Archive for September, 2011

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Creating a Blogging Dividend Stream

September 9th, 2011

Blogging Dividend Stream

During the first few months of blogging, I was constantly learning and searching for any articles about blogging.  On one particular blog, I read that a blogger was making big bucks ($5,000 in one week), but when she showed her Adsense account, her balance was zero.  Being a financial blogger, this raised some red flags for me!  Later the blogger posted an article about not having enough money to pay the taxes on his blogging income (which was well over $50,000).

This is when I decided to come up with a solution so that I wouldn’t spend all of the money that I hope to make blogging.  Luckily? I don’t have much money from blogging yet, but with what little I have, I decided to purchase stocks with dividends, then use those dividends to cover my expenses with blogging.  The idea is that I’m saving the money I make from blogging, and then buying dividends stocks (I only bought 1 stock, so far), then using the money from the dividend provided by the stocks to expand my online and offline businesses (mainly blogs at this point).  That way blogging doesn’t cost me any more money, and I’m growing a new financial asset at the same time.  Since I work full-time and don’t need to use the money from blogging for living expenses, it’s a relaxed pace with blogging for money, at least for me.

So now your probably wondering how much my dividend stream is per month?  Well (drum roll), it’s $40 dollars.  Doesn’t sound like much huh, but considering my normal monthly cost for blogging only runs about $13 per month, $40 is a windfall.

So now that I have my monthly expenses covered, I’m focusing on making the dividend stream grow, but at the same time I want to use some of the money from blogging to travel more.  So starting next year, I’m going to use at least 50% of the money I make from blogging to travel, and then I’m going to invest the other 50%  into stocks that have dividends.  Then each year I’m going to try to shift the percentage of blogging money that I use for travel down.  So two years from now, perhaps I’ll only use 45% to travel, then three years from now I’ll only use 40%, etc…

Blogging is a hobby that I never imaged could be as fulfilling both mentally and financially at the same time.  Blogging for me is a win-win, especially since I’m able to build up a dividend stream that covers the expenses of running the blog!

Bests,

MR

 

 

 

 

 

 

47 comments »

Posted in Dividends

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Multitasking And Keeping Your Family Happy

September 8th, 2011

This past labor day, I took my wife and kids out to a little place called Rinky Dink Family Fun Center.  Basically it was an activity place that has what seems like a ton of fun stuff for kids (and to a lesser extent adults too).  It has three putt-putt golf courses, an arcade, a go-kart course, bumper boats, a bouncy inflatable to jump in, a batting cage, food, ice cream, etc.  Pretty much it’s basically a kid’s paradise, but not for me.

 

putt putt golf

putt putt golf

 

I decided to take the latest book that I borrowed from the library along with my new laptop and was going to go to town and crank out a few posts for my blog.  Once I got there, my daughter convinced me otherwise (yeah, she’s got me wrapped around her little finger).  So, I bought 4 rounds of golf (at $6 per person) and we played putt-putt golf.  We all had a great time, and the kids, wife and I were heading to the arcade portion of the family center, when I noticed something very unusually.  There, in the room where they hold birthdays, tucked out-of-the-way sitting by a small table, was a man with a book and a laptop.  I thought, “he stole my idea“, but good for him!

As I stood there in disbelieve, a party of four young teenagers went over to him, asked for their dad’s credit card, then got in line for some food (ice cream I believe).  Apparently, he was multitasking by taking his teenage kid(s) along with some friend to the Family Fun Center.  You see, the Rinky Dink center has a pay one price and the guests can do anything that they want all day long, and I’m betting that is what the guy decided to do.  In my head I was clapping and congratulating him for living what I preach and multitasking to get more done.  He’s being a great dad, by letting his kids have a great time, while doing some serious work while keeps a close eye on them or at least know where they are at and what they are doing.

I was going to do the same idea as he was doing, but my daughter’s wish to have me participate in put-put golf, won out (and always will).  But in this guy’s case, his teenage kids and their friends would have a better time goofing off around in the park.  So for this man, he had a win-win scenario!  He got his work done and scored big points with his kids (and their friends).

I have to admit, I was dumbfounded to see my idea being practiced by another person.  And I thought I was so clever…  I believe that I just saw what I will be  doing and look like in another 3 to 5 years from now.  I heard the twilight theme sounds in my head as I left the future version of myself back at the Family Fun Center, very weird experience!

Do you multitask in cases like this one, effectively creating win-win scenarios for you and your family?

MR

 

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Posted in Entertainment

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Chase Freedom Credit Card Review – My Personal Take

September 7th, 2011

After reading some of the information about the Chase Freedom Credit Card (from an endless stream of mail from Chase), I decided to take the plunge and sign up for one.

Today, I’m going to give you an objective review, and my personal perspective on my findings on the Chase Freedom credit card.

What got me to sign up for the Chase Freedom Credit Card:

Well, basically it’s partially because it’s a rewards card with up to 5% off on some purchases during certain quarters of the year.  But another huge reason was that it offered an instant $300 cash reward just for making any purchase after receiving the card.  So to test that out, I bought a latte from McDonald’s and waited a month to see if I would still get my $300 cash reward points with such a small purchase.  Low and behold, once my statement came, at the bottom of page one and under the heading “CHASE FREEDOM:  ULTIMATE REWARDS SUMMARY“, there was my $300 dollars (in the format of 30,002 points).  The 2 in 30,002 was from the latte that I bought…

Chase Freedom Credit Card Details:

Let me say that this card is a bit different than any rewards card that I have ever dealt with before. First you get a flat 1% on all purchases!  But you can get a bonus 4% (making the total 5%, instead of just 1%) on certain certain purchases!

In many ways it makes you work a little for the bonus 5%reward percentage gains.  With my previous reward credit cards, I just used them and the reward percentage was a fixed number, no thinking or work  involved.  But with this card to get the 5% off, I have to activate that bonus feature each quarter (via the phone or website), and buy at those particular types of stores or purchase those particular activities that they offer.  In some ways this is a slight pain, but for bonus 5% off it’s worth it.

The Chase Freedom Credit Card materials do not explicitly say the deals will be offered quarterly, but it appears that is what they are basically doing.

The 5% bonus categories for 2011 is:

  • January thru March:           Grocery stores, Drugstores
  • April thru June:                    Home improvement stores, Lawn & garden stores, Home furnishings stores
  • July thru September:         Gas, Hotels, Airlines
  • October thru December:   Movie theaters, Dining, Department stores, Charitable organizations

Each quarter, once you have have spend $1,500  you then revert back to the 1% reward rate, including the bonus categories.  So according to the information sent out by Chase, if you only spent $1,500 in the bonus categories each quarter, at the end of the year you would get $300 back in cash.  Of course that number isn’t including any other spending per the year.  We calculate that with the amount of spending that we charge to the credit card (remember we pay our balance in full each month), we should get at least $600 per year from this card if we use the bonus feature!

Activation of the bonus points is easy, just click Activate now at the Chase site, all you need is the last for digit of your credit card.  Again, pretty easy, especially if you schedule it in a calender problem such as the Google Calendar App., Microsoft Outlook, or whatever calendar problem you prefer.  Then again, you could sign up for text messages from the same Chase Freedom website!

Testing the Chase Freedom Credit Card:

Now that I have my card, I decided to test out the customer service telephony service.  When I dialed in, mostly it was a string of voice menu options after voice menu options.  The navigation of the voice menu was simple though and the voice was pleasant and clear (I’m not sure how important that is, but it’s nice to know).

I was able to retrieve my current balance and my most recent transactions.  I was pleased, so I decided to experiment and make a payment online.  Surprisingly, I was able to do this entire transaction without talking to a customer representative.  This might be the first time that I’ve ever done a financial transaction over the phone that involved my checking account numbers without talking to someone on the other end.  It was so simple, that I got worried and stayed in the system until I found a place to talk to a customer rep.

I was worried about identity theft, especially since I was able to call into my account without a pin, and make a payment with my checking account number.  After I got hold of a representative (fairly quickly, it was 6pm on a Sunday), he said that only authorized phone numbers can make such transactions and since I registered the cards using the phone that I was one, it was authorized to do such transaction.  Whew, wish I known that upfront.  I’m sure it’s in the document somewhere, it’s just that I didn’t read it.

Well, that’s my personal experience with my new Chase Freedom credit card.

I hope you found this article interesting!

MR

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Posted in credit card

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Our Net Worth Increased By 455% In A Ten Year Timespan

September 6th, 2011

From the year 2001 to 2011, our net worth has increased by 455%!

401k History

401k Performance History

 

Okay, first let me saying that any increase in net worth really depends on the starting amount and the ending amount.  It’s easy to be amazed by a percentage like 455% until you consider the starting amount.

For instance let’s look at a few examples:

If my starting amount was $100, that would mean that I have $555 dollars today, not so impressive after all huh!

But if my starting balance was $100,000 then I would have $555,000, that’s a much nicer chunk of change!

What I used to calculate our net worth:

  • Roth IRA (didn’t exist back in 2001)
  • 401k Balance (not to shabby even in 2001)
  • Home Equity (This is the biggest chunk of my net worth)
  • Checking Account Balance (stayed the same, surprisingly grrr)
  • Brokerage Account (big jump, yay).

So as I’ve said before, we’ve never had a year where our household income has exceeded $100,000.  But since my wife and I are frugal, and I’m investing a decent amount of our discretionary income, we were able to grow our net worth nicely.  While I won’t reveal our actual net worth number, I will say that it’s over $100,000.

Here are some random statistics about our change in net worth from 2001 to 2011:

  • Around year 2003, I started a Roth IRA
  • While my home value is the largest percentage of my net worth, my brokerage account had the greatest percentage increase (over 1000%) during the past ten years.
  • The amount in my checking account has remained at $5,000, but that’s because I have my money working for me.
  • My 401k has increased nicely too, over a 10% annual return since 2001.  Back in the early days, I had some great appreciation in certain mutual funds.

We were able to do the above activities because we sacrificed and saved like we were still in college.  Back then, we only went on a real vacation every other year or so.  Our house is full of nice looking but mostly used furniture and hand me downs.  We always looked for opportunities and took advantage of great values when we recognized them.

Hopefully for the next ten years, we can increase our net worth by 200%, I don’t think 455% is sustainable and not a realistic goal for the next ten years.

Do you frequently calculate your net worth change from the past to the present?

Bests,

MR

 

17 comments »

Posted in Wealth

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Blogging To Travel More

September 5th, 2011

After reading blogs various blogs like Young and Thrifty and the Financial Samurai, I’ve decided that I would like to travel more.

Gulf of Mexico Sunset

Captiva Sunset

 

My problem is I have some pretty tight financial goals as is, so taking the extra money from my regular paycheck just won’t fly.  So instead, I’ve decided to use the money I make from blogging to start traveling to more exotic locations during the times that my family go on vacation.

Unfortunately, my blog currently doesn’t generate that kind of money.  After all, for the first five months, I only made $5.00 via Adsense.  Fortunately, every now and then I actually make $5 off of my site (not always, but occasionally).  It’s a far cry from when I first started, that’s for sure.

During my last vacation, I did a little blogging experiment where I would try to blog everyday while I was on vacation.  While I did fairly well, I did miss a few days.  Even with the few days that I missed, I would call the experiment a success.  It was a success because I was able to squeeze the articles in during slow times back a the house we were renting.

The nice thing about blogging is it’s not really location specific!  So I could be in Japan or some other far away place and nobody would know it as long as I kept publishing my articles.  From that sense blogging is the perfect job because it’s so mobile.

The first baby step that I’m going to tack towards my goal is to get passports at the end of next year for the entire family.  I hope to go to Hawaii next year, so I figured I would start the “acquiring the passport process” for the year following our Hawaii vacation.

After 2012, I would like to try traveling at least once a year to a different location in the world.  I hope I can generate enough income from this blog to fulfill that dream.

Time will tell,

MR

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Posted in Blogging

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