Our guest today is Matt Jabs, blogger and founder of Debt Free Adventure, a blog designed to help the author stay accountable for getting out of debt. Debt Free Adventure is one of my favorites among new personal finance blogs.
Today’s discussion focuses on the concept of giving yourself a raise, an important way to improve your financial condition, particularly in an economic environment that is supporting fewer raises from your employer. Tom Dziubek and I explore this concept with Matt Jabs and discover a number of ways you can give yourself a raise today.
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[00:00] Introduction from Tom Dziubek
[00:33] Interview with Matt Jabs of Debt Free Adventure
– [01:10] Matt’s inspiration for writing about personal finance
– [02:57] Giving yourself a raise at home
– [04:26] How to give yourself a raise
– [08:41] Creating a personal trigger to change your mindset
– [10:24] Living outside the box
– [12:16] Finding and following your passions
– [14:29] The journey is as important as reaching the goal itself
– [15:59] Dealing with customer service reps
– [21:39] Do it yourself
– [25:17] How it adds up
[28:04] End
We always welcome feedback from listeners. If you have any comments for this episode or for any other, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, please leave us comments here or email us at podcast at this domain name.
Today’s podcast features an interview with J.D. Roth from popular blog Get Rich Slowly. J.D. talks with Tom Dziubek and me about how he was inspired to begin writing about personal finance and his decision to leave the corporate world behind and take his passion to the next level.
Tom also speaks with Bryan J Busch from Stop Being Broken. Bryan is a usability expert, and Stop Being Broken is a series of videos pointing out problems with a wide variety of user experiences. One such user experience is the budget, and in this interview, Bryan explains what works for him and his wife. Here is the video and Excel spreadsheet mentioned in the interview.
To listen, use the player above (Adobe Flash required), download the podcast here, subscribe to the podcast RSS feed, or use the iTunes link. Note: open links in a new window (Ctrl-click or Command-click) to avoid interrupting the podcast.
[00:00] Introduction from Flexo
[00:48] Interview with J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly about following passions
[01:38] — The beginning of Get Rich Slowly
[04:04] — Leaving the box factory to write full-time
[05:50] — The effect of self-employment on social interactions and benefits
[07:37] — How to prepare for leaving a career
[09:07] — Seeking professional advice
[10:30] — The progress of Get Rich Slowly and unforeseen obstacles
[15:12] — Tips that apply to passions other than writing
[16:39] — Pursuing multiple streams of income and the effect of the recession
[19:28] Interview with Bryan J Busch of Stop Being Broken
[20:20] — A family budget system for dual income
[21:41] — Adapting the budget for a single income family
[23:48] — Using joint savings accounts in addition to checking accounts
[25:23] — Alternative approaches to the budget
[27:00] — Automatic transfers based on the budget
[28:44] End
If you have suggestions for the next edition of the Consumerism Commentary Podcast, or reactions to these interviews, feel free to leave a comment here or email your thoughts to podcast at this domain name.
Many Consumerism Commentary readers don’t know this: I was a band geek. In high school, I played clarinet in wind ensemble and marching band. This continued into college, where I decided to major in music education. In college, I performed in a variety of ensembles on a variety of instruments ranging from trumpet to percussion and from crumhorn to gamelan.
Despite the wide range of possibility, I stuck with clarinet for my four fall seasons marching with our highly successful college marching band. Regardless, the professor and director of the marching band spoke to us once about careers and life choices. She considers herself extremely lucky. She has a career (as a professor of music education, professor of music performance, and director of the marching band and one of several symphonic bands) doing what she loves doing. Not many people would be lucky enough to be able to be paid for spending their days with the activity about which they are passionate.
So when I read this advice from Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, the words sounded familiar.
My father was an artist who loved what he did. He’d sit at his board 12 hours a day. I once said to him, “Gee, Dad, all the other fathers have time after they come home to play ball or sit around. At the end of the day, you’re working.”
He put his brush down and said, “Those fathers are doctors, lawyers and bankers. When they come home, all they want to do is their hobby. My work and my hobby are the same. Find work in something you love and it won’t feel like work.” I listened to him. And I have been fortunate enough to work at something that I love.
To find what you love doing, you have to have an opportunity to discover your talents. I was given the opportunity at an early age to have exposure to music, for example. I also had access to personal computers and the internet as I was growing up in the 1980s, unlike many other children my age. I participated in more activities, like little league baseball and karate, and this variety helped me to figure out what I could be passionate about.
I’ve changed a bit since college. Music and arts education is still very important to me, but I’ve moved away from that as my vocation. I certainly do not love my day job now. I do my best, or close to it, and I am interested in furthering my career, but I am more interested in working with the internet at this point in my life. I’m not sure that I love the internet, to use Kamen’s terminology. When I’m writing, it doesn’t feel like I’m working, but I wouldn’t say that this is my talent or passion. It does feel like work, however, when I am not feeling inspired and cannot come up with ideas.
I have so many interests that it’s difficult for me to hone in on just one that can define my vocation in such a way that it will be everything for me.
If you have some idea of an activity that you absolutely love, something for which you have a talent, and nothing else you could see yourself doing, and if you can find a way to make a living doing this activity, then you have an opportunity to be one of the lucky few. I think this may not be possible for many people. Either they haven’t had the opportunities to discover their passion and talent or, like me, they could see many different paths.
Do you have a passion? Does it coincide with your job? Could you make a living with your passion?
The smartest advice I ever got, CNN Money
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