A Personal Finance Blog About Investing, Saving, Making Money, And Retiring Early
We’ve been doubling our efforts on the site portfolio and I personally have been working on some link building, updating content, and so on. After a few dreary months, it appears that our efforts are finally starting to pay off!
March Total: $142.72
We also brought in about $17.50 in link sales and $2.50 from Amazon (we sell books!). Overall I’m happy with the progress, and hope that some of our newer sites manage up get ranked and start up an income stream of their own.
Popularity: 45% [?]
There’s one expense in life that you can’t avoid, only minimize, and it is almost always the one thing that you’ll spend most of your disposable income on, housing. I’ve gone back and forth on the issue myself, talking it over with the fiance. Here’s the options we’ve come up with so far:
Buy
When I say I’d like to buy a house, I mean in an inexpensive area and without a mortgage. My constant aversion to debt really puts that out of the question, but there are some advantages to owning as well. Certainly the emotional satisfaction of owning a home isn’t to be underestimated. It would also likely be cheaper then renting over the long term, assuming my house didn’t fall apart and property taxes were reasonable.
Rent
Renting comes with its own unique set of pros and cons. On the plus side, rent remains fairly steady from year to year, and your costs are much more predictable. If a heater blows or your plumbing breaks, you just call the land lord instead of pulling out the check book. On the down side, you are somewhat putting money into a black hole, with no chance for appreciation. Still, this would be an ok option for me.
Build
This is an interesting idea that I’ve tossed around with my brother. The benefits of building include being able to make your home energy efficient and lower the future costs of maintenance. The downsides are many, including a much larger cost up front and various risks revolving around going over the costs of building and hiring contractors and so forth. If I did go this route, I’d likely by my own small house plans.
Popularity: 44% [?]
Ever since graduating from college, I’ve always seemed fixated on the future. Everything has been about where I’m going next, what goals I’m going to accomplish, what meaning I’ll find just around the corner. I’ve always wanted to live in the present, but my future always needs TLC. I adjust my budget, make predictions, run various scenarios. If I want to travel the world, for example, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of planning involved. So I’ll rapidly fire off some questions in my head:
It goes on and on like this for awhile till I scribble down my thoughts and file them away with the other lists I may or may not ever reference again. Even as I happilly plug away at my day job and freelance by night, ever building an advancing (and time consuming) portfolio of income, I’m constantly looking for ways to expand. Growth at any cost, it seems like, but that’s not where I should be.
So to remedy that I’ve been indulding myself in some fun spring activities. I’ve signed up for archery lessons, will be helping my brother establish bee hives at a nearby friend’s house, and playing paintball next month. I’m happy with the pace I have going so far, and should focus more on having fun in the present while still keeping an eye on my overaching goals.
Perhaps in the end I’m being irrational. Forsaking all else in the name of financial security probably isn’t the best idea I’ve ever had
Popularity: 44% [?]
There’s a reason frugality is often seen as a way of sacrificing your ability to do what you want, when you want, and saving money for emergency funds, investments, and increased earnings later on down the line. That’s because it is. Even if you pride yourself on doing low cost activities with that provide high fulfillment at little expense, you’re still (in most cases) looking at spending at least some money to do it. If you like hiking, you still have to put gas in the car to drive to the state park near you. If you prefer sports with friends, you’ll have to cough up the money for equipment upfront, and you’ll pay to keep that equipment maintained.
Now this isn’t to say that not all hobbies should be forsaken in the name of the almighty dollar, but rather that you should set a specified amount aside for your hobbies each month and stick to it. This will allow you to keep saving, keep investing, and building upon your earnings and letting compounding do your work while still enjoying yourself. This means that I can happily watch my emergency fund build up while I take archery lessons, play paintball, or even purchase wow game card codes (World of Warcraft, if you’re not familiar with the acronym.
So feel free to set aside some money for the things you like to do. It’ll make the journey to financial freedom that much easier.
Popularity: 46% [?]
It’s whispered about on blogs, referenced to endlessly on forums, and longed after by many a daydreamer stuck in the daily grind doldrums of their local cubicle. It’s championed by a number of individuals, some with good intentions at hear and others to sell snake oil to an unsuspecting public. Who wouldn’t want to be able to bring in money without any work involved, to be able to pursue whatever is they want without being bound by the daily need for money?
I know I do.
With that said, I’ll let you in on a little secret: passive income is out there. Unfortunately in order to obtain it you’re going to have to put in a lot of work or money initially. In my own adventures, here’s what I’ve discovered as successful sources of passive income. Note that nothing is truly passive, you’ll always have to do some maintenance or check portfolios, but about as passive as it gets (for me).
Marketing: My brother and I currently have a niche site portfolio consisting of about 16 sites. Some have managed a Google Pagerank, some not, but all manage to rank for their particular targeted keywords and bring in various amounts of visitors. These visitors are valuable to Google, as visitors click on the locally displayed Adsense, and earn money for me. These can earn up to $2.00 per click, though it varies wildly. Those that have PR are also valuable to other advertisers, and these income sources combine to make a significant amount of passive income. Whether I’m there to update the site or not, visitors still come and occasionally click.
Investing: You don’t get much more passive than shoving your money in an income-producing investment vehicle and watching the dividend check roll out. Unfortunately you’ll need 2 things if you expect to make passive money in the long run: money and patience. Investing in dividend paying stocks and ETFs can reward you with dividends every 1-6 months, but you have to be willing to take your lumps in the stock market. In addition you’ll need seed money, and that can take time to build up.
Everyone has their own version of “passive” income. Some claim real estate is a viable option as well, but it’s not something that interests me due to the legal hassles of finding and keeping tenants and the fact that most landlords borrow to obtain the property their renting. It’s not for me, but it could be for you. The sources above are my own way of earning extra cash without having to constantly put in effort. They could work for you too.
Popularity: 100% [?]
