So… without further ado, the sixth, seventh and eighth blogger I am thankful for this year is the good people of Way Below Status Quo, Andi (Instigationology, Dezabulous), Colin (Exile Lifestyle), and Ashley (The Middle Finger Project).

There isn’t anything i can say about this people that dozens of others haven’t already experienced.  If you have heard of them, you know they are three of the best and brightest and most fun people on the internet.  Seriously, one of the best nights I have had was with these three fine folks.  It wasn’t a wild and crazy evening, but there was a bit of drinking and dancing, lots of talking (totally grew a man-crush on Colin… what an awesome dude!) and just great company.  Never before had I realized the impact of hanging around several truly awesome people all at once.  Usually you meet an awesome person here and there, but to have three of these “types” of people invade DC… well, the outcome was something that I really felt in my core.

I  wrote to them after their appearance here saying how great it was to finally meet them (while I had known of Colin and Ash, I had been talking to Andi for about six months or so), and that they really did change me.  Well, I can get into all the financial repercussions of what I am about to say next at a later date, but because of these three fine folks, I am shedding the shroud of responsibility for a week and I’ve booked a last minute flight to Budapest (with a pit stop in Vienna while I am there).  Without question, i would never have done this had i not really learned something about taking life in your own hands from Andi, Colin and Ashley.  I am looking forward to my trip.  I know its the first of many.  But what’s more, its the first step in meeting up with these individuals in the years to come in whatever countries each may be residing in.

Thanks to the three of you, and have a happy holidays wherever in the world you’ll be.

So… without further ado, the fifth blogger I am thankful for this year is my friend Mrs. Micah.

Oh Mrs. Micah.  What i wouldn’t give to still have you around.  It was actually great to talk to you earlier this week, and i miss our get-togethers.  One of the main reasons i wanted to put this little series on was to give some link juice to the people that have been supportive of me over the past 18 months or so.  You are definitely one of those people, even if you’d prefer i did no linking.  I hope all has been well, and now that J. got fired, we need to pick a damn date and go out somewhere (Groupon locations welcome!).

Look forward to seeing you soon, be safe, and hopefully have fun with all of your side projects over the break.

Oh yes, and girl/comic stories a plenty when we see each other next!

So… without further ado, the fourth blogger I am thankful for this year is the one and only Jim Wang over at Bargaineering.

Jim was my first “in” to trying to make it in the blog-o-sphere.  He and JD from Get Rich Slowly hosted the personal finance hour for approximately 30 consecutive weeks back in 2009 and it was this show that introduced me to JD, Jim and Baker (Man vs. Debt).  I started calling in regularly and speaking to the guys as well as writing recaps for them on their website.  It was great to be networking with some of the bigwigs while I was starting out and Jim made me feel right at home.

Jim and I have gotten to know one another mostly over aim and gchat, usually with me bugging him about blogging questions last year.  Those blogging strategy questions don’t really come up as often as I prod him with less high minded questions such as why is your blog indexed high for “Vienna, Virginia Date Spot”?  Or, what seems to happen even more often is Jim bugging me to give him a tipd or an upvote or something of that sort.  Of course man, I am always flattered that you ask, and anything you need is always my pleasure.

Mr. Wang is really one of those good guys.  He is a ton of fun if you get him out in person with a drink in him.  Now if only he could stop all of his basketball, and softball, and kickball and bowling leagues to come out to a few more happy hours, we would all be better off!

So… without further ado, the third blogger I am thankful for this year is Revanche over at A Gai Shan Life.

Revanche has been a great friend this year.  Not only was she a great supporter of my blog, she has been an awesome conversationalist (lets not forget that she is on the west coast which certainly helped to make my late nights go by faster).  We both share a love for personal finance and comic books and that has helped us get to know each other over the past year and a half.  When I have a problem that’s girl related, finance related, or I just need to completely geek out, she is one of those people that I seek immediately.

Revanche, have a happy holidays and thanks for being there this past year.

So… without further ado, the second blogger I am thankful for this year is Flexo over at Consumerism Commentary.

Flexo is one of the most well respected bloggers in all of the Personal Finance Blogging Land.  His blog speaks for itself, but unlike a few of the guys with his renowned reputation (and this is not a dig at them in the least), he always goes out of his way to help build community and foster the industry that we all participate.

Flexo has done a lot for this site and for me personally without him even knowing it.  There are a few things specifically that come to mind:

1) He participated in my Spectrum of Personal Finance forever ago by hosting an article without any hesitation.  I approached several bloggers, about hosting an article.  Some had reservations, but not Flexo.  He had confidence in me and was willing to support me in my fun project (go check out my article here).

2) He thought highly enough of me to have me interviewed for his podcast.  At the time, heck – even now, I was a relatively unknown blogger.  I appreciated the efforts he made to grant me more exposure, but also to genuinely show me the possibilities of what can be had with a blog.

3) Lastly, and this means the most to me, the day I started My Next Buck, I wrote a post about buying my new car.  I had a blog previously which had gained a little bit of a following (like 12 people or so), so when I launched this site, I didn’t know what to expect.  I didn’t really advertise too much, and to be honest, I didn’t know who Flexo even was at the time; I was still a newbie at this stuff.  What I will remember for a long time is that Flexo was the first commenter on my first post on this blog.  Still to this day, I don’t know how he found my site, but I am thankful he did.

Flexo, hope you have a chance to read this and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.  We haven’t kept in touch over the past several months, but I want you to know, there are few others in this community that I respect more.  Here’s to you buddy!

So… without further ado, the first blogger I am thankful for this year is J. Money over at Budgets Are Sexy.

I first met J about 20 months ago.  Since then, I have had the privilege of calling him a close friend and someone I have the opportunity to hang out with socially.  He is a fun guy to be around and exudes a ton of energy.  While I have a bunch of stories about him that I’d love to share, I will highlight two of my favorites an then share why he is someone I am thankful for.

Story 1: J and I went to a blogger happy hour (with non-PF bloggers including Pixie658, LivitLuvit, and DCPrincess) around last May.  Anyway, we were socializing and my friend Alex (Pixie658) introduced me to someone as a personal finance blogger.  She got really excited and asked if I knew J. Money.  She got even more excited when I pointed to the goofy looking dude with the smile and faux hawk.  J. is a celebrity in his own right.  I am not one to travel on the coattails of friends, but if the fact that I know J. Money is a conversation starter with girls, I am going to use it.

Story 2: About a year ago, J. and I went out to Fuddruckers in Dupont (i was taking a 3.5 hour lunch break at my old job at a slow time of year… those were the days) and we had a lengthy conversation about this idea that involved him gathering money from readers and helping people with those funds that he raised.  A year later, and Love Drop is just about to born.  I’ll let the site speak for itself, the link is lovedrop.us and you can check into the amazing things that he and his associates are doing.  I don’t want to say I was a Debbie Downer about the idea.  I thought it had promise, but I saw a lot of roadblocks.  Roadblocks that J. eventually needed legal counsel on before he went ahead and got the ball rolling.  That is what I love about J.  I see the problems in things, while he sees the solutions… or at least has the energy to seek out the solution.  I am proud of J., and I am excited that a dream he has had for over a year is about to become a reality.  While the site does ask for money, I will say, its the best $20 a month or $240 a year I spend.  Congrats J.

And that leads me to why J. is someone I am thankful for.  If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be blogging (or started a blog last year).  I wouldn’t have hustled as hard, I wouldn’t be as good of a worker as I am now, and I wouldn’t be as good of a friend to people.  The dude is like a virus that infects you with some sort of happiness and pride just being in his presence.  You know he is genuinely happy to see you and talk to you, and that type of attitude truly is infectious.  I had a long debate if J. should be the first person I mention, or the last.  Finally, I decided.  Without J., there is no My Next Buck, nor is there the Brian Scheur you are reading from today.  Thanks J, and a Merry Christmas to you and your wife!

I am still not done, but that doesn’t mean I am not interested in feedback.

If you ask why the change from the “orange” site? Well on top of people finding the “guy” creepy (for those not in the know, that was a photoshopped image of Vic Sage, The Question), I felt it was time I made my site more professional.

I had a long convo about the positives and negatives about this yesterday with J. Money. I don’t want to turn off people that appreciate my non-professional writing style. In fact, I am still going to be dropping F-bombs (that’s “fuck” for all of you good people in the Midwest), but like a really bitchy hot chick, I am trying to seduce readers with the sites good looks, and have them ignore the fact I can be a prick at times.

I should mention, I am going to be learning a lot from this new design. It’s a lot more flexible and I am able to test a lot of different ideas I have had. I am going to be coding things properly instead of using some of headway’s awesome features. It’s nice to have something easy to use, but I think I prefer me some nice HTML at times.

I am hoping to be done with the revamp of the site this week, then start to work on some backend stuff for another week. It’s gonna be fun.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

If you haven’t read either of their stuff, you are certainly missing out.  Their writing is some of the most fun and wittiest i have seen on the internet and makes me wonder just what “Awesome Girl Tree” they both fell from and if i am allowed to camp out underneath it.

For full rules of the contest and her announcement, check out Jamie’s site HERE.

If you are too lazy to read the post (which makes you really lazy!) you can enter in the following ways:

• Follow  @shatterboxx on Twitter
• Tweet about the contest then come back here and leave a comment on this post with a link to your tweet(s). Sample tweet: Win a gorgeous custom blog designed by @shatterboxx ladies @jamievaron & @nicoleisbetter. Contest details here: http://bit.ly/9jaRmO
• Blog about the contest then, again, come back here and leave a comment on this post with a link to your post
• Sign up for the Shatterboxx Media monthly email newsletter

Best of luck to these lovely ladies and to you at winning their contest!

January’s happy hour last week was hosted by the fine people at TurboTax.  They traveled all the way to Busboys and Poets on 5^th and K to meet up with DC’s best and brightest.  A good time was had by all, with discussions ranging from the all things personal finance, blogging, and the NFL Playoffs (at least within my conversations).

The night went on with good food, great drinks and a few giveaways (some of which you may see returned to you readers in the near future!).  There was even some promotional material about a TurboTax Free eFile iPhone app that will file your taxes for you (I thought this was pretty damn cool!).

As the evening wound down, I unfortunately had to take off a bit early, but I heard stories of Chelsea, J. Money (no surprise there) and a blogger who shall remain nameless (but I promise you, you’d be shocked) closed the bar down with a couple of shots.

It was great to see the old friends and to meet some new people that helped put the whole shindig together.

In attendance:

• TurboTax Chelsea – TurboTax (@TTaxChels)
• Turbotax Bob – TurboTax (@turbotaxbob)
• Scott Gulbransen– ScottGulbransen.com (@prgully)
• Dave Donohue – Outcast PR (@davedonohue)
• Rob Pegoraro – The Washington Post (@robpegoraro)
• Frank Gruber – Tech Cocktail (@frankgruber)
• Jen Consalvo – Shiny Heart Venture (@noreaster)
• Mrs. Micah – Finance For a Freelance Life (@mrsmicah)
• GingerLatte – Girls Just Want To Have Funds (@gingerlatte)
• J. Money – Budgets Are Sexy (@budgetsaresexy)
• Shawanda Green– You Have More Than You Think (@theycallmecheap)
• Mike – Clever Dude (@cleverdude)
• mapgirl – mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge (@mapgirlsfc)
• Pinyo – Moolanomy (@moolanomy)
• Jim Wang – Bargaineering (@bargainr)
• Brian Scheur – My Next Buck (@brianscheur)

I look forward to next month’s happy hour where we can all get together and… well… drink.

Today is an awesome day for the blogosphere.  A new collaborative effort has been launched by the likes of Jun Loayza, Adam Baker, Cody McKibben, Carlos Miceli, Monica O’Brien, Andrew Norcross and Dariane Narbor.  These individuals have a message for the rest of us and they plan on conveying that message through the newly founded Untemplater.com.

Untemplater is going to mean something different to each of us.  The writers putting out content will be discussing topics in personal finance, mobile lifestyle, self improvement, and business.  There is going to be something for everyone at Untemplater.

The Writers

The people running Untemplater are not always going to be writing for the site.  In fact, they are deferring to individuals in their respective blogging niches to discuss the topics at hand.  I am unfamiliar with a lot of the writers outside of the personal finance niche, but I look forward to reading their content in the coming weeks an months.

As far as the people you have likely heard of from the personal finance community is J.  Money from Budgets are Sexy, Laura from Green Panda Treehouse, Wojciech from Fiscal Fizzle and Martin from Studenomics.  The best news yet is that I will be joining these four outstanding writers to give my perspective to the readers of the site.

What I Hope to Learn

I don’t exactly break the template when it comes to my own life.  Outside of the fact that I am a 20something that actually gives a shit about his finances, I am pretty much the model template.  College, grad school, job, job + part-time job, better job, etc.

That isn’t always going to be the case though.  One doesn’t break the template lifestyle overnight.  Surrounding myself with the individuals that have asked the following questions and then answered them in their own way are likely to inspire me to make wholesale changes to my life (taken from Untemplater.com):

10 Thoughts for Creating Your Own Untemplater Lifestyle This Year:

1. Most people are content to live a comfortable lifestyle, doing something they’re not all that passionate about in order to pay the bills and do what they like on the weekends.  But, ask yourself if that’s really what you want.  Or do you want more? The Untemplater lifestyle means prioritizing your passion over money, over status, even over creature comforts.
2. Realize that nobody else is going to come along and magically fix all your problems and pay all your bills for you.  That is a destructive Disney fantasy that isn’t real.  In the new economy, “job security” is an oxymoron.  You’ve got to establish a personal brand and maintain your reputation online even if you just want to remain employable.
3. Remember what Tim Ferriss says in The 4-Hour Workweek: we don’t really want to be millionaires.  Instead we want to experience things we think only millions can buy.  But money isn’t the only currency, and by bending the rules of your reality, it can frequently be easier, cheaper, or even free to accomplish the things you want.
4. Stop playing the game, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Embrace minimalism, detach your value from the things you own, and ignore others’ expectations.  When you accumulate stuff just for the sake of having possessions, they begin to own you.  More likely than not, you can invest more time and money into the experiences you want to have—time with friends and family, philanthropy, travel—and live a much more fulfilled life.
5. Just because everyone seems to do things one way doesn’t mean you have to.  And just because a majority of people seem to use a certain set of tools to get the job done doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the right tools for you.  Seek unconventional solutions that willmake the life you want possible.
6. If you still want to discover what kind of work you’re truly passionate about and excites you when you get out of bed in the morning, take weekend retreat to somewhere nearby where you can get away from your normal routine, consider a media hiatus (don’t read the paper, watch the news on TV, or read your favorite blogs online for at least a few days) and do some self-talk and search in yourself for what you really care about.  How can you provide real value to the world in a way that will return to you and provide
7. With the increasing availability of free and cheap wifi internet access all around the globe, it’s becoming increasingly possible for anyone to work from home, the coffee shop, or anywhere.  Leverage the different purchasing power of currencies around the world, and you can vagabond your way around the globe while you do freelance work from your laptop!
8. Social media makes it much easier for anyone with enough motivation to share their ideas with a global audience and build a successful business online these days.
9. If you choose to build an Untemplater lifestyle free of dependence on any one location, if you live abroad or go on extended travel, just by immersing yourself in the unfamiliar, you’ll experience an increased rate of learning, creativity and resourcefulness that will serve to reinforce your abilities as a producer, rather than a passive consumer—sharing and adding something to the world, whether that’s in the form of a business or something else.
10. Even though everybody seems to do it, there is no law that says you have to play by the rules or follow the crowd.  Your time here on this earth is a finite resource, precious short—how will you choose to spend it?

It amazes me to think about these things, but now knowing people that have broken the mold and ended up being happier for it, I can’t help but be intrigued.

Today is the first day of a journey; a journey that doesn’t have a destination yet.  I hope you all unstrap those seatbelts and join me.

When you head over to Untemplater, please be sure to download their manifesto.  It will give you a good background for the site and the people that are working behind the scenes to bring you the content.