Know Your Blogger Series

Invested Wallet

I founded the website Invested Wallet back in June 2018. The name Invested Wallet was one of the first things I came up with and surprisingly the domain was never taken. Not sure how considering it’s a short name and quite perfect for finances, so I took that as a sign this was meant to be.
In my writing, I try to break concepts down as simply as possible. To provide some personal anecdotes that relate to the topic, but to show that I too may have struggled with something or tips that helped me. Certainly, it can be more challenging and even easier for others as we all have some advantages, privileges, and disadvantages. But my goal was to hopefully inspire others to learn and realize personal finance and investing is not as challenging as you may think it is.
Check out our Q&A with Invested Wallet here.

Come read about the blog, Invested Wallet, in this great interview.

Each week at Personal Finance Blogs, we publish interviews from amazing bloggers from the personal finance space. This week, we are featuring the blog, Invested Wallet.
During these weekly features, we are hoping to provide a way for you to interact and learn more about different blogs in the personal finance space.
Below, you can read more about the story behind Invested Wallet, learn about the author, and learn personal finance tips from Invested Wallet to help you improve your financial situation.
A big thanks for Invested Wallet for this interview! Now, we will turn it over to the author for this interview.

Tell us about Invested Wallet

I founded the website Invested Wallet back in June 2018, which is crazy to think I recently passed the two year mark already!

I started the website for a few reasons actually:

To help beginners learn more about finances, investing, and making money
To build a side business that I could make some extra income from
To put my digital marketing and writing skills to the test

It’s been cool to not only work on something I’m passionate about and that helps others, but provides income as well. It’s incredibly satisfying. And my career I work in digital marketing, which I’m always looking to improve and learn — which a blog is a great outlet to do so.

The name Invested Wallet was one of the first things I came up with and surprisingly the domain was never taken. Not sure how considering it’s a short name and quite perfect for finances, so I took that as a sign this was meant to be.

What makes you and your blog unique?

While I naturally write articles that are SEO focused and answer people’s questions in search engines, I also think what makes me unique and my site unique is that I’m not a millionaire blogger. I also was not handed anything during my life and worked hard to improve my career and finances since 2014. If I can do these things and teach myself with no prior financial background, anyone can.

Certainly, it can be more challenging and even easier for others as we all have some advantages, privileges, and disadvantages. But my goal was to hopefully inspire others to learn and realize personal finance and investing is not as challenging as you may think it is.

So in my writing, I try to break concepts down as simply as possible. To provide some personal anecdotes that relate to the topic, but to show that I too may have struggled with something or tips that helped me.

What does “being good with your personal finances” mean to you?

Being good with your personal finances means you are living within your means, you know how much money you’re bringing in, and you know exactly how your money can work for you.

When you understand those concepts well, it creates a recipe of financial success and to feel less stress about money. Of course, personal finance can go much deeper but if you can really master those three — it sets you up to be way ahead of most people currently.

What are some habits you practice to keep your personal finances in order?

Developing good money habits that you stay consistent with will have big impacts on your wealth and family’s finances. A few that have helped keep my finances in order include:

Paying yourself first: When I first was teaching myself about personal finances and investing, I came across the simple idea that with each paycheck you should put a percentage away to your investing accounts and savings, before paying bills or spending. By doing this, I was able to save and invest over six-figures — without having a six-figure salary at the time and still having student loan debt.

Monitor Monthly Expenses: I’m not a big budgeting type of person, but a simple one I like to do is with a spreadsheet that includes all my expenses and income. Once a month, I look at it and update where needed. This gives me insight into what things cost, my potential savings rate, and where the money I’m saving will be divided up (like Roth IRA, Savings Account, other investments, etc). Some people prefer a super in-depth budget, but I found simple works best for me.

However, you should write these things down as prior to 2014 I never did and just thought I knew my expenses and income off the top of my head. And I was wrong! I was wasting tons of money and was living beyond my means at the time.

What are your three articles people should read to get to know you and your message better on your site?

How to Save $100k: The Journey to This Financial Milestone

Don’t Feel Guilty About Spending Money [The ROI In Your Life]

How to Invest Money Wisely [Your Simple Beginner’s Guide]

For someone looking to improve their financial situation, what’s your best advice?

One of the best things someone can do to improve their financial situation is to start educating themselves and become financially literate. For most people, they are not learning about finances or investing in school and many aren’t learning from their parents either (or at least beyond the basics). To truly succeed, you’ll have to take the steps to make changes and you have to want it. From there, start reading books and blogs about money. Listen to podcasts or interviews with people talking about money. You won’t learn everything overnight, but it will help you think differently about money and teach you things that will have an impact on you from short-term to long-term during your life.

In your opinion, what should you do first? Pay down debt, or invest?

I think the answer here really depends on your personal situation. I actually did both because the interest rates on my student loan debt and car loan at the time were not very high. As I made more money, I continued to throw extra at the debt, but still invested what I could as well. I”m happy I did that, even if I could have paid off debt a bit sooner, because I’ve built a good investment portfolio that has had years to start compounding. If you are considering the options, I’d look at what kind of debt you have and the interest rates on them to make an informed decision.

What are your favorite personal finance books?

There are tons of great personal finance books and I’m still discovering more all the time! But here are a few I read that were pivotal in my financial education when I was first starting out:

I Will Teach You To Be Rich
The Millionaire Next Door
Your Money Or Your Life
The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing

In your opinion, what’s better? Focusing on increasing your income, or focusing on decreasing your expenses?

Honestly, both are extremely important but you should start by decreasing your expenses first. You’d be surprised at the stuff you spend money on or waste without really knowing at first. Plus, I think too many people who focus on more income at first, are not ready to handle it. By that, you end up falling victim to lifestyle inflation because you have more money.

Decreasing your expenses first and learning about finances sets a good foundation. Then as you make more money, you are hopefully way more responsible with it. For example, if I made what I do now prior to my financial education I’d probably be spending quite extravagantly and not investing or saving.

If you received a $5,000,000 windfall tomorrow, what would you do with the money?

Nothing at first, because I’d be shocked and excited but that’s when mistakes can be made. I’d like to take 24-48 hours to soak it in and think. But I would do a few things with it, like:

Give some to my parents so they could retire a bit earlier
Invest in some real estate properties
Add more to the stock market (IRA, Brokerage)
Look into other alternative investments (Art, Gold, Wine, etc.)
High yield savings account
A small portion into a “fun” account, might buy a car or something I’ve always wanted. I’m not against treating yourself if you practice good financial things prior.
Give some back to charities

What’s a non-money related interest you have and what do you love about it?

Music! While I do not actually play any instruments I’ve been a music nut since I was a kid. I can thank my parents for that, who have a wide range of music tastes. Prior to my personal finance website, I actually started a music blog back in 2010. It was more of a hobby, but I got access to tons of free music, concert tickets, and exclusives. Plus, many artists I used to share or write about have gone on to be well-known names today.

But I’m also a fan of discovering new music and even collecting records. For instance, buying some from garage sales or antique stores not knowing some of the artists, then playing them to see what genre it is.

How You Can Contact Invested Wallet for More Information

You can learn more about Invested Wallet at https://investedwallet.com/, like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/investedwallet/, and follow them on Twitter at @InvestedWallet.

Thank you for reading this interview, and thank you, Invested Wallet, for providing us with some great personal finance tips!