Interview with Flexo of Consumerism Commentary

By Pinyo, on October 4, 2007

If you are a personal finance blogger, it is a challenge not to bump into the name Flexo. I first learned about Consumerism Commentary when Flexo linked to one of my post. Since then, I have been following his blog. So, it’s a great honor when he accepted my request for an interview.

To stay with my usual routine, I will attempt to skip the normal questions and instead refer you to his “About Consumerism Commentary” page.

Pinyo: Although Consumerism Commentary may not be #1 in term of readership (among the handful of A-List Personal Finance Blogs), I believe you are the most influential one. Can you tell us a little bit about each site you own, or are actively involved with?

Flexo: First and foremost, I have been blogging on various websites since 2000. I actually began my adventures on the web in 1995, designing several websites for my university at the time. Nothing I’ve done on the Internet has had any wide appeal until Consumerism Commentary, which I started in 2003. It began as a semi-private website designed to track my own finances and link to interesting news stories and various other things around the Net, but grew exponentially from there.

A few years ago, I created the Carnival of Personal Finance, modeled after some of the best “blog carnivals” of the time, like the Carnival of Education and Carnival of the Capitalists. Eventually, the Carnival of Personal Finance became popular and the niche expanded, so I gave the Carnival its own website.

Also a few years ago, I created the Ad-Free Personal Finance Blog Aggregator as a way to have a hub for all things personal finance in the blogosphere.

I also have several other blogs which see some attention infrequently. Meta Best Blog Win is where I and a few other personal finance bloggers (Nickel from FiveCentNickel and J.D. from Get Rich Slowly) write about the act of blogging itself, sharing tips and tricks for building traffic and improving our websites as we learn them ourselves. GuruWatch.org is where I and a few other bloggers occasionally post items taking a critical look at personal finance, productivity and investing “gurus” who profess advice but are more concerned with their book sales.

* * * * *

Pinyo: Talking about financial gurus, who are your favorites?

Flexo: I don’t particularly care for financial gurus — those with television shows, seminars, etc. They profess to be able to teach anyone how to make loads of money relatively quickly, but are often short on details or simply incorrect. Yes, there is something to be said for the motivation they provide to some, and if that’s what it takes to get people to start thinking about their finances, then that’s a good thing.

But they can implant many ideas that are flat out wrong, and the human psyche doesn’t want to deal with this realization after the human wallet has spent $30,000 for a seminar where nothing substantial was gained.

* * * * *

Pinyo: Based on your August Personal Balance Sheet, you are beginning to build up a sizable retirement portfolio. Can you tell us about your asset allocation, investment choices, and your perspective on retirement investing?

Flexo: I still feel like I’m far behind for my age (31). I only started investing (or even thinking about the future) five years ago, and before that, I was unable to live below my means to have the ability to invest. But now that I can, I’ve given thought to my goals and I’ve tried to choose the best options available.

I have a long time horizon until retirement, so what I invest, I invest in a mix of index funds that will hopefully provide me with a return that far beats inflation.

For retirement, it’s a mix of large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, international, and commercial real estate funds. I’ve also been keeping a sizable percentage of my funds in high yield savings accounts for use in the next few years as I may purchase a house when the time is right for me, but if rates continue to drop, I may allocate that to other short-term investments.

I aim for the funds with the lowest expenses. While that’s not completely possible in my company’s 401(k), I invest with funds from TIAA-CREF and Vanguard for most of my other investments.

* * * * *

Pinyo: So you’re thinking about becoming a homeowner, can you share with us your take on home ownerships?

Flexo: There are obviously both positives and negatives to owning a home, and this is a discussion topic that can be very emotional. I think we can’t assume that owning a home is the best financial move in all cases. A recent post on Consumerism Commentary describes all the costs that go into owning and maintaining a home that people seem to forget when they talk about how much they “made” on the sale of their house in a good market. If you’re going to fairly compare buying and selling a home with any other investment, you have to take all costs into account.

Regardless, I think it’s wise to look at owning your home not as investment but as a place to live. If you want to worry about the investment value, invest in other real estate — not your home.

* * * * *

Pinyo: From your statement, I also noticed SEP IRA. Can you tell us about that and the business?

Flexo: The SEP IRA is a great way for those with self-employment income to invest without immediate tax consequences. My self-employment income comes from my side business that involves different types of web-related services, including the income derived from Consumerism Commentary.

* * * * *

Pinyo: What are your favorite books? Why?

Flexo: My all-time favorite book is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I’m not a big fan of finance or investing books, though I do read them for Consumerism Commentary. For my own pleasure, I like classic literature, historical non-fiction, and occasionally science fiction a la Douglas Adams.

When it comes to financial books, it’s hard to find authors whose writing reflects respect for their readers. I’ve found Lee Eisenberg and Ben Stein to be the best financial authors, while Suze Orman, while usually providing good advice, has a style I don’t particularly enjoy. Currently, I’ll cite Lee Eisenberg’s The Number as my favorite personal finance book so far.

* * * * *

Pinyo: Now a blogging question. Who are your favorite bloggers? Why?

Flexo: I’m very happy to be a part of the Money Blog Network, which includes some of my favorite personal finance bloggers. They have all inspired me to be a better writer and a better blogger. I also like Penelope Trunk and her minions of angry commenters. She has some interesting ideas — some I agree with and others I don’t — that make a lot of people upset, and the results are always entertaining.

* * * * *

Pinyo: I read some of her work and seen those comments — yikes! Do you have any advice for new personal finance bloggers like me?

Flexo: I think your blog is one of the best among those started in the past few months. I think it’s important not to worry about making money early on and to just write as much as possible, as much as you want. Don’t feel pressured — blogging should be enjoyable. There are lots of things you can do to improve your visibility and search engine rankings, but new bloggers shouldn’t focus on that. Focus on your writing and being part of the community and you’ll feel successful. That will inspire you to keep it up, and the rest will fall into place.

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Before we end, I would like to encourage my readers to visit Consumerism Commentary and subscribe to his feed.

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Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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