Subscriber Swap Saturday is the brain child of Kevin, from No Debt Plan. He started it as a way to introduce his readers to other personal finance blogs and the blog’s resident host. Likewise, it serves to introduce him to a new set of readers. The hope is that you, the readers, will find another exciting and informational blog to follow, and the hope for us is that we can reach a few more people.
An introduction to Kevin and No Debt Plan. 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 new 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 blog, and you can read his interview with me here.
Interview with Kevin (my questions in bold).
Ryan: What is the best introduction you can give to my readers about why they should read your site? What sets No Debt Plan apart from the crowd?
Kevin: Well for starters this is a difficult question for me. I am a natural introvert, so I don’t go arond boasting about how awesome I am. But I suppose this is something I need to change.
No Debt Plan, as you might imagine, is about helping readers get and stay out of debt. I think one of the most unique beliefs I share with my readers is that I believe in getting out of debt while also believing in using credit cards safely. A lot of people disagree with that, but I can’t argue with earning $400+ in cash back rewards in each of the last two years.
I also don’t write just about getting out of debt. I tend to just write on a topic that gets my interest the night before rather than in big large series. I hope this keeps readers interested — I may write about mortgages one day and a reader wouldn’t be interested, but the next day I’ll write on Roth IRAs and that is something they were seeking information about. It’s a learning process so this may be the worst way to go about blogging, but what the heck 
Ryan: From reading your blog I know that you are taking an MBA program and hope to graduate soon. What is your main goal for becoming an MBA?
Kevin: That’s right, I’ll graduate after the summer term this year. I had a couple of goals in getting my MBA. One, I wanted to get it over with. That sounds bad, but the other option was to wait until I was 30 and try to get into a school like Vanderbilt or Duke. That costs a lot of money for tuition, plus you usually have to move and quit your job and live off of student loans. That didn’t seem to be a good option.
Secondly I wanted to continue to develop myself and differentiate myself from other folks with “just” Bachelor’s degrees.
Ryan: In some of the articles on your site you have discussed earning money from your websites and other enterprises. Do you think that alternative income is an important part of your financial plan, and do you think it should be a part of most people’s financial planning?
Kevin: Alternative income can be defined pretty broadly. Clipping coupons regularly could be seen as alternative income as most people don’t do it on a regular basis (well, until the recession!). But to answer your question right now I am experimenting with the income I earn from my online activities — mostly my blog — but I don’t count it as part of my financial plan.
Should I? Probably. I am sort of waiting until my blog gets “bigger” until I really start to focus and develop a business plan including financial projections. That may not be the best option in the long run, but I’m learning as I go here.
Ryan: The US economy is currently in a state of recession and it may remain there for some time. Has the economic situation changed the way you handle your finances or the way you invest?
Kevin: Thankfully it hasn’t changed much in our finances. Our income is doing great so far this year and we are still saving as diligently as ever. Investing is hard when it seems to be a long road ahead of us to positive territory, but we continue to sock away the maximum in our Roth IRAs. I would imagine if we had current debt and weren’t paying it off that the economy might change that perspective. I think closing out debts is really important to most people that have them — getting laid off could ruin your finances for years.
Ryan: Finally, what are the three most important parts of any successful financial plan?
Kevin: Not to plug my site too much, but in my No Debt Plan there are currently 3 pre-steps and 6 normal steps. I think the pre-steps fit here really well. You’ve got to have a positive attitude. You have to be honest with yourself. You need to have goals and a long term view to get to those goals. Stuff happens in the short term and without that mentality of “this is a long road” many people may give up.
Thanks for the interview, Kevin! I look forward to reading more at your site.
Kevin’s questions for me:
1. What made you decide to share your financial journey on a blog?
2. You mention on your blog that you are married without children. We’re in the same boat, but would eventually like to have children. For all of the dual-income-no-kids (DINKs) out there, how can we all best prepare ourselves financial for children?
3. What is the end goal for Cash Money Life? That is, do you want to write a book, be on TV, be the next Dave Ramsey, etc.
4. What tool(s) do you track your household budget and why?
5. Do your readers learn more from you, or do you learn more from your readers?
Want to read my answers? Go on over to No Debt Plan and check them out. And consider subscribing to No Debt Plan for a week or so. You might just find a new blogger to follow.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting responses. I actually have been reading No Debt Plan for a while and thoroughly enjoy it. I’m trying to save as much as I can too in case I lose my job.
Sam,
The economy and job market is a big worry for many folks right now. Good luck building your emergency fund. I know I sleep better at night knowing that Ihave a few month’s worth of savings built up in the event something happens to my job!