Happy Saturday my friends.  I want to introduce you to a fantastic blog called No Debt Plan.  My friend Kevin runs this blog and has a been doing a great service to personal finance readers for some time called the Subscriber Swap Saturday.

No Debt Plan is about getting and staying out of debt with a plan. Kevin, the author, is passionate about budgeting, saving for the future, and using goals to reach financial freedom. You can subscribe to his blog by RSS or email.

This interview is part of a feature he’s developed called Subscriber Swap Saturday. The basic idea is to get the subscribers of one blog to subscribe to the other blog for at least a week, just to try it out. After a week if you don’t find that blogger’s content enticing, drop it. The hope is that over time you will find several writers that you weren’t familiar with who provide meaningful content to you. You can read more about Subscriber Swap Saturday at his get out of debt blog, as well as his interview with me.  So let’s learn a little bit more about Kevin.  My questions are in blue, and his answers are in black.

Using Twitter’s restrictions as a guide, describe No Debt Plan for my readers in 140 characters or less.

A personal finance blog that aims to help you get and stay out of debt while building wealth.

What is the No Debt Plan?

It’s the basic advice I would give anyone that is looking to go from in debt and lost about how to handle money to paying down debt and eventually being debt-free.

The focus and branding of No Debt Plan is obviously paying down and managing debt.  What sort of insight can you provide for someone like me, who currently has no debt?

Keep it up! Getting out of debt is just the first step. Continue to spend less than you earn. From there you need to start saving for future expenses — emergencies, home down payment, future kid education, and retirement. There is always something else you can apply that money toward. You’ve just got to prioritize your goals.

You run a website that serves ads as well as working which means you have at least two sources of income.  Do you think it’s important to diversify your income just like we diversify our investments?

Absolutely. I was very hesitant to put ads on my blog. For the first year or so I didn’t have any ads. I made a change and discovered I was missing out on making money! I don’t think they’ve bothered my readers too much either, or I wouldn’t have kept the ads up.

One of the founding principles of Weakonomics is that overall young people do not receive a proper financial education.  What are your thoughts on this and do you think financial literacy courses are more important than learning Spanish, Algebra II, or translating poetry?

I don’t know which of those things is most important, but I can tell you it is at least equally important. I’m not sure the government should be heavily involved in educating our youth about money — they don’t seem to have a good handle on managing budgets, either — but I think we could definitely improve the overall situation.

I’ve heard you have a thing for old BMWs, which means you have taste.  Given a budget of $500,000, what 5 cars would you love to own?  And because personal finance forces us all to think about all other monetary concerns, go ahead and assume you’re rich enough to get a business school named after you.

I’m going to stick to my favorites: 1988 BMW M3, 1995 BMW M3, 1988 BMW M5, and an old school Porsche 911. You’ll notice that’s only 4. The rest of the money would go toward a garage facility where I could work on all the cars — and fixing up my current 1978 BMW 320. (Editor’s note: I love this guy!)

I’m getting married this fall, what advice do you have for me?

Marriage counseling. It forces you to ask each other the tough questions about marriage — kids, family, where you will spend holidays, money, where you want to live, etc.

And remember that she is a much more emotional being than you are, so be delicate with your words toward her. Someone can insult you and it will roll off your back. The same is not true of your wife.

Which was harder, business school or taking the GMAT?

Taking the GMAT. Geometry has absolutely nothing to do with business.

SEC or ACC?  Yes this is a loaded question.

Loaded? There’s no question: Southeastern Conference. No one else is more dominant. (Editor’s note: the love is gone)

This concludes my interview with Kevin.  I want to thank Kevin for taking the time to answer my questions.  And even if his taste in collegiate sports is questionable, I would at least like to extend an offer: we’ll trade you Florida State for South Carolina.

Don’t forget to subscribe to his blog by RSS or email.

By The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics.

categories: Interview, cars, links, weakend