Personal Finance Investing — An Interview with Barbara Bryn Klare
Barbara Bryn Klare caught our attention due to her rather colorful and diverse launch path to personal finance and investing. How could we not dig deeper into the life of someone with degrees in Geology, Writing and Finance who worked as a computer programmer, started a writing firm overseas, now runs a successful online information management and training company, moonlights as a personal finance columnist, and operates a popular blog? Barbara, along with Lisa Tulchin, runs CafeFAQ Communications, an information management and training company with an impressive client list. She also is a Personal Finance Columnist for SFExaminer.com. You can also read more of her writing on her very own blog — UPSIDE of Money. We approached Barbara in the beginning of 2010 for an interview and were thrilled when she consented. Here's a glimpse of her financial journey.... Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us, Barbara. Please take a moment to tell us a little about yourself ... where you live, what you do, how long you’ve been interested in personal finance and investing, etc. First, let me thank you for this interview. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and work as a technical trainer/writer in the financial services industry. I am fortunate to be here since it is such a hotbed for innovative financial companies right now (Lending Club, Mint, Wesabe, the list goes on) and I have lots of food for thought for my personal finance column at examiner.com and my Upside of Money blog. I have been following the stock market and investing since the 1980s. I studied technical analysis (charting, patterns) in 2002 and I am currently finishing my CFP Personal Finance education at UCLA in May (2010). Your background is colorfully diverse! From Geology major to Computer Programmer to running a Writing Firm overseas to Entrepreneur and Personal Finance Writer (I’m sure we’ve missed out other hats you’ve worn). How did the interest in writing about money come about? Does your diverse background help you bring a different perspective than other finance writers? I got interested in writing specifically about personal finance five years ago when I was asked to design a Credit Card Learning Center. Being a writer in the personal finance arena, you are constantly in contact with your readers and people wanting to take control of their financial future. What are some of the questions that beginning investors have for you? What are they most concerned about? Some of the questions and concerns my readers have seem to center around –“How do I recover from the financial trauma of the last few years?” and “Where can I get a decent return right now?” to “Where should I go from here?” It reminds me of the time right after the dot.com bust. I was working at a tech firm that had a high-flying IPO, then the stock slipped. I was talking to the CEO about my sad stock option story, and he turned to me and said, “You just have to reset the bar.” We all have to “reset the bar” – and remember that if you are in the market – any market - the bar is constantly in motion. We seem to fixate on profit numbers, when actually the situation is very fluid, as we have now been reminded. A very simple thing to do that takes a bit of time but is truly worth it, is to write down all the money-making strategies (real estate, coin collecting, mutual funds, eBay selling, lemonade stands, what-have-you) you have ever tried and objectively record your profits and losses. Are you a buy-and-holder? A collector with a good eye? Good at flipping houses? A picture will emerge. When I did this exercise, I found out that I was best at picking call options and sticking to a swing trading time frame or longer; I could stick to automatic saving plans and I was good at fixing up houses. I was not good at day trading-style time frames or picking tech stocks (darn!), and I let technical analysis rule over fundamentals time and time again. Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, you aren’t swayed as much by the latest investment strategies “du jour.” I also find that listening to finance channels on TV or scouring Twitter for stock tips can really get you off track. Looking through your articles on investing in particular, we’ve seen a common theme – “Investing Should Be Simple”. This is powerful advice for all those on the sidelines who would be interested in investing, but are afraid. What specific suggestions do you have for novice investors to overcome this fear? I am a big fan of DRIP and DSPP plans for people who don’t have much money, time, or inclination to maintain an equity portfolio. It should take one Saturday morning to find a handful of decent dividend-paying stocks, and then 15 minutes every few months or more to check on it. I am also very intrigued with ETFs, and will be writing a column on converting over to ETFs from a mutual fund-driven portfolio. I keep working to streamline my own investments, and have a big bulletin board wall where I keep my ideas, strategies and plans posted where I can see them. If you can’t explain your goals and strategies to someone else in a few minutes and have it make sense, you need to re-think. I’m a big fan of Welch’s 10-10-10 concept for making decisions that take into account the short, intermediate and long-term consequences. Your blog, UPSIDE of Money, has some really good content on investing, debt control, planning for retirement, etc. How did you get into blogging? Tell us a little bit about your blogging experience, about the connection you create with your readers through this fascinating medium. Blogging is a great way to distribute content quickly to a large number of focused readers. I am grateful that I can get my voice heard above the din and that I have loyal readers and fellow PF bloggers who support what I am doing. Are you actively investing in the Stock Market right now? Any particular areas you think are promising to invest in? Yes, I am actively invested in the stock market. I upped my equity investment dollars sometime last spring and summer (2009). Of course at the time it felt a little risky, not having a clear picture yet of the trends, but stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, it worked out. What are your investing and writing goals for 2010? Are there any ideas you want to explore, learn more about? Two things:
- I am looking to team up with a marketing whiz and will be writing a “radar report” for financials, and
- I would like to write about “creative retirement” or retirement “outside of the box.” Being a baby boomer myself, I am intimately aware of the kinds of thought processes, issues and concerns facing we face in the next years.
We are grateful to Barbara for sharing her interesting journey and financial wisdom with us and our readers. We wish her the very best with her goals going forward. If you would like to get in touch with Barbara, check out her websites that we covered in this interview and send her a note.
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