Creating a Blogging Dividend Stream

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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 thoughts on “Creating a Blogging Dividend Stream”

  1. Interesting how you try to make your expenses pay for themselves. I did more simple math advertising income – expenses + taxes = money for my new bike.

    I never planned on making any money blogging so it’s all windfall in my eyes. I don’t know why I don’t mentally want to treat it more like a business.

    • I know exactly what you mean! While I don’t make a lot of money with blogging, what I do make is a surprise!

      Making the blog pay for itself seemed like an easy goal (and it was, so far). Now I want to continue that trend and use the money to expand my online activities and pay for bigger and better vacations 🙂

  2. I like your idea of using blogging income to purchase dividend stocks. That is awesome that you have your expenses covered like that. What stock have you purchased?

  3. I really like this idea. I am beginning to think about what I would do with the money if/when I start making money. Investing is one of my options as well as travel. I have also thought about re-investing it into my site like a giveaway to continue to build the site.

    • I did buy a new laptop that I’m just going to use for blogging. But I justified it by telling myself that I’m paying for it via the dividends…

      The dividends give me a small budget but I don’t think I need much to expand my online activities.

  5. Don- Love this idea! I thought you were going to talk about Adsense payouts being similar to dividend payouts, but your story is much better!

    I also re-invest most of my earnings into my blog. As earnings go up, the amount I re-invest will hopefully become smaller so that I can develop some nice little investments.

    • Sounds like a great idea 🙂

      I’m hoping next year I can double the amount that I get now. Then I could travel a bit more! A bonus to using the money to travel would mean that I would have more interesting new stuff to write about 🙂

  6. This is a great idea. I didn’t think of that. While I try to have the money I make from blogging cover my blogging expenses I didn’t think of using it to invest- at least not until I made big bucks. I will definitely look into this option more.

    • It just makes sense to me. The first year tax consequence was offset by losses in some old investments. Taxes will be a huge hurdle that I have to clear somehow in the future (this year, I’m okay though).

  7. I like the simplicity and effectiveness of your dividend plan. It’s nice to use all the of blogging income (not that I have seen any) for fun, knowing that expenses and taxes are covered by passive income.

  8. I love your idea of using blog income to purchase dividend stocks. $40/month is great and will keep growing over time too. I’m not looking forward to the next tax day…

    • Yeah, taxes bite a bit. I’m okay this year, but next year I’ll have to come up with a new plan. I’ve discovered that these past few years, I really like dividends 🙂

  12. Great idea! I’ve been using my blogging income to acquire other profitable websites and blogs. The dividends thing is a great idea. Thanks!

  14. Sounds like a great plan! The current recession has helped many people expand their options and really get creative about ways to generate revenue, savings, and generally manage their finances.

  15. Anyone here blog full time for a living?
    I always wondered how much can really be made from a popular blog.

    I started my blog as a personal pet project, but now I’m starting to treat it more like a business. Not even trying to make a profit, just hoping to break even first on the money I spent hiring a company to design the site.

    I am just wondering in the end if all of it is worth it. Doesn’t seem like too many people making anything significant blogging except for the select few.

    • Obviously, I don’t… But the competitive side of me has been taking over and I to a small extent I equate blogging success with financial success.

      That said, I really just started blogging to get some exposure to the web as a hobby… It’s been fun 🙂

  16. I have done the same thing, but you have probably already suspected this since our investment strategies are so similar. It’s nice to not have to depend on advertising deals in order to pay for blogging expenses. Good post!

    • I imagined so 🙂 It’s nice to have like-minded bloggers like you and Kris to confirm my thoughts. Mostly, we all agree in ideology and practice on financial/investing issues.

      It’s good to see you back!!! 🙂

  17. Is there a minimum amount fo money to put into a blog to get some money out? I quit Adsense when they froze my account for no reason. I’d like to eventually make some money, though my blog is fun for me.

  18. I like your business model of having your blogs generate income that is reinvested back into your blog. I am looking at building my blog for the long-term and hopefully it will be generating some cash flow.

    • Hi Paul,

      I’m going to stick with my model, but it’s slow going 🙂

      Hopefully someday, it will generate enough in dividends to fund other businesses. Well see

  19. Sounds like a great plan MR! More travel is always a good thing. And I like that idea of using dividend income to cover blog expenses, smart! -Sydney

    • Thanks Sydney!

      In the short term, I’m happy, I make enough with the dividends to cover minimal expenses with my blog, and someday I hope to generate enough from more traveling.

  20. That is an awesome idea. I lump my blog money in with the rest of my money, but creating an ongoing income stream is a much better idea.

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