Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have three great hobbies- health and healing, self defense and investing. Fortunately for you, I am nearly obsessive about each of these topics. I spend most of my free time learning about these things and then passing on what I have learned.
Passing on what I have learned could easily be classified as my fourth great hobby. I seem to be addicted to it as well.
So far, I have two books published, and probably a dozen in the works.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my most recent book is Investing 101- Safe, Simplified, Effective Investing and Money Management Basics for the Beginner.
Being self employed, I don’t receive a pension when I retire like a lot of people. Social Security seems to be a constant unknown. So my wife and I decided we needed to do it ourselves.
We learned the hard way that nobody cares for our money as much as we do. We also learned that nobody took care of our money the way we could. Even as an amateur we did better managing our money than professionals. Even if those professionals did well managing our money, their fees often ate up much of our profits.
Additionally, we had several friends and family members who lost almost their entire nest eggs right before retirement due to mis-management by professionals. In fact, most of these friends and family members had professional who out-right refused to take their money out of the market when it was crashing. As a result, these people who had saved their entire lives to retire in comfort, and had succeeded, lost it all in a very short period of time.
I also knew a few people who had invested on their own and lost a lot of money. So my wife and I set out to learn how to invest safely, yet very simply and very effectively. It took years of trial and error to perfect, but we now have a system that we are very happy with. And we want to share it with other people.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I guess we all do. My main thing is that I write and re-write the same little bit over and over and over. Everybody may do this. What I do seems excessive to me. Also, I binge write. Once I get in a groove the ideas won’t stop so I keep going. Even when I try to quit, the ideas keep popping up for a while.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
As far as investing goes, I studied Ken Roberts, Rich Dad Poor Dad books, Burton Pugh, Ted Warren, Dave Ramsey to name a few. My favorites were always the non-mainstream guys who tended to be brave enough to try new things. As a result, they typically found a way to make money that others had not yet thought of.
What are you working on now?
Just promoting Investing 101 right now. I want to see what kind of response I get, and see if any questions pop up that I might need to address in a revised addition.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am a new author, so I really don’t know yet. At all. I like writing. I like teaching. Promoting? That’s what I need to work on.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do what you love.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To only take advice from those who have what you want. Everybody wants to give you advice, even if they have no clue how to do what you are doing. Its just human nature. But as far as the advice you want to go by- seek out people that have what you want, and ask them what they did.
What are you reading now?
Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall
What’s next for you as a writer?
Learn how to promote!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Blank books, to write in.
Author Websites and Profiles
Matthew Barnes Website
Matthew Barnes Amazon Profile