Hello! I’m Beating Broke. BB for short. I’ve been around the personal finance game in this guise for just a hair over two years. Several years before that, I ran a personal finance site called A Penny Saved. I’m getting ahead of myself though. Let me start at the beginning.
A DIFFERENT WORLD
We’ll go so far back as to reach my college days even. So far back, in fact, that it was a whole different millennium. Way back to 1997! Like many college freshmen, I had the world by the horns and there wasn’t anything it could throw at me that I couldn’t handle. And I handled my finances the same way. Debt? Not a problem. When I graduate, I’ll get some big fancy job with a big fancy salary and pay it all off! Sometimes I wish I could still look at the world through those same rose colored lenses.
During my first two years of college, I accumulated several thousand dollars of credit card debt. I also amassed thousands in student loans. After my sophomore year, I got a job to pay the minimum payments and my attendance began slipping. As did any study habits. Before the first semester of my junior year was done, I was officially a college drop-out. And, of course, the second you’re no longer enrolled in school, the clock begins ticking on paying back those student loans.
I spent nearly three years living below the paycheck to paycheck level. Missed payments were a regular thing. The concept of a credit score was pretty vague to me, so I didn’t realize the damage I was doing, until I ended up needing a new car. Even then, it did little to waken me.
At the end of those three years, I met my Wife. No, it wasn’t some financial epiphany. Her finances weren’t any better. But, what it did do was get me back on track with school. I signed back up and began working to finish my degree. Upon completing my junior year, I was lucky enough to find a full-time professional position in my field where they would allow me to work while I finished up my senior year.
A NEW DISCOVERY
Shortly after graduating, I discovered the magical world of blogs. To me, it was incredible that someone stuck deep in the midwest, as I was, could talk about whatever he wanted and people around the world would read and discuss it. As a tech guy, my first blog was a tech blog. It’s since transformed into several other things, but at it’s heart it’s always been a crazy mix of tech and my personal stuff.
It was also about this time that we found out we were pregnant and I realized that I was going to have to get my finances under control. I had a “big-boy job” now and could afford to make my payments and begin paying my debt. But, I didn’t have the faintest clue about how to go about it. So, I did what any budding blogger would do. I read blogs on the subject. As I was reading up on the subject, my blogger mind turned on the proverbial light bulb and I decided to share what I was learning on a personal finance blog. Thus, A Penny Saved was born.
After several years of doing that, I decided that I could use the money and there was a market, so I sold A Penny Saved. Not only did I leave the personal finance realm as a blogger, but as a reader as well. I’d already learned it all anyways. ;) Well, not really. I continue to struggle, today, with my finances. Hey, nobody is perfect.
So, just a few short years ago, I began reading personal finance blogs gain, and then, in June of 2008, Beating Broke was born.
Today, our finances have continued to improve greatly. We still struggle with some things, and we aren’t financially rich. Or even close. But, we have a firm grasp on our finances and wrestle regularly with it’s horns to point it in the right direction. Slowly, but surely, we’re Beating Broke.
A couple Beating Broke articles you might like to read:
Creating a Simple Budget the Beating Broke Way
This post is part of the Yakezie Member Post Series. See all member posts here.
Life is filled with up and downs, BB. Thanks for sharing your story. A wife and kids can make you grow up in a hurry!
Good luck!
Awesome story and great to have tech’s like you in the Yakezie. It seems that failure followed by success is a common thread for most of us bloggers and hopefully our stories are inspiring enough to help others just a little bit.
It’s great to hear about you finally finishing school. I left school at 16 so never been yet!
Returning to finish school was something that I needed to get into what I thought was my chosen field of work. If you don’t need it, only do it if you want to. I personally think that you can learn a whole lot by experience than you can from a textbook and a stuffy professor.
Great story BB. It’s inspiring to see that you were able to turn your life around and get back on track.
Fantastic story BB! I’m so glad you’re out there blogging about finances within the family.
It’s great to hear your story. (Man, it sounds real familiar!) I’m very impressed that you sold your first blog. However, I’m glad that you decided to come back to blogging!
It’s been interesting, seeing all the other member posts and just how similar many of our financial stories really are. It seems there’s a subset of the population that want’s to improve their financial lives and then tell the world about it!
BB,
Awesome story. I found myself rooting for you as I was reading…and still rooting now. Thanks for sharing!
Great story BB – it is really inspiring that you were able to get your life in order after 8 years of disaray.
BB – Thanks for sharing your story with us. I commend you for working to get your finances in order, and learning from past mistakes. Glad you’re a part of this network!
Very interesting to learn about your backstory and how you were able to turn things around and start climbing out of your hole. I think many of us suffer from that rose-colored glasses before we’ve experienced the real world…
BB, we’re glad you made it back to the PF world! Personal finance is definitely an ongoing “struggle” of sorts, and things are constantly coming up. We’ll continue to look for your progress and root for you along the way!
Ya know, there may come a point in everyone’s life when they leave what they are doing because they learned it all, but times change and you will always find yourself back there learning it all over again which is not a bad thing. Great intro BB.
Thanks for the intro, BB. I’m glad you were able to improve your financial situation so much over the years!
If found very interesting that you sold your first blog years ago while the market for such property was very small (and ineffective I guess). I bought a few blogs of my own and I noticed that the market is very inefficient so far. There are no proper rules for evaluating the real value of a blog.
so welcome back in the PF blogging world ;-)
I think that the value for properties like blogs is very much in the eyes of the buyer. If the time is right and the buyer/property match is right, you can get a very good price for the site. And, of course, it all depends on how quickly you want to move the property.
[…] was my turn to go, so you can go over and read my Yakezie member introduction. It’s not horribly long, but covers the high (and low) points of our financial journey and […]
Great to hear your story, BB! I’m glad things are looking better for you and your family and I’m sure you’ll meet your goals soon!
That’s interesting that you’ve had the experience of building and then selling A Penny Saved already. It must have helped you when developing Beating Broke. I just subscribed to the BB emails and look forward to working with you.
In helped insomuch as I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do it. I also had a vague idea of where the best places to gather with fellow PF bloggers was. Of course, there was never anything quite like the Yakezie back then!
Great story, BB. It makes me realize how in the dark (okay, ignorant) I was to blogs until only recently, despite my technical background and use of the Internet from its earliest days. :-P
As for not being financially rich – as they say in Hawaii, no big ting brudda! Besides, the goal for most of us mortals is financial freedom! :-)
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Fascinating! You are moving ahead step by step; that’s all that matters. Really enjoyed your story… enjoy the journey.
Keep on wrestling with it because having control of your finances is such an awesome feeling! I enjoyed reading your journey, especially because I was able to personally connect with a few of those struggles.
BB, good to hear you are Beating Broke! Do you plan to go back to school to get your degree, or did you do that already?
I did get my Bachelors, it was a requirement for my employment. I’ve thought about going and getting a masters, but I didn’t like school all that much in the first place, and I think it would make me over-educated for many of the jobs in this area.
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words. It’s been such a fun ride with the Yakezie, and this things just getting started!
Congrats on your second blog. That’s cool you got back into blogging and continuing to improve your finances. I try to remind myself never to get too comfortable with my finances so I don’t lose site of my goals
So glad to get the bio behind the name! Sold a blog already? That’s pretty cool; I’ve heard of that, but never knew of anyone who did it. And you’re way ahead of the game for most people of your age… Where “deep in the Midwest” are you, exactly? I grew up in Kansas. “You can take a girl out of Kansas….” and all that. ;) I happen to think we Midwesterners are pretty great people!
North Dakota. I’ve only been here for about 13 years, so the “pretty great people” part is only beginning to take effect. Originally from Southern Oregon.
Dropping out of college seems to work out well for a lot of people. I think the biggest key to success in life is to drop out of Harvard (Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg did fine). But, like me, it seems that you decided to get the degree.
It is great to see you turn things around and beat out on broke. At this rate, you will probably end up accidently rich!
Damn. Does that mean we’re out of luck for success if we went and got our degrees?
Personal finance is a continual learning process where we all have our ups and downs, and we learn from experience. The key is to realize your mistakes, and to learn from them. Kudos on a great post!
Nice post, BB. You are a great example of someone who is overcoming the many things that life throws that us.
Hi BB, great story about getting back on the horse and riding it hard to win the race :)
I like they way you overcame your obstacles!!!
It was great reading this intro and getting to know more about you. I’m impressed that this is the second time you’re in the PF blog realm.
The best part of your story is about perseverance.
I’m glad you’ve come back to the PF blogosphere! Your content is awesome and you’ve got a neat story. Your financial struggles have obviously helped you grow a ton, and that makes your content really valuable. Excited to hear more about your background.