happy.

SI note: She is right, but how many people get it? The advertising everywhere is washing your brain and telling you to be happy buying things with loans. It’s not very easy to reject the offers, is it?

SI: What made you stop using credit cards in 2003? Did you change your mind and turned away from the consuming culture or you have always had your view about finance but couldn’t stop using credit earlier?

Jaimie: For me, I finally realized what credit card debt was doing to my emotional well-being – I felt anxious, trapped, and practically hopeless. I honestly didn’t really realize what I was doing to myself until I started to get out of debt. I never saw it as not being able to stop – more not realizing that what I was doing was not working for us. Eventually I saw the light so to speak, and we started slowly getting ourselves out of debt.

SI note: Can you tell how many credit cards you have without checking your wallet? Many people go far beyond Jamie’s situation in 2003 before they realize that getting the next credit card is not exactly the way to solve their financial situation.

SI: Do you see a connection between growing financial intelligence and personal development? How did your decision to solve the financial problems changed you as a person?

Yes, I definitely think there’s a connection between my own financial awareness, and then intelligence, and my personal development. This process has made me really think about what I value, and question all of the assumptions I had held for so long. It has been for me more of a financial awakening than anything else. I really spent a lot of time very clueless about the whole idea of finances and I have grown tremendously in the process of organizing my finances and organizing my life.

SI note: That again makes me think if you are in financial trouble, you’d better concentrate on your internal assets rather than rushing to make/save money. Of course if you are in such a trouble that you have nothing to eat, this may not work great (unless you can learn how to live without food at all)

If you want to read more from Jamie’s ideas, views and advice about personal finance, don’t skip reading her blog. The best option always is to subscribe by RSS or email.

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His blog is full of fun and useful advice while the main site offers hot deals and free stuff every day.

Before giving the word to Jim, I’d like to remind you I’ve had other great guests before, so make sure to check them too.

SI: What’s your view on getting rich quick – can you play the Devil’s Advocate here? Would you bet all you have on a promising deal or you’d rather prefer slow and steady growth?

Jim: I think getting rich quick and gambling are two different things and nothing has anything to do with speed. Getting rich quick is just an idea that hucksters put into people’s minds, if you do this and this and this, you can get rich really really quickly so let’s get to it! Unfortunately, this means that there is no guaranteed get rich slow either. You could try slow and steady growth and then BAM!, because you were so slow, whatever you were doing becomes obsolete. If a deal seems promising and you’ve done your due diligence, and it still proves to be promising, invest what you can afford to lose. As for gambling, I certainly enjoy it in moderation, it’s a safe way to find excitement if you can control it.

SI Note: Hmm, so you mean I should not buy that cool e-book “Make Millions In 5 Minutes With No Effort At All!” that is offered for only $197 $97?

SI: You just left the corporate world few months ago. How does it feel like? If you are offered a 50% more money than you make now, are you getting back to a real job?

Jim: I enjoy the freedom of doing what I want and don’t feel burdened by the need to figure out what it is I should be doing. It’s a lot different when you’re running the show, you no longer have the benefit of relying on others making decisions and taking the responsibility for poor decisions. On the flip side, every dollar earned is your own and every minute you spend is on a project that benefits you both financially and from a personal satisfaction/achievement perspective.

It’s become less about the money and more about learning more and challenging myself to succeed. There’s only so much you can do with money and at 50% more, I’d have to be generating that level of income for my employer and so perhaps my hours would be longer in a traditional business. To be honest, unless the offer were put in front of me with a job descriptions, I can’t say. If it were an 40 hour week job and a 30 year contract, maybe, but probably not.

SI Note: Besides that there is always a chance that you’ll reach much higher income on your own in some future moment. With the job, you know, you can grow only so much. The possibility to fail/be fired is almost equal in both cases.

SI: I have a great investment plan (You’ll thank me for sharing it!). I’m going to sell a house, get the money and invest them in the best performing mutual funds. Then an year later I’ll sell the funds, buy my house back and go to Bahamas with the profits! What’s your take… is there something wrong with the plan?

Jim: That sounds like a fantastic idea, let me know how it goes.

Just playing, I’ll answer seriously. There are numerous flaws that will likely tank your plans to go to the Bahamas. First, your plan is a year long and depends on volatile investments (stock market) that may spike or tank (experts say this is more likely) in the next year, so don’t invest in the stock market for short term. Second, depending on how much equity you have, it probably represents a significant amount of your assets. Your house is a relatively safe asset in part, even if all goes poorly, you can live in it. Third, you’ll have to live somewhere so you’ll need to pay rent, if that’s less than your mortgage then your real savings is only that difference and the equity you extract.

Keep blogging and stay in your house.

SI Note: oh, well, bye bye Bahamas! Wait, I just got a better idea, I’ll sell the house and trade forex with the money. Then take the profits and go to Vegas…

We were a bit funny this time but I am sure you can distinguish the jokes and won’t sell your house. If you want some more fun and wisdom from Jim, make sure to subscribe to his feed now.

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As usual, I shoot three quick questions to Lazy Man and best of all, I got pretty interesting responses. (Oh and he even provided me with handy HTML – I love techies). Check them out yourself:

SI: What’s the lazy way to reaching 2.25 millions net worth? Have you calculated when you are going to reach it with the current pace and why exactly 2.25M?

I’ll take the easier question first. I calculate how much money I can make off of dividends. If I had $1.25M and could expect an 8% return each year, that would give me $100,000 a year to live on. I feel that’s significant. However, due to inflation (3-4% and increasing rapidly lately), that $100,000 buys less and less. Thus, I need to assume that I’m only making a 4-5% return after inflation. If you work backwards to figure out what generates $100,000 each year at a 4-5% return, you come with a number around $2.25 million.

Now for the harder question. What’s the Lazy Way of reaching 2.25M?

There are three obvious ways:

1. Invest early and often – If you managed to scrape up $98,000 on your birth, you could invest at 5% interest (we deduct inflation and taxes again) and have your 2.25M at age 65. I realize we don’t have Suri Cruise baby pictures to bring in that $100,000, but it’s interesting to know you could finish your whole retirement with less than $100,000.
2. Be Frugal – I’ve bought a lot of things that gather dust. I never thought about it at the time, but I have around 300 CDs that I bought in college. Today, I listen to about 25 of them and turn on the free radio for the latest songs. I used to go out to restaurants and bars and that got expensive as well. Each time I save some money, I think about how much I’ve moved up my retirement date.
3. Do Something That You Love – Running Lazy Man and Money and Lazy Man and Health is a way of making money, but it’s certainly not a lazy way. There’s a lot of things to do each day, more than any non-blogger would imagine. Here’s the thing, though… for me it doesn’t feel like work. When you love to do something, it’s like playing. I like to say that Tiger Woods doesn’t work golf… he plays golf. Sure it’s a lot of work to be as good as he is, but I like to think he’s having fun out there.

SI Notes: 1. You lucky, come here to see how 23% – 24% inflation feels like!
2. I liked the fact he knows exactly how much he wants to save. Not just “be rich and make millions” like many dream.

2. How important is financial success for you? If you can live a modest but carefree life in a tropical heaven, without even needing to work, would you sacrifice your dream to be rich?

Financial success means having the freedom to live in a carefree life in a tropical heaven. I don’t know if I would do that as it doesn’t give me a sense of purpose. I like to think that I don’t need money beyond the carefree life in tropical heaven, but it’s a fantasy. My wife and I will think about starting a family at some point and we’ll need to find our children good schools. We also may need to provide financial assistance to our parents. I have a few things that are really important to me. I would like to have the money to visit and stay in Boston for extended periods – where I’ve spent 95% of life.
It’s where my friends and family are. Lastly, tropical heaven doesn’t exist if I can’t watch the Red Sox and Patriots. While I try to be frugal, I am materialistic in some ways.

SI Note: Don’t forget the mosquitoes. Tropical heavens look like heaven on pictures, because they use Photoshop to remove the mosquitoes from them. So, tropical heaven really doesn’t exist.

SI: Have you experienced any significant shifts in your views about money and investing during the years you run Lazy Man And Money? What are they?

Change happens all the time… Life is a journey and Lazy Man and Money is no different. It would be hard to state all of them in this space, but I learn more every day. When I started Lazy Man and Money, I had this vision that I would race to that $2.25M net worth and then relax in that tropical heaven you spoke of. Now I look to how can I build income streams that bring in lasting income streams. My wife is in the military and at age 42, she’ll be eligible to retire with a small, but significant, government pension (which adjusts for inflation).
Let’s go back to the original $100,000 a year goal… With her pension, plus earnings from Lazy Man Media, some investments (401K, Roth IRAs to boost us in our later years), and rental property income (my wife and I each owned condos when we met) we might have a large part of $100,000 accomplished without a huge net worth.

SI Note: Sounds like a great plan. Do you see how people achieve their dreams without buying “get rich quick” books? Of course, it takes good income and discipline, but it’s doable for anyone.

The Lazy Man (and his money) sounds like a smart guy, what do you think? I would definitely browse the archives of his blog for some of the best posts and subscribe by RSS not to miss the further publications. (Actually I am already subscribed, so this was a hint for you).

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Pinyo is the cool guy writing one of the most popular blogs about personal finance – Moolanomy. He is 34 years old, married and yet another IT-mate. Besides his blog Pinyo rules the personal finance field with few other projects. To the best of my knowledge the most popular of them is also the freshest one – PF Buzz – a Digg-like personal finance network. If you have a PF related blog, make sure to submit your articles there and get targeted traffic. Unlike on Digg, you have the chance to get your content promoted even if you don’t write about Windows Vista or Paris Hilton.

Now, see what my guest has to say:

The Three Questions Blitz Interview

SI: Did the Internet change your financial situation in the last 10 years and how?

Pinyo: I have to say most definitely. First, the Internet made information more accessible to everyone. The Motley Fool was one of the first financial sites that I fell in love with. The site was both entertaining and educational. Sadly, they made too many changes to the site and I became disenchanted with it. Now, I rarely visit the site anymore.

Second, the Internet made stock trading and research more accessible to everyone. I remember the feeling of empowerment I felt after I switched from my old full service brokerage firm to Charles Schwab with online access. For the first time, it was easy to do my research, manage my investment portfolio and make stock trades.

Third, I am a web entrepreneur who earn small income from the Internet. Although this is not a huge amount of money, it certainly makes a difference in my finances.

SI Note: I tried reading The Motley Fool a couple of years ago, but it just seemed to have too much information.
It’s good that he makes income from internet, but knowing how successful his projects are I expected it to be more that “small income”. Hopefully he’s just modest, otherwise it would be a bit discouraging.

SI: Based on your own experience what are the most efficient sources of alternative income available for the regular working people? What works best for you?

Pinyo: I wrote about alternative income quite a bit on my blog. Alternative income is anything that you do to earn income away from your primary job. Personally, I think everyone should try to build alternative income streams. Here are some articles that I recommend:

• Building, Diversifying, and Shifting Your Income Streams
• 7 Key Factors to Build Successful Alternative Income Streams
• 40+ Alternative Income Ideas and Resources
• Six Streams of Income (GP)

For me, web businesses have been the best source of alternative income. It works well for me because of my technology background; however, starting a web site is definitely not the best option for everyone. You should really start with something that you are passionate about and go from there. Be sure to check out my 7 Key Factors to Build Successful Alternative Income Streams article.

SI Note: That’s truly great list of articles, thanks for sharing it!
I like that he says that web site is not the best source of alternative income for everyone. I’m really pissed off by the “make money online” bloggers who don’t stop talking how easy is to make millions online. Instead of blindly following such blogs, discover what works for you just like Moolanomy says.

SI: We all read a lot personal finance tips daily but rare take action. What is your strategy in getting things done? If we take as an example the ideas you share in your blog, do you succeed to put them into action?

I do most of the things I talk about, but they are things that evolved over many many years. There are also things that I know I should be doing, but haven’t got around to it yet — i.e., estate planning. I wish I could do more, but I only have enough time and energy to do so much in a day. So my suggestion is read what you can, then prioritize and do what’s best for you.

SI Note: Doing most of the things is much better than talking and doing nothing (like most people unfortunately do).

I really enjoyed the discussion with Pinyo, there is some real gem in his responses. You can be sure you’ll find even more in his personal finance blog. It’s good idea to subscribe by rss or email so you don’t miss anything.

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