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Wednesday, November 10, 2021

My Income Update As I Promised

I have been investing regularly.  I am new to investing, so I looked for someone that was knowledgeable in finances.  I wanted someone I felt I could trust.  There are a lot of youtubers out there that give advice and that is cool.  Know before you continue, that I am not giving financial advice.  I am giving my opinion.  I found someone that explains everything thoroughly, that actually shows you how to find stocks yourself.  I am skeptical people that say, "Buy this stock."  I always give away info, but I hardly ever find others that are like that.   Most people want to sell you something.  So, I wanted to tell you where I get my info, in case you want to check it out.  I follow Joseph Hogue CFA: Let's Talk Money 

Investments

I started investing using e-trade on July of 2021.  I started with $177.  Every paycheck, I buy more.  I started investing $150 biweekly and now I am investing $163 biweekly.  It has grown to $2,585.84.  I earn $257.44 in dividends yearly.  Not enough to live on, yet.

I have an Acorns account.  I have $10 deducted weekly from my checking account.  Five dollars goes into my investment account and $5 goes into an Acorns checking account.  I have roundups from three different debit cards go into the investment account.  I started with $5 and now I have $821.59 that is valued at $1012.60.   I get less than a dollar in dividends on a monthly basis.  If you would like to have investments on auto pilot, please consider joining through my link: Acorns

Coinbase is what I used to learn about crypto.  Most of what I have there I earned on the site.  They give you crypto just for watching videos about how it works and then answering questions.  I purchased $30 in FileCoin and $40 in Algorand which earns 4% APY.  That $70 is now $221.94.

Cashapp is another great way to earn crypto.  You can open a free account and you can send or receive money from anyone that also has a cashapp account.  Get the free debit card and earn crypto when you use your card to make your purchases.  You'll have to go on the app to see what opportunities they have.  I now have $15.58 in crypto.  I also bought $10 in Tesla stock that is now $44.04 because they offer fractional purchases of stocks.  Yay!

I also have a 403b which is now at $22,000 +.  I started contributing 30% this year, but I stopped.  My husband was in a terrible car accident and so I had to buy a car.  We decided on a black Nissan Rogue.  I love it!  I paid off my car insurance because I hate having monthly bills.  I do have a car note.  I will be working on paying that off.  

I have additional checking, savings and an IRA account.  You know how bank interest goes.  You earn spare change.    

Blogging income:

I currently have $39.54 sitting in my Adense account.  I have to hit $100 before I can get a direct deposit to my checking account.  Yay!!!

I think that is everything except for the college funds I have for my grandchildren.  That money doesn't belong to me, so I am not counting it.  

Oh and I gave my son $5000 towards the purchase of his new home.  I will be giving $5000 to each of my children that haven't purchased their first homes.  I want them to be successful.  I would rather sow into their lives now, then when I'm gone.  I am sure there are people out there that will have a problem with that, but I said what I said.  I will be setting up a trust in the future, so there is that.  

Want to share your income update?  Share it in the comments or post it on your IG, YouTube or TikTok account and put your links in the comments!

I look forward to your content.  




How I Am Building Passive Income Streams

I have always sung the praises of passive income. As a blogger I enjoyed a lot of passive income thanks to Adsense, affiliate marketing, sponsorships and more. Unfortunately, I stopped blogging. I burned out. Once I stopped blogging, the traffic stopped since I wasn't advertising anywhere and the passive income decreased to $0! I was so tired of being isolated, I decided to venture into my own personal shopping business. I loved shopping and found a way to make money from it. That didn't solve the problem of isolation, so I got a 9-5. It has been four years since I started this job in the mental health field. I have earned money that I have started investing, but this job has done one thing. 

It has reminded me why I don't want to be in the rat race! 

It is currently 11:49 pm. I have spent three hours writing notes. I won't get paid for those 3 hours. My son has a stomach virus and I will have to go into the office tomorrow. That makes me really angry. I want to be home with him, not at work worrying about him. I would like to put an angey emoji here to punctuate my anger, but I am typing on my laptop not my iPhone. 8-( 

Thanks 9-5 for these life lessons. 

I will return to blogging and vlogging to earn passive income to invest. I don't ever want to work a 9-5 again. Seriously, passive income is the best. I used to get up in the morning excited to check my accounts to see how much I earned while I slept! The other perk is not having to be stuck in an office. Here is another one that I hate. Being told when you can eat lunch or if and when you can take vacation when you want to. The worst may be what I am experiencing right now, not being able to stay home with my sick son. 

I used to love my job. I probably would have stuck it out until my retirement. Unfortunately, my services are Medicaid billable. That means endless paperwork, data reports and less time helping people. I've had to do the same paperwork 6 times over the past two months because the state keeps changing what they want. That has made the supervisors nuts and it always trickles down to the employees. My workplace is now a horrible space and we used to be really close, like a family. My workplace bestie and I try to stay positive and try everything under the sun to not get sucked into the negative vibe. We currently are using aromatherapy, an indoor fountain, seasonal decorations and now Christmas music to not get in a mood. 

All of that can be solved just by having passive income. I have invested in the stock market. I am currently earning $257.44 annually from my e-trade account. It takes a lot of money to earn at least $1000 a month in dividends. I earn about $1 a month from my other investment account and over $150 a month from my 403b. My crypto isn't earning anything significant either. So, I spoke to my husband and we're going to look at some properties to buy one to turn into an Airbnb rental in Puerto Rico. 

While I get all of this up and running, I am going to get a second job as an OPWDD broker. My son has autism and we are in the process of getting the services he needs. Turns out that they are in need of bilingual brokers. The job is per diem, but it pays twice what my 9-5 pays! I figure if I can do it for a year, it can help me get to my goals sooner. Who knows, if I really enjoy it I might just leave my 9-5. I don't need a job with medical insurance because my husband provides the family with that. 

The only passive income that doesn't take money so far is blogging.  It is true that it takes money to make money.  That doesn't mean I am going to give up.  Even if I have to work two jobs for a year, I will reach my goals.  Here are the passive income streams I have or am planning on buying soon.  They all need a lot of money to work.  I am here for it!
  
Passive Income Streams

1.  Dividends from stocks, but I need more money to buy more stocks because it isn't enough to live on.
2.  Blogging can bring earnings through Adense, blogger sponsorships and more. I'm here to do it!
3.  Airbnb rental that we need to be able to pay for in case we don't rent it right away.
4.  Crypto also needs money to be invested.  
5.  I currently own a two family house, but it needs repairs before I can rent out one side.  The main issue is the previous owner didn't construct two separate water pumps.  That means one side pays for all the water the other tenant uses!  That is nuts.  For years, I was paying a ridiculous amount of money to the electric company and it was because I paid for the water every time the tenant ran the washer, dishwasher, showered or flushed the toilet! [Insert angry emoji here.]

After all I shared, tell me.  Do you want to build some passive income?  How do you plan to do it?  What will you avoid?  Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading! ;)