10 Questions with Zina Kumok from Debt Free After Three

This is the 68th edition of our guest post series called 10 Questions. It also will be one of the last. Everything must come to an end and 10 Questions will say ‘”Good bye!” near the end of 2016. If you’ve already sent me your answers or told me that you’re going to be doing so, don’t worry; I’m still going to publish you.

Mrs. 1500 here today! I first met Zina at a Financial Blogger’s Conference in 2014. I can’t remember the circumstances of initially connecting with her, but I remember hanging out with her the entire time – and she is a super-fun gal!

She also mastered the impressive feat of paying off her student loan debt in three years!

Zina has taken everything she knows about paying off student loans and wrapped it all into a course called Student Loan Payoff: 20 Days to Debt Freedom, which covers not only student loans, but the basics of personal finance and money management that a recent college grad may not know.

Zina, take it away!

Tell me about your blog and why it’s great.
My blog began when I decided I wanted to pay off my student loans in three years. I decided to start blogging about my goal because I wanted to share what I was doing with the world. I thought keeping a blog would keep me more accountable and inspire other people who had the same dreams.

Tell me how you’re going to change the world with your blog (dream big or don’t dream at all!).
Since I’ve paid off my student loans, I have launched a course about how others can do the same. It’s called Student Loan Payoff: 20 Days to Debt Freedom and it goes through the basics of personal finance, how to manage your money and how people can pay off their student loans.

It’s targeted toward those with student debt, but it also teaches them about how they can budget, negotiate lower prices and start to invest. It’s a holistic approach – it doesn’t just show you how to become debt-free, it teaches you what to do after you’ve done that.

What goals do you have for your blog, short and long term?
My constant goal for my blog is to help people who are once in my shoes. Student loans are only getting worse in this country, and more and more graduates are discovering how expensive their loans are after they’ve already finished school. I hope that my course and blog makes them feel like their loans are manageable and that they too will one day be debt free.

What post are you most proud of and why?
I wrote a post about a year ago about my decision to leave journalism and start a new career. The post started a lot of controversy amongst some current journalists, but it was important for me to write about leaving an industry I’d been entrenched in for a long time. It wasn’t even closely related to personal finance, but it reflected the economic needs of leaving a job that no longer pays well.

1500 Days is about early retirement. Do you have early retirement dreams? At what age do you think you will retire?
Now that my husband and I are debt free, we hope to start buying investment properties so we can have passive income. We hope to use that passive income to retire early and have more freedom in our later years.

Paying off my student loans was the first step to early retirement, and it made me feel like anything is possible – even retiring at 40!

If blogging isn’t your full time gig, what is?
I’m a full-time freelance writer specializing in personal finance. I love writing about retirement, budgeting and of course, student loans. You can see my portfolio at zinakumok.com.

How do you handle people with different views on money, ie spendy people?
Money is not about math – it’s about emotions and how we use money to deal with them.

I’ve learned that people with spending problems are just trying to work some other issues by using money as a tool. The key is to find the underlying issue and deal with that first.

Did you grow up with money? How did your money situation growing up influence you?
I grew up as a daughter of immigrants so we went from having no money to being comfortable. I still have some scarcity issues, but I also realize how privileged and lucky I am to be able to afford most of what I want.

Did your parents teach you about money as a kid? How so?
My parents did a great job of teaching me how to save, avoid debt and not increase my expenses when I increased my income. Because they were so forthcoming about their financial mistakes, I was able to learn what to do and what not to do.

You mentioned a course earlier. Who is your course for?
While my course is designed for millennials, it can be for anyone managing their student loans. I know people in their 40s still paying back their loans, but also managing retirement funds, 529s and more. If you’re overwhelmed by your student loans and want to be debt free, this course is for you.

Keep up with Zina on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or over at debtfreeafterthree.com. Thanks Zina!