Bill Long QueercentsBill Long grew up in Dallas, Texas, and went to work right out of high school for slightly more than minimum wage. He later took a file clerk position at a credit bureau for slightly better money, and began to learn about the dangers of abusing credit. After being inspired by the writings of Ayn Rand, he decided he could do better. He quit his job, took out a small student loan, and enrolled in the MCSE program at Southern Methodist University.

Upon completing the program, he began working at Microsoft making much better money. The compensation structure at Microsoft, with its ESPP plan, stock options, stock awards, as well as just having more money each month, sparked his interest in personal finance. He began devouring personal finance books and resources online, and became aware of the opportunities he had missed to get his finances in order earlier, even when he wasn’t making much.

Bill has kept a personal blog for the last couple of years, touching on a range of disparate topics, from relationships to video games to economics and politics. He still considers himself a student of Ayn Rand’s philosophy Objectivism, though most orthodox Objectivists would object to some of his views.

Bill can be reached at Bill@queercents.com