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Personal Finance Interview with Trent of TheSimpleDollar.com

Written by Mint
Published Apr 6, 2007
2 min read
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Name: Trent H
Age: 28
Networth Range: $50-100K
Profession/title: Writer
Websites: The Simple Dollar

Current Financial Strategy:

My current strategy is to eliminate all of my debts as soon as possible. I’ve paid off all vehicles, all credit cards, and most of my student loans in the past year. It took great sacrifice, but I feel as though a large weight off of my shoulders.

Best Financial Tip:

Understand yourself before you even try a financial strategy. Even if they seem silly, try some exercises for figuring out your life goals and your career. Read “Your Money or Your Life” and “What Color Is YourParachute?” before worrying about an optimal investment.

Worst Financial Move Ever:

Getting into five figures worth of credit card debt buying stuff I didn’t really need. I spent so much money on things I simply don’t need that it makes me almost sick to my stomach when I think about it.

Financially, I need help with:

I’m just taking baby steps on how to invest my money – it’s very much a learning experience for me. My focus has been on getting rid of debt, but now that it’s almost gone, I need to learn what to do with my money now.

What personal finance tools do you currently use to track and manage your money?

Microsoft Excel is pretty much my only tool. I simply set up any calculations I need using that program.

What are the problems in your personal finance tools?

Well, you have to invest the work in setting up formulas and such, which takes time. I really like Excel for the flexibility, but it can be time-consuming to get things how I like them.

How would your ideal personal finance tool work?

It would let me keep my data completely private, but allow me to allow others to have particular views of it. I can do this, but not very seamlessly.

What more do you want to know about your personal finances?

Live credit rating? My biggest frustration is with the credit score industry and the obfuscation of your credit score.

How much do you think you currently spend on eating out?

Outside of professional meals, not much. Maybe once every two weeks to a family dining establishment; $50 for myself, my wife, and my son.

How often do you want to know about your personal finances?

I obsess on them daily, actually, but that’s partially because I focus so much on personal finances due to writing my blog.

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