Interview with The Weakonomist

• What encouraged you to start the Weakonomics?

Simple, boredom.  My job wasn’t giving me enough stimulation, and I wanted to stay fresh on all the topics I’d been talking about in college but weren’t using at work.  Weakonomics started out being all about me.  It’s still about me, but only because I’m selfish, not bored.

• What is different about Weakonomics compared to other financial blogs?

Weakonomics is a personal finance blog for people that already understand basic personal finance.  Most of my audience probably is financially stable or getting there, and is interested in getting a bit more in depth with finance and dabbling in government and economics.

• Do your personal experiences play a key part in your blogs?

Without a doubt.  Much of the content of the blog when it was started was making sense of the failing financial markets, of which I am a cog in that wheel.  However The Weakonomist (my pseudonym) is the true writer of the blog.  As time goes on, he’s developed his own personality.  As a result the blog has become less and less personal, but I still draw on Philip’s personal environment for inspiration.

• What is your favorite topic to blog about?

I love stupidity.  It’s celebrated on the blog in the form of my Weaky Awards, which are like the Darwin Awards for money.  But my favorite topics involve taking complicated economic or financial news and explaining it to people that may not have a background or interest in the complexities.

• Where do you get your blog ideas?

Blog ideas basically come from three sources.  The first is just whatever is hot in the news.  If unemployment increased to 12%, I might feel obligated to talk about what that means.  If health care is on everyone’s mind, then I’ll do a post talking about that and offering some opinions.  The second type is simply educational in nature.  These are usually a part of my College of Weakonomics series, which is designed to teach fundamental topics in finance and economics.  The final set of posts are mostly random.  The idea may come from something someone says to me at work, something I read on a blog, or an attempt to answer a question no one is asking.  For example, no one ever asks why competing stores locate close together http://weakonomics.com/2009/11/13/why-do-competing-stores-open-up-next-to-each-other/, but I answered the question anyway.

• What is some advice in investing that you could offer our readers?

I’m pretty generic about the advice because my target audience already knows enough about finance to not need much advice.  Diversify into stocks and bonds, know your risk profile, and once you have $1 million in investable assets start considering other asset classes like real estate, commodities, and hedge funds.

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