10 Questions With Saved By The Cents

After a very long break, 10 Questions is back with Ben from Saved By The Cents. Take it away Ben!

Hi, 1500 Days readers! I am Ben, and I blog over at Saved By The Cents. Our motto is to help make money count. I am not sure I’d be able to follow the work of PF Geeks as that was truly epic, but I’ll hopefully make it somewhat entertaining!

There are approximately 476,492,292,928 personal finance blogs last time I checked. Why should we read yours?

Wow, that is an excellent question. Because I care so much about personal finance and am die hard into new technology, I try to highlight things that either help manage money better or get folks out of debt. For example, I just wrote on the best debt payoff apps in 2020 because I saw that there were new players in the space, so I wanted to highlight just how technology has changed.

I also try to find things that bring pain to peoples’ lives. Sometimes I diverge from personal finance. For example, when it was snowing a great deal, I wrote an article reviewing the top snow day predictors. It’s random, but I really like to write articles that will be helpful to as many people as possible.

Where do you live? Do you love it, hate it or just meh.

I live in the Bay Area, CA with my wife, and 3 young daughters. I love it and hate it. I love being in a place that is so diverse. I love the weather (mostly), and I love the proximity the bay area is to the ocean and mountains and national parks.

I hate that the Bay Area costs so much to live here. It feels insane to make a good living and not be able to afford a home. I also do not like the traffic here. Thankfully I have a reverse commute, but some of the previous commutes were some of the fastest ways to get me in a bad mood.

Do you rent or own? What are your thoughts on home ownership?

My wife and I rent at the moment. I would love to purchase a home in the next few years, so I very much appreciate homeownership, but the prices are just too expensive at this point that would make that a reality. Thankfully we have great landlords and great neighbors!

What do you do for a living?

I help manage a small finance technology company called Ascend Finance. We focus on helping people get out of debt by providing unbiased information about different options.

I love my job. It’s quite fun to help people with their finances because I can tangibly see how people become debt-free!

You rub a magic lamp and an evil genie pops out and says this: “You must pick one, specific investment to have all your money in for the next decade!” What do you pick?

10 years is a long time! I really like Slack (ticker: WORK) right now because Slack has completely changed the way I have worked. I also imagine it’s quite a bit better than Microsoft Teams. 

I am also very long on gold given the current market conditions. I am not an expert on the market, but I do think that there will be inflation if the supply decreases given the coronavirus, and the number of money increases due to money printing. That said, I’ll reiterate that I am not an expert on the subject.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I would like to more patient. It’s been an area that I have been wanting to grow for a long time. I believe I have been growing in the area, but I still have a long ways to go. 

What is the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?

After working at a non-profit in East Africa, I had the opportunity to go up north to Egypt and Jordan. I got to visit Petra, which was seriously unbelievable. It was so unbelievable to see a huge city hewn out of the rock. I was blown away. I would love to take my kids there someday.

Do you track your spending? If so, how?

Yes! My wife and I use a Google sheets budget to manage our finances. I have always had a difficult time finding an amazing budgeting app. I was thinking of building one at some point, but at this point, the Google sheets budget does the trick.

I also like Savology’s free financial planning tool which has helped me understand more of the long term goals and approaches that I should have in terms of spending.

What is your favorite money management tool?

I would say that my favorite tool at the moment is the Savvy debt payoff planner. We don’t carry often carry debt, but this debt payoff app allows us to prioritize debt effectively, and it also allows me to see all my income and expenses. It’s also simple and accurate, which I appreciate!

Who is your favorite leader in business today?

I really like to follow Ray Dalio. I believe that he understands economics and money quite well and relate to how he can take complex topics and break them down in easily digestible pieces. 

Thanks Ben for your excellent answers today! Find Ben at:

• Blog: Saved By The Cents
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savedbythecents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savedbythecents
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/savedbythecents/

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