PF Blogger Interview: Broke Grad Student

The student personal finance blogger interviews continue all month long. For today’s interview I had the privilege of obtaining some insightful answers from the Broke Grad Student. If for some strange reason you haven’t heard of the blog, the basic premise is that BGS is blogging about his adventures in paying back $22,000 worth of student loans.

Me: What do you think are the reasons behind your blog becoming so successful?

BGS: In my opinion, there’s no secret to success. It takes a combination of hard work, persistence, a little help from some friends (networking), and luck. Every success story contains these same ingredients, just mixed together in different ways.

I’ve been able to put in the hard work, because I truly enjoy writing. I’ve been able to keep it up, because I’m passionate about personal finance. When you mix these two things together, the result is quality content that’s fun for me to write and fun for you to read.

Of course, accomplishing goals is always easier with a little help from your friends. This is why I started the College Money Network with a small group of young personal finance bloggers. I also regularly participate in and occasionally host personal finance carnivals. More recently, I’ve started using Twitter to keep in touch with my PF friends, so feel free to follow me.

Last but not least, there’s luck. Although I believe that we ultimately have no control over luck, we can still do things to increase our chances of being lucky. I’ve done this through hard work, persistence, a great network of friends, and, most importantly, keeping my fingers crossed at all times.

Me: What were some of the major “breaks” you received as a blogger?

BGS: I received my first “big break” when MSN Smart Spending wrote a post about my article on 6 reasons why I hate cash. The post spent a day linked on MSN Money after it was promoted as an Editor’s Pick. That exposure helped open the door to more opportunities which have in turn led to even more opportunities. It’s kind of like surfing. Sometimes you catch the waves, and sometimes you don’t.

Me: If you could go back to age 18, what would you do differently knowing what you know now?

BGS: Knowing now what I didn’t know then, if I were 18 again, I would try to take more responsibility for my finances before going off to college. In particular, I would learn more about the financial aid process instead of just handing over the forms to my parents and asking them to take care of it. This knowledge would be extremely useful four years down the road when applying for financial aid in grad school.

Me: Your number one tip for saving money in this economy?

BGS: Negotiate your rent. This tip won’t work for everyone, but if it does, the savings could be huge. The economic crisis has caused vacancies to rise. In an effort to keep units occupied, landlords are having to negotiate with tenants. By negotiating a lower rent, you could potentially save hundreds or thousands of dollars over the next year.

Me: Decision you are most proud of in your 20s?

BGS: Ironically enough, going to grad school is the best decision I have made in my 20s. Despite putting me $22,000 in debt, grad school opened the door to two opportunities that probably wouldn’t have happened had I gone straight into the real world. First, it helped me land a job at my dream company doing something that I truly enjoy. Second, it’s the reason that this blog exists in the first place. While I wouldn’t recommend grad school for everyone, if you have a general idea of what you want to get out of it, then I say go for it. You might just get what you want out of it and more — like a blog about paying back your student loans.