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.
This past year, I elected to contribute $500 to our FSA (Flexible Spending Account). It's a pretax account most employers now have for (at least) salaried employees to contribute pretax dollars to health-related expenses. It's a use it or lose it … [Read more...] about Using the last of our flexible spending dollars
For the last few years, we've been buying a little coupon book that has some major restaurant savings: Buy 2 entrees, Get 2 entrees free, along with other coupons. At the same time, we've been supporting the National Wheelchair Basketball Association … [Read more...] about Buy 2, Get 2 Meals: Restaurant Coupon Books
Last Friday I visited the doctor and found out I have a herniated disk. I've been on oxycodone (generic Percocet) and anti-inflammatory meds since then, along with heating pads and wearing a corset. I'm still in an excruciating amount of pain, which … [Read more...] about Have a Very Merry, and Painless, Christmas!
a herniated disk! I was able to get an appointment with an orthopedist this morning, thanks to my doctor "going the extra mile" and calling around for me. I put that in quotes because it's something I would expect a doctor to do back home in PA, but … [Read more...] about And the doctor’s prognosis is…
Juniata college, nestled in scenic central Pennsylvania, happens to be my wife's alma mater. You may have heard me talk about it recently, although I didn't mention it by name, when I gave out our year-end donation amounts. This time, though, Juniata … [Read more...] about First College to Guarantee 4 Year Graduation…With Free Tuition
Growing up and hearing my parents talk about cars, I always heard one thing: We're always going to have a car payment You can probably see where this is going already, but hear me out. From about 1984-1998, my parents leased a new vehicle every … [Read more...] about Do you always have to be in debt?
Last Friday, our client called us in and said they ran out of money and worked ceased immediately. This was the first time in a long time that our company had to deal with something like this. I'll write more about that another time though (when I … [Read more...] about Job Update: A day at the zoo and more
If you have an account with eTrade Financial, you may want to take advantage of their commission-free trades today. For me, that's a savings of $12.99 per trade, which really helps with my rate of return since I do low volumes. Here's the blurb … [Read more...] about Don’t forget: Commission-free eTrade stock trades today!
