10 Questions and a Pizza Place with Rockstar Finance

Today is the 23rd edition of our periodic guest post series called 10 Questions and a Pizza Place. (The 1500′s are pizza fanatics.) We have a list of 17 questions we pose to fellow financial bloggers, and they are free to pick and choose 10 or answer all 17. Let us know if you would like to be featured in a future edition of 10 Questions.

I started blogging to blow off steam. Writing down what’s in my head is therapeutic and helps me sort out my thoughts. However, there is actually a much bigger benefit that I didn’t see coming when I started a mere 14 months ago. I’m learning.

There is no shortage of great bloggers willing to share their knowledge with you. I could spend half my day just reading the words of others and I’d barely be scratching the surface. I’ve met some of the folks behinds these blogs and they are all people who I’d have over at my house for a barbecue pizza any day of the week.

Sometimes, it’s a bit overwhelming, but Rockstar Finance is here to help. At Rockstar Finance,  J. Money finds the best articles on the web and links to them. It’s a great way to discover new blogs. And if you’re a fellow blogger, maybe J. Money will feature you one day!

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.

The awesome thing about my blog is that it’s set up to promote everyone ELSE’S blogs! 🙂 I read through about 150+ sites every day, and then promote my favorite articles I find on Rockstar Finance to better spread the word and intro my audience to other great bloggers out there. It’s a nice change from constantly pimping out my own stuff over at Budgets Are Sexy every single day, haha… And so far, the traffic and media mentions show people are finding it pretty useful. (We’re continually picked up by places like LifeHacker)

Hint to all personal finance bloggers reading this: if you’ve written something you’re super proud of, make sure to submit it over to me as the traffic gets diverted to you all!

What is the worst financial mistake you made?

Buying my house. Because A) I bought it at the peak of the market right before the crash, B) I did it within 48 hours of seeing it, and C) I meant to rent an apartment instead and got lost… Literally. I took a wrong turn and 2 days later had a new house on my hands! Now, it did completely change my life for the good as Budgets Are Sexy came out of it and I now blog and build things online for a living (as well as making hundreds of new friends and traveling the country doing so!), but financially speaking it was the dumbest thing I could have done.

What would you do if you inherited $1,000,000 (after taxes) today?

I’d sell the worst financial mistake of my life (see above), stop doing some of my side hustles that are purely for the money, and then invest the rest and keep going on my merry way 😉 I thoroughly enjoy what I do, so even if you gave me $10 MILL I still wouldn’t stop doing it. I’d just do more of the FUN aspects of the game and pay someone else to do the not-so-fun parts. (Like the accounting and taxes and blah blah blah…)

What kind of car do you drive?

A cherry red ’93 Cadillac DeVille, baby! Tan leather with imitation convertible top too! Haha… It’s no Escalade like someone’s ballin’ cousin I know (*ahem*), but it does get me place to place in style. I like to think I’m a gangsta creeping around in it, but my wife sees me more as an old instead… Which, I guess suits me well considering I roll up to our local coin club in it 😉

Who inspires you?

Average people doing extraordinary things. The Warren Buffetts and Steve Jobs’ out there impress the pants off me too, but I’m more moved – and motivated – by those not-so-famous people doing their thing and telling their own stories… Which is why I guess I’m so in love with the blogging world – everyone gets a chance to speak their mind and make a difference!

What is the best financial move you have made?

Probably having a kid. Not so much in the direct money aspect to it all (I’ve tracked every dollar he’s eaten in the past 2 years and it totals a whopping $19,989.70!), but more so in the fact he makes me prioritize what’s important. Like that money should NOT be at the top of my list like it’s been for so many years of my life. I’m still hungrier than ever to keep stacking it all up of course, but now it’s to make sure he has the best life I can ever give him going forward, rather than just wanting to say I’m a millionaire 😉 So if you could hurry up on that inheritance you were mentioning earlier, I’d really appreciate that.

What is your favorite place to vacation?

Anywhere *new*. I don’t care if it’s in the middle of the Caribbean, or in the middle of the Sahara – if I haven’t been there before I’d like to go and change that!

What is your favorite pizza place (I am a pizza nut)?

Pizza Hut (don’t shoot!). But it has to be the ones in Target 🙂 I don’t know if it’s because I’m always STARVING after shopping in that place, or if they make it different there (similar to how chains change it up overseas to better acclimate to the culture) but whatever the case you cannot pry me away from those personal pans once they come into my vision. Other places are fine too, but those damn Target Huts get me every time! (And yes, I just coined that phrase – don’t steal it, I’ll sue!)

What are your favorite personal finance websites?

Right now I’m really into early retirement stuff, and specifically the logistics behind it all, so I’m currently reading a lot of these guys:

JLCollinsnh.com
MadFientist.com
AffordAnything.com

If you have children, how do you raise them to be financially responsible and frugal?

I’m currently placing his piggy bank near his pillow every night, but something tells me it’s not working 😉 Honestly I have no idea yet since our first is only 18 mos old and our 2nd is 3 months pre-birth, but I need to figure it out soon or else I’m pretty sure my pf blogger card will be taken away!

What is the worst personal finance mistake you see people making?

Aimlessly worrying – and complaining – about everything they see or read in the news, rather than concentrating on the stuff that’s inside their immediate control. A friend of mine once said it’s okay to complain and speak out about stuff, but only if you’re going to *act* upon it at some point or else it’s a big waste of time and energy that could have been better used elsewhere. I think about that all the time now, especially as I see people bitching about what “might” happen in the economy or the stock market, or even in politics, rather than concentrating on what needs to get done here and now to improve their lives or finances. There’s always going to be big problems looming on the horizon, but if we don’t master what’s going on in the present there’s going to be even bigger ones to deal with that are totally avoidable!

What was your favorite job?

Outside of blogging, my favorite job was running our 12 month philanthropy project we dubbed Love Drop in 2011. Every month we’d drive or fly across the country “dropping love” on a family in need who was nominated by our community, and then we’d film it all a la Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It was incredible. We raised over $90,000 in goods and money over that year, and got to do some pretty amazing stuff like surprise a family with a car, or help get two autistic brothers a service dog which cost over $15,000. We’d raise all the money online in a 30-day period, and then people got to see EXACTLY where it went when we showed them the videos. One of the best experiences of my life.

Be sure to check out Rockstar Finance and while you’re at it, Budgets are Sexy is filled with all kinds of awesomeness too. Thank you J. Money!