Bryan C. Fleming

Interview: Matt – OneMillionAndBeyond.com

What I like about Matt’s Blog –‘To One Million and Beyond’ is that he gives many first-hand accounts of his savings efforts.  Plus he shares his goals and how he feels about them.  I’m sure many of you feel the same way:  You set a goal and start working towards it.  Sometimes you get distracted and fall off track.  But that’s OK, that’s life.  We all go through this.  Matt is no exception.

I asked Matt to answer a few questions for the readers of the Million Dollar Savings Club, and he agreed.
Enjoy the Interview..

1. What made you decide to write about Personal Finances?

I’ve always been fascinated with money ever since I was a young child, but somewhere in my early 20’s, around the time that I started making money, I lost this fascination mostly because I got myself into debt. Over the past couple years I’ve been slowly coming to grips with my debt and this summer I decided that what better way to get a hold of my finances than to write about them; to give myself a public accounting and help keep me honest. When I first started the site I knew practically nothing about personal finance, but I’ve been learning and my fascination has returned. 
 
2. What was your biggest Money Managing mistake?

My biggest money managing mistake would be thinking I could handle more credit and increasing the limits on my cards. This was at a time when I was still struggling with debt; I thought it would gave me some extra cash I could access in case of an ‘emergency’, needless to say these emergencies always came up. 
 
3. How long have you been saving money?

I’ve had group retirement savings plan from my previous employers since I was 24, I utilized the corporate program of matching my contributions. This fund is now at a number I wouldn’t have been able to get it to myself. The 5 years of interest really does make a difference. 
From a regular savings point of view a little over a year for a automatic withdrawal for a mutual fund. The automation lets me forget the money was ever in my bank account. 
 
4. How much money did you accumulate before you stepped back and said “Wow.  This is powerful stuff”?

I’d have to say it was around $10,000 maybe a bit more. With the group retirement plan I mentioned earlier I would get semi-annual statements and so I never really paid attention to them and then one day I had a look at one of these and the fact that over a 6 month period my investment choices had increased in value by 13% really made me go wow. 
 
5. What the biggest thing you’ve given up in order to save more money?
 
Currently smoking but there was more than money behind that decision. For me its not about saving on anyone big thing but more a collection of small things. Buying non brand name items at the grocery store, taking books from the library rather than buying them, really thinking about if I need an item rather than want it. Individually they aren’t hugely significant but together they do add up. 

6. What advice can you give to the readers of Million Dollar Savings Club who are just getting started?
 
Avoid credit cards and most forms of debt in general. I was given a credit card initially when I was still a teen; I had no idea how credit and debt worked at the time. Now that I’m learning more about personal finance and I’m starting to have an inkling what this whole money thing is about I’m still very hesitant about taking on any form of debt. 
But probably the most important item when setting up some form of savings is make it automatic, read The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. When you don’t see the money in your bank account you forget you had it and you make due with what you’ve got.

You can read more from Matt at his blog: OneMillionAndBeyond.com