Lightening Round first. Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey? Apple or PC? Pepsi or Coke? Soda or Pop?

Dave Ramsey, but I could live without either. Apple without question. Pepsi (sorry Mr. Buffett). Pop as a child; soda as an adult (I moved east). Funny story. I attended Brown University for a time. One day I approached a street vendor selling hot dogs and soda, and being from the mid-west, asked him what kind of pop he sold. He got a very nervous look on his face, started looking in all directions, and quietly told me he doesn't sell that kind of stuff. I ordered a Pepsi.

OK, now that we know you better...why and how did you get started as a finance blogger?

One year ago, I had never read a personal finance blog. I came across one (2million.com, I think) and started reading them. I manage our own investments, which have grown into a fairly good chuck of change. And I enjoy reading about personal finance and investing. Add in a desire to write, and in May of 2007 I started The Dough Roller. I truly knew absolutely nothing about blogging. I had never heard of Wordpress, Digg, or StumbleUpon. I didn't know html, php, css or anything else about blogging. I learned a little each day, read a lot of books, and here I am. If you want to get a flavor of just how green I was, read 30 Things I Learned in My First 30 Days of Blogging.

You seem to cut a wide swath through financial topics. What two topics are your favorites to write about?

My two favorite topics are investing and what I'll call money & life. With investing, I enjoy studying how others invest and what the best investing approach is for me. That is one of the reasons I enjoy P2P lending and writing about it. With money & life, the key for me is that money itself is not the goal in life. But money can help us achieve our goals, whatever they are. Money can bring about good in the world; it can also bring out the worst in us.

How did your parents’ view and handling of finances affect you today? What do you teach your children about money?

I had a very interesting childhood, which reminds me of the Chinese curse--may you live in interesting times. My parents divorced and remarried before I can remember. I lived with my mom and step-dad, and both were not good with money. A failed business left us near bankruptcy and in fear of losing our home. There were times when we had little food and when the utilities were turned off, but we got by. My dad, on the other hand, owned a wholesale business that did really well. In the 1970s, he owned two homes, drove a Mercedes and a Rolls Royce, and was probably the most unhappy person I've ever known. He would pull up in the Rolls to pick me up for the weekend. I'd enjoy a rather wealthy lifestyle for two days, and then he'd return me to reality. He died when I was 12, in a car accident no less. So if anything, my parents taught me two very important things about money: (1) how not to manage it; and (2) that it can't buy happiness. I guess they were pretty good teachers after all.

You recently did a "smackdown" comparing Prosper and Lending Club. Does peer to peer lending have a role in investors’ portfolios?

I've written extensively about asset allocation. I believe that bonds definitely have a role in almost every portfolio, and P2P lending falls into the bond asset class. So yes, I think P2P lending can have a role in a portfolio. What investors need to keep in mind, however, is that P2P lending is different than any other type of investment that most folks have in their portfolio. Bond mutual funds invest in corporate and government bonds. P2P lending is consumer debt, which carries with it different kinds and levels of risk. The Smackdown piece that I wrote is really just the tip of the iceberg. But as long as investors understand the risks and take steps to mitigate those risks, I think P2P lending can be a great part of a well diversified portfolio. The one thing, in my opinion, that will really cause P2P lending to take off is the creation of a secondary market so that P2P lenders can sell their loans if they want. A secondary market, however, comes with numerous regulatory and investing issues that are too numerous to describe here. (Hmm, maybe that would make for a great blog article.)

If you could go back to your 24-year-old self and give him financial advice...what would it be?

Funny you should ask, because I wrote a post on this topic already--10 Things I Now Know at 40 That I Wish I Knew at 20. But if I could pick just one thing, I would have started investing earlier. Frankly, I would have started investing in high school. I began investing in my mid to late 20s, which has worked out fine. But I wish I had started much earlier.

What's a crazy thing you've done in your life you've never shared on your blog (not too crazy...Lending Club is a family friendly company!)?

I voluntarily took a pay cut of more than $100,000 per year. I'm a lawyer, although I no longer work in private practice. Out of law school I went to work for a very large law firm, worked countless hours, and after eight years, made partner. Two years later, I up and quit. I wanted to spend more time with my family, so I took a job at a company making much less than I did in private practice. Had I stayed at the firm, today I would be making more than twice what I make, but I don't regret the decision at all.

In this edition of "Catching up with....", our interview series, we have a chat with - CleverDude:

You originally had around 20K of credit card debt, right? How did get to 0? Any tips you could share with our readers?

I could talk for days about my credit card history, but obviously I can't right here so I'll give you the brief rundown. I graduated college with about $15,000 in CC debt, then accrued another $5k throughout the years while still paying some down. Technically, at one point I had a $25,000 total balance. I carried that balance for about 6 years after college, but almost never paid interest on it because I was able to keep transfering the balance to a 0% offer on another (often new) card every 6-12 months, at the cost of about $40-75 each time.

It wasn't until last year that I looked at that debt, then looked at our budget, and realized we could pay off the whole debt in about 10 months if we focused on it. I committed about $2000 per month (pretty much most of our discretionary income) to paying down the cards and eventually paid it all off last September, which was 2 months early. Overall, we paid down $41,000 in existing and new debt last year because we made a plan and committed ourselves to it.

You go by "cleverdude", yet often it seems you downplay your "cleverness" greatly. Maybe you should be "humbledude"! What do you think?

Well, the name Clever Dude was picked almost randomly by a domain name selector when I first decided to get my own domain. The name stuck, but like you said I downplay my cleverness. I don't consider myself humble, but I also never liked being boastful for one big reason: It has always seemed that whenever I patted myself on the back for doing something well or right, that something surely comes along to ruin the moment. I'm basically a pessimist, especially with myself, and I guess it comes through in my writing. Also, I don't like people who brag in general and I don't want to be seen as one of them. I like to be open to listening to any viewpoint and I see pride as an inhibitor to learning from others.

What are the biggest financial mistakes you see our generation (mid-late 20's) making?

Getting caught up in marketing. We seem to think we need the latest and greatest thing without sitting down, looking at what we already have and accepting it. I'm guilty of this too as you may have read about my problem buying a new car almost every year.

But this isn't just corporate marketing (of stuff), but also societal marketing. Society says we need to own a house instead of rent, that we need to have kids before we're 30, that we need a college education at the finest institution. However, I've often wished I still rented instead of owning our home. My wife and I are postponing plans for kids indefinitely because just don't think we're ready for them. And my public college education has landed me a very fine paying job.

(follow-up) How can we change that?

People just don't sit down and take the time to think about the big decisions in their lives. We need to be more patient and block out all the marketing hype from corporations, friends, family and traditions and just listen to our gut to see what's right for us.

What made you start your blog? How has blogging about financial issues helped your own finances?

I have Nick from Punny.org to thank for the idea of starting a blog. Before he came along, I didn't even know what a blog was, how to start one, or how to monetize one. I didn't really have a purpose for the site early on, which you'll notice from my archives, but eventually I began focusing on personal finance. I began having an audience and the idea that I could help others through my own experiences has been the biggest push and motivation for my site.

Blogging has kept me accountable for how I spend money, whether on stuff, debt, investments or donations. I'm honest in everything I write, and my conscience gets to me if I made a big purchase and didn't write about it. Those debt scales in my sidebar, well they're a big motivation. I want to see a big fat ZERO in each one soon.

What are your thoughts about Peer to Peer lending? (be honest. LC is all about the honesty) Do you think investors should be allocated a % of their portfolio in this new arena?

Ahh, I knew it would lead to this sooner or later. To be honest, I haven't ventured into P2P lending myself because I'm still trying to grasp concepts of basic investing. I do see P2P lending as having a place in people's portfolios, just like stocks, bonds, and other low or high risk investments, but I don't know what % should be allocated. I think only time will show how risky P2P lending is and thus its appropriate place in a portfolio. Personally, I don't plan on getting into P2P lending in the near-term until I get a better plan for my investment portfolio (no I don't have much of one right now).

What does the future look like for you and cleverdude.com?

Well, I never had a plan for the site from the beginning, and I don't see one coming anytime soon. I've found that work and school have taken a big toll on the time I can spend on the site, but I'm still posting daily. I've considered posted only 3-4 times per week, rather than 5-6, but I feel guilty when I don't post on a weekday. As for content, I'd like to begin doing more "basics" articles, and then move into intermediate topics, both to help my readers and to help me understand the concepts. I've also been slacking on linking out to other bloggers, so I'd like to add more of my own commentary on others' articles as well as current events. It all takes time though, and I just need to commit to a plan.

Any last words?

Willow, Xylophone, Yuca, Zebra

Do you run UK Zopa as well as US Zopa? You must be racking up the frequent flier miles!

I’m responsible for Zopa worldwide, which now includes operations in the US, UK, Italy and now Asia. I suppose one day the frequent flyer miles will come in handy, but for the time being “vacations” usually mean staying home and relaxing for me!

What's the best part about being CEO of a global business? The worst part?

It’s very satisfying to come up with solutions to help customers in the different cultures with their financial needs. I really enjoy traveling to different countries and interacting with the local populations; I grew up in Northern Europe and Asia, so it’s a little bit like going home. The jetlag can be grueling sometimes....

Zopa. That's an interesting name...I assume it's not the "Zinc Oxide Producers Association." So where did the name come from?

“Zopa” stands for Zone Of Possible Agreement, which is where we help customers find mutually acceptable rates at which they will agree to invest and borrow.

Zopa lenders in the US have the opportunity to help borrowers by subsidizing their interest rates – how has it been turning out now that you have a couple of months of data?

We’ve been thrilled with the customer response - some folks love the safe high return they get on their investments, and some folks have taken a lower rate so that they can help others even more. I think we have really hit a chord with people wanting to help people, but not especially wanting to put their money at risk – and our borrowers love their low interest rates, which get driven even lower by our unique “help” feature.

How’s the relationship going with the credit union participating in the Zopa program? Are you planning to add more partners to the program?

Our credit union partners have been great – in so many ways, credit unions were the first “peer-to-peer” lending operations, because they are communities of people who have gathered deposits and people who need loans – so we’ve found that our goals and objectives are very similar, and that the customers get additional benefits by becoming members of the credit unions. We’ll be adding more credit union partners.

You’ve opened Zopa Italy and US in the last few months. Any hint as to when we should expect to see the next Zopa?

Oh, I think you’ll see us add more countries sometime soon.

We’re running a little contest: what’s your best guess as to when p2p loans will reach $1bn in originations in the US? Pick a date!

It sure feels to me like 2009 is going to be the year.

First off....you have a PH.D in genetics?! That's quite an accomplishment. Is there any crossover between DNA and personal finance? We're not hard wired to be in debt, are we?

Well, I don't think we're genetically predisposed to be in debt. I didn't research that though; my dissertation involved plants. I think that there might be some genetic predisposition to be attracted to pretty things or something like that, but I don't think we're born doomed to a life of debt by the curse of our DNA. Most things have an environmental focus as well, and I think the culture of debt we live in helps people see debt as normal and accept it for themselves. I know it did for me.

Your blog title, "I've paid for this twice already" is great. How did you come up with the title?

Honestly, I'm not quite sure. I was thinking about starting a blog, and I was thinking about how, for me, one of the worst things about debt is that interest just keeps making it go up and up and up, and realized how I'd probably paid for things I had loans/credit for twice over already. So the title just kind of occurred to me. I'm glad you like it.

I know from my own experience how helpful blogging has been to my own financial situation, attitudes, and actions. How has being a personal finance blogger changed you?

I think it has done a lot for me - and I can think of two main ways. One is the accountability - I actually started blogging to have random people hold me accountable and keep me on track, so I expected that. But the other is realizing how little I know about finances - and how much there is out there to learn that is actually *accessible* to me. I really enjoy the community interaction and learning from each other.

How do you budget each month?

I use a spreadsheet form of PearBudget (they've since upgraded to an online version but I am still using the old spreadsheet). But the process is this - I look at our projected income (my spouse's is pretty steady, mine is variable but I estimate) and I assign it all to categories. Then, as I spend money, I track it on that same spreadsheet. As extra money comes in, I assign it to the snowflaking category. As I spend too much in one category, I adjust others to compensate. I am flexible about it, but also, having the budget written out grounds me in reality. I know what we have and what we can spend and don't just guess.

You've gotten pretty extreme with cost cutting measures. What items were the easiest to cut out of your pre-budgeting lifestyle? The most difficult?

Well, we were living pretty bare bones already, just because we mismanaged our money generally in small ways and always seemed broke. For me - eating out was easy to cut. We only went out once or twice a month anyway. Ask my spouse though, and that was probably the worst for him. The hardest to cut is buying stuff for my kids. I love shopping for clothes and small items for them, and well, now I really limit that to what they truly need. Due to the generosity of friends, my daughter won't need clothes until she is probably 5. I am VERY grateful and she has beautiful stuff, but a little part of me wants to go shopping for her anyway.

Do you do any investing, or does any extra income go solely to debt reduction?

Other than the contribution to my spouse's 401K, I don't currently do any investing. Once we are out of debt I intend to start contributing again to my IRA as well as increasing my spouse's 401K percentage. I do save a very small amount each month for my kids’ college funds but since that is still in savings accounts at the moment, I don't know if I would call that investing.

What is snowflaking?

Snowflaking is an extension of the Dave Ramsey concept of the debt snowball, but on a small scale. Once you've established your budget, and what you pay each month to reduce your debts, basically snowflaking is earning small extra amounts or saving small amounts from making cost-cutting choices, and then DIRECTLY and immediately applying that saved/earned money to debt reduction. Those little extra payments really really add up!

If you don't mind me asking, what is your credit score like? Have you ever thought about trying to pay off your credit cards with a personal loan. From say, I don't know...Lending Club?

Honestly, my credit score is pretty awesome. I'm like a creditor's dream - I pay my bills always on time, my available credit is high compared to my actual credit card debt, our debt to income ratio isn't actually too bad... creditors love me. I don't know my actual score right this moment, but when we were buying our house last year you get a copy of your credit report at closing, and my score ranged from the high 700's to the low 800's depending on which bureau you were asking.

I am almost completely done with credit card debt, so I haven't considered doing anything with that since what is left is at 0% and will be gone before the 0% is done. My student loans are another story, but honestly, I get a lot of really really low interest loan offers in the mail all the time. I do, however, think peer to peer lending is a great concept and I have been considering getting into it on the lending end in a few years when I am debt-free.

If you could only share one tip with our readers, what would it be?

It is never a good time to start - so just start now already. Part of my "debt reduction" problem was there was always something else on the horizon to focus on and debt reduction seemed like it could wait until we got through this thing or that thing. Well, the debt just kept on hanging around, and eventually I realized - the perfect time was never, so I might as well just take an imperfect time. Hmm, I think I just came up with an idea for a post...

Have you always had an interest in finance?

First, thank you for the opportunity to work with you on this interview. I don't know if I can say I was interested in finance, because I was so young. I guess it's more accurate to say I was a little kid who wanted to have a lot of money. My first business was a BBS system (this was prior to the Web as we know it), and that didn't make any money. I also tried a couple of investments, which turned out to be get rich quick schemes. I honestly didn't learn proper money management and investing until after college.

What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

I started Moolanomy in July of last year. I knew my wife would be staying at home for a few months after she gives birth. At that point, I started Moolanomy to focus more on my finance, and to build an alternative income stream to make up for my wife's income. I felt that personal finance is a good niche for me to focus on because I have done fairly well financially and felt that I have something valuable to share.

You mention that you’ve been investing for over 10 years. How old were you when you first starting investing? How did your first investments go?

You probably got the decade number from my post, "12 Investing Mistakes I’ve Made, and How You Can Learn From Them." I didn't start investing until 1996, or about 11 years ago. I wish I had learned about investing and the stock market sooner, but my situation wasn't conducive to an early start. Neither one of my parents invests in the stock market, nor was money management part of education, so I was on my own.

I don't remember how it all started, but I remember that I had an account with Dean Witter and did very well with my Staples shares. After investing with them for about a year, I felt I was paying too much fees so I switched to Charles Schwab. I did badly on my own for about two years and things got better from there.

Any advice you would give first time investors?

Sure. For new investor, my advice is pay off your debt and start investing as early as you can -- a decade can make a huge difference due to compounding. If you're brand new at it, forget about individual stocks for a while and ignore hot stock picks and tips from the media. Instead, invest in low-cost ETFs to create globally diversified portfolio of investment in various asset classes. Also, try to maximize the use of tax-sheltered accounts like IRA and 401k.

What has been your experience so far with peer-to-peer investing or borrowing?

Well, my experience has been good so far, but it's also very limited. I am strictly a lender on these networks. Right now, I have 3 active loans on Prosper and 2 on LendingClub.com. I feel that both have their pluses and minuses, but I have nothing negative to say about them at the moment.

As a growing industry, do you think P2P investments should fit into an investor's portfolio?

In term of having P2P investments as a standard part of an investor's portfolio, I think it's certainly feasible but I don't think we are quite there yet. For instance:

• I would like to see these online networks become more established as business entities. My money is committed for 3 years when I lend it out. I understand that there is no guarantee that I would get my money back if my borrowers default. However, I want some kinds of guarantee that Prosper and LendingClub.com can't simply shut down their web sites one day and walk away.
• Also, there should be a way for a lender to early terminate his contracts either by selling them back to the network or to other lenders. Without this ability, P2P investment will not be as attractive as it could be.

Tell us one thing about yourself that you’ve never shared on your blog!

I am already sharing a few things I never told anyone on the blog before, but you have to be a regular reader to figure what they are.

Personal finance blogs have really come into their own the last year or two. Why do you think that is?

I am sorry to say that I've never follow any personal finance blog before I started Moolanomy. It wasn't until I started that I realized how many personal finance blogs are out there already. I was surprised by the size and quality of content found on some of these blogs. They were simply beyond expectation.

What is the M-network?

The M-network is a network of personal finance bloggers that I established about a month after I started Moolanomy. Back then, I was looking for ways to increase the reach and readership of my blog. One of the ideas that came to me was to work with a group personal finance blogs with similar size and age to help promote and grow each other -- and that's how the M-network was formed. Currently, our membership includes:

• Being Frugal
• Cash Money Life
• Gather Little By Little
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
• Moolanomy
• My Two Dollars
• Plonkee Money
• Single Guy Money
• The Dough Roller

They are all excellent blogs and I highly recommend them.

If you could only share one money tip, what would it be and why?

Automate as many things as you can, and do them little by little. This way you don't have to waste your time doing the same thing over and over again, and you don't have to worry about coming up with a big chunk o f money at any given time.

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

I probably spend too much time blogging right now. Otherwise, it's either working at my job, or helping my wife to take care of the baby. One thing I want to do is to get myself motivated enough to go ride my bicycle around the neighborhood more; especially during the summer time. I used to ride over a thousand miles each summer before I got married. I haven't been as motivated since. I should be riding more to improve my health.

Any famous last words?

Hasta la vista baby? Actually, I would love to see your readers come over to Moolanomy and see what's there. I believe I have a lot of good financial information to offer, and would like the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas with them.