Clever Dude founded CleverDude.com in June 2006 while working as a technical analyst in the Washington, D.C. area. A Penn State graduate, he built the site as a side project alongside a white-collar career that included earning a master’s degree and multiple promotions.
In five years he wrote nearly 1,300 articles on personal finance and life lessons drawn from his own experience. The blog grew from a hobby into a recognized early voice in the personal-finance community and generated meaningful revenue. He sold the site in 2010, continued as a guest contributor through 2015, and returned in 2023 after further career advances, paying off his home, and extensive travel.
Do you have a friend who keeps saying things like "I'll be an adult when I finish college" or "I'll grow up when I _____ (insert phrase)"? We have that friend. Yesterday I officially began my adventure towards a graduate degree by registering for … [Read more...] about Postponing financial responsibility until you grow up
I got a notice yesterday that today is the first day to register for Fall 2007 courses for my masters program. Since it's my first semester in this program, and the first time I've had to handle tuition on my own, I wasn't sure what the process would … [Read more...] about Registered for my first semester. It hurt
As much as I don't want to make this public, it'll probably make for a chuckle. I got some help from Blain to understand Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and what's available regarding renewable and alternative energy. One of the ETFs he recommended (as … [Read more...] about Celebrate my first stock purchase with a…UH OH!
Just last week, I broke the news that we paid off our $25,000 car loan in just 25 months. When we first bought the car, we weren't trying to pay it off fast, but I just began putting increasing amounts towards each payment, and sending multiple … [Read more...] about What’s our next “Early Payoff” challenge?
While walking home today from the metro, I was 3 blocks from our house and I see an SUV driving slowly down the street. Then I notice the driver throwing stuff out his window. It's the paperboy delivering our free weekly newspaper. Nothing odd … [Read more...] about Guess what our paperboy drives
After reading NoCreditNeeded's article titled "Drip, Drip, Drip Your Way Out of Debt", I got to wondering "How much interest did we save by paying off our Malibu almost 4 years early?" I hopped on over to the Bankrate Auto Loan Calculator and … [Read more...] about How we dripped our way out of debt
I was writing an article for this Thursday, and I looked back through my archives and found out that my first post was June 6th, 2006. What did I write? Well, not a personal finance article! I actually didn't know that my site would turn into a … [Read more...] about Oops! Belated 1 Year Birthday to Me!
I received a comment this morning on our Frugal Lunch post that made me very angry. First, the commenter used the F-word. That's a no-no. Read my Commenting Policy. I tagged him/her as spam. I've already responded directly to the commenter, but I … [Read more...] about Frugality is a waste of time
