Sunday, September 5, 2021

My retirement from this blog

     Photo by susancurrydesign

Hello friends, it’s time to say goodbye for now.  I’m going to retire… from this blog.  

I entered the workforce with my first full time job in 2008, just as the economy was tanking. I’ve always held part time jobs and was used to doing side hustles for extra income.  The problem was that I was never used to saving any money.  I spent every dollar that I ever made, often times on credit.  Money just slipped through my fingers.  I had zero experience with saving money, let alone investing.  

As the economy started improving in 2009, I became hyper focused on relentlessly improving our own financial situation.  I checked out every personal finance book I could get my hands on at the library.  I read personal finance blogs and message forums.  I started credit card points hacking.  After a while I felt like I knew enough to not only implement what I learned on our own finances, but also enough to share this information with others.

I first started this blog in 2012 to help track our financial progress over time.  When my friends or family asked me financial questions or advice, I could direct them to this site as a resource.  I’ve never claimed to be a professional financial advisor and I know that the information I’ve provided may not be for everyone’s individual needs and purposes.  I think I can do a decent job explaining financial concepts.  I’ve enjoyed blogging these past 9 years.  We’ve reached many of our financial goals and now it’s time for us to move on to our next journey.

There are so many great financial resources. There are financial tools, forums, bloggers, podcasts and groups to participate in to help you succeed.  Here is a list of my favorite resources:

I track all of my spending with Mint and ClearCheckbook.  I track all of our investments with Personal Capital.


When I need motivation on how to live a frugal and purposeful life, I go to Mr. Money Mustache.  I get my motivation through the psychology and research provided by James Clear.  The Collaborative Fund has a great blog on the psychology of money.  When I need to learn more about travel hacking, I go to Flyertalk, The Frequent MilerDoctor of Credit, and the Reddit churning subreddit. When I need a good price on something, I go to Slickdeals.  Bogleheads has a great community of investors. 

My favorite financial podcasts are ChooseFI and Afford Anything.  These podcasts also have great Facebook groups worth joining.


As I bow out of this blog, I would like to leave this quote by Thomas Mitchell:


"One of the best secrets of a happy life is the art of extracting comfort and sweetness from every circumstance...


People are always looking for happiness at some future time and in some new thing, or some new set of circumstances, in possession of which they some day expect to find themselves. But the fact is, if happiness is not found now, where we are, and as we are, there is little chance of it ever being found. There is a great deal more happiness around us day by day than we have the sense or power to seek and find.


If we are to cultivate the art of living, we should cultivate the art of extracting sweetness and comfort out of everything, as the bee goes from flower to flower in search of honey."


Thank you for being a part of our financial journey.  I wish you the best on your financial journey!


Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Side hustles August 2021

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 

Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Welcome to August!  Did you have a good August?

The big financial update for us is that we have sold our rental property for $495,000.  We’ve had a good run since we purchased the rental property in 2015 for $305,000.  We’ve enjoyed consistent monthly income, tax benefits, and home value appreciation.  This last year has confirmed that we aren’t cut out for being landlords.  We got lucky that the hot real estate market allowed us to quickly sell at a good price.  Real estate prices are likely going to rise over time, but I don’t think we will regret our decision to sell.  It’s been a good financial experiment and we are ready to move on.

Moving forward, we’d rather invest the time and energy towards simpler investments such as index funds.  I’d also much rather spend my free time with my family instead of dealing with handymen and plumbers and tenant issues.  While we will be getting hit with a huge tax bill, it will be offset by an inflated sale price due to the housing boom and hot real estate market. 

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of August. 

Cash Back 

On 8.10, I received a $39 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.  This was for their Peloton membership credit benefit, covering membership dues up to $120 until the end of the year. On 8.16, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 8.23, I received a $14 statement credit on my Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card from Chase Offers. This was 5% cash back on purchases made at Petsmart. 


Rental Income

On 8.5, we received a net profit of $600 from our rental property.  This was a pro rated rent amount due to the move out of our tenants and the sale of our rental property.  

Survey Income 

On 8.2, I received a $20 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey.

On 8.3, I received a $5 Amazon gift card from The Vision Council for completing a survey.

On 8.10, I received $30 worth of Amazon gift card from MNOW for completing surveys.

On 8.12, I received $20 worth of Amazon gift card from MNOW for completing surveys.

On 8.17, I received a $100 Amazon gift card from M-Panels for completing a survey. 

On 8.17, I received a $20 Amazon gift card from Evolve Medical for completing a survey. 

On 8.23, I received another $20 Amazon gift card from Evolve Medical for completing a survey. 

On 8.28, I received a $10 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey.

On 8.28, I received a $35 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey.

On 8.31, I received $30 worth of Amazon gift card from MNOW for completing surveys.

On 8.31, I received a $50 check from My Impact Network for completing surveys.


Website Income

On 8.10, I received A $76 PayPal payment from ROI High for website income. Thank you for your support. 


Miscellaneous Income

On 8.21, I received a $3 Amazon gift card from MyPoints.  This company offers points for clicking on advertisements through emails, offers a shopping portal as well as completing random surveys.

On 8.27, I received a $15 statement credit on my Chase checking account as a wire fee reversal. After receiving a wire transfer, our account was hit with a wire transfer fee of $15.  I called Chase and nicely asked a rep if they could reverse the fee.  Since we are long term customers with Chase Bank, the rep was kind enough to reverse the fee. 

Real Estate Income

On 8.26, we received a $251,763.52 wire transfer from the sale of our rental property.  This profit amount is after all closing costs, fees, some tax withholding and rental property mortgage payoff.  


Monthly Totals:

We earned $63 from cash back income
We earned $600 from rental income

We earned $340 for completing online surveys

We earned $18 from miscellaneous income

We earned $251,763.52 from the sale of our rental property


All of this totals $252,784.52 from our side hustles for the month of August !  This amount by far is the biggest side hustle income we’ve ever had, thanks mostly to good luck with timing the real estate market.  This amount officially pushes our cash and investment balance to over $1 million.  We will be working to slowly invest our new funds by dollar cost averaging into the stock market.  Keep hustling my friends.

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Side hustles July 2021

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 

Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Welcome to August!  Did you have a good July?  

Earlier in the month, we participated in lots of events - two weddings, a few family gatherings, some kid birthday parties and just hanging out with friends.  It was a beautiful time here with practically zero COVID-19 cases.  Things almost felt “normal” again.  Unfortunately things may change with the new coronavirus Delta variant infecting more and more people.  I don’t expect another shutdown is going to happen, but social distancing and mask mandates are going to happen.

The big financial update for us is that we have sold our rental property!  We’ve had a good run since we purchased the rental property in 2015.  We’ve enjoyed consistent monthly income, tax benefits, and home value appreciation.  This last year has confirmed that we aren’t cut out for being landlords.  It’s been a good financial experiment while it lasted.  We do not see ourselves purchasing another rental property in the future.  

Moving forward, we’d rather invest the time and energy towards simpler investments such as index funds.  I’d also much rather spend my free time with my family instead of dealing with handymen and plumbers and tenant issues.  While we will be getting hit with a huge tax bill, it will be offset by an inflated sale price due to the housing boom and hot real estate market.  Our agent listed our rental property and already received offers within a few weeks.  We’ve accepted an offer and have less than 30 days until closing!    

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of July. 

Cash Back 

On 7.1, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her Chase Freedom credit card from Chase Offers. This was for $10 cash back on purchases of $20 or more made online. 

On 7.5, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 7.9, I received a $39 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.  This was for their Peloton membership credit benefit, covering membership dues up to $120 until the end of the year.

On 7.10, my wife received a $50 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $50 back on purchases made at Saks Fifth Avenue of $50 or more. 

On 7.19, my wife received a $25 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card from AMEX Offers. This was for $25 back on purchases of $99 or more for HBO Max. 

On 7.24, I received a $0.21 cash back statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash business credit card. 

On 7.27, my wife received a $179 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card from AMEX Offers. This was for $179 cash back on a CLEAR membership, which is a registered traveler program that allows members to quickly verify their identities at touch-less, biometric security kiosks at the airport. 


Rental Income

On 7.5, we received a net profit of $740 from our rental property.  All back due rent has been paid back!  

Survey Income

On 7.1, I received a $35 Amazon gift card from MNOW for completing a survey.

On 7.7, I received a $195 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 7.9, I received a $39 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.  This was for their Peloton credit benefit for my wife’s Peloton account.  

On 7.11, my wife received a $15 Gap gift card for completing a survey from Gap.

On 7.20, I received a $25 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 7.26, I received a $50 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 7.27, I received a $60 direct deposit from GLG for completing a survey. 


Monthly Totals:

We earned $313.21 from cash back income
We earned $740 from rental income

We earned $419 for completing online surveys


All of this totals $1,427.21 from our side hustles for the month of July!  Keep hustling and investing my friends!

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Over 750K invested

Today, our investment accounts have now hit the biggest financial milestone to date: surpassing $750,000 in value!  

Our investment accounts include money in our 401Ks, Roth IRAs, taxable accounts, HSA and 529.  Index fund investing allows us to diversify our portfolio and keep our costs very low.  This does not include money in our checking accounts, savings accounts, home equity or rental property equity.

The US stock market has hit new all time highs, and so has our investment account balances.  The US market has returned over 37% over the past year, and over 18% just in 2021.  There is a lot of positive news out there.  Big corporations have never been more profitable.  Retail sales are up.  Consumer spending is up.  The travel industry has opened up.  And while there are still many people and families hit hard by the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the stock market is not the economy.  This new highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus does not seem to be discouraging investors.

Sadly, our chance to squash COVID-19 completely may be behind us.  Blame it on the anti-vaxxers.  All we can do now is continue to practice good hygiene, wear masks and social distance when appropriate.  Life, and the economy, moves on.

We are quickly moving towards a 70/30 asset allocation, which is likely where we will hold at long term.  This portfolio will help us stay invested during stock market rallies, corrections and even crashes.  I’ve learned the hard way that my market timing skills are poor.

Here is a look back at the timeline of our previous investment milestones:

July 2010: I opened up my first Roth IRA investment account.

June 2, 2014: 100K

March 12, 2016: 200K

June 5, 2017: 300K

July 15, 2018: 400K 

April 16, 2019: 450K

November 5, 2019: 500K

January 18, 2020: 550K

November 7, 2020: 600K

January 12, 2021: 650K

April 7, 2021: 700K

July 24, 2021: 750K

We’ve been investing for over 10 years now.  Keep saving and investing my friends!


Thursday, July 1, 2021

Side hustles June 2021

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 


Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Welcome to July!  Did you have a good June?  It’s been so hot lately that we have mostly been staying indoors.  To decorate our walls, we’ve purchased some blank canvases from the art store and had our kids paint them!  

We celebrated our son’s 6th birthday this month.  We rented out the local children’s museum so we could have a private event with close friends and our son’s school classmates.  It was a ton of fun, and all guests wore masks during the event.  

Both of our kids are growing so fast.  They are definitely one of our biggest motivators for pursuing financial freedom.  

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of June. 

Cash Back 

On 6.11, received a $25 statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash business credit card from AMEX Offers. This was for $25 cash back on purchases over $500. 

On 6.14 my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 6.16, my wife received a $50 statement credit on her Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. This was for free $50 statement credits towards purchases made at grocery stores. 

On 6.18 my wife received a $30 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $30 off $30 on purchases made with PayPal checkout. 

On 6.26, I received a $21.14 cash back statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash business credit card. 


Rental Income

On 6.5, we received a net profit of $1480 from our rental property.  The tenants are back on track paying rent.

Survey Income

On 6.9, I received a $5 Amazon gift card from The Vision Council for completing a survey.

On 6.8, I received a $40 direct deposit from GLG Survey for completing a survey. 

On 6.10, I received a $35 Amazon gift card from M-Panels for completing a survey. 

On 6.11, I received a $30 Amazon gift card from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 6.21, I received a $25 Amazon gift card from M-Panels for completing a survey.

On 6.25, my wife received a $10 Amazon gift card for completing a survey through Peloton.

On 6.30, I received a $5 Amazon gift card from The Vision Council for completing a survey.


Monthly Totals:

We earned $136.14 from cash back income

We earned $1480 from rental income

We earned $150 for completing online surveys


All of this totals $1,766.14 from our side hustles for the month of June!  Our investment journey continues to be slow and boring.  Keep saving and investing my friends!

Saturday, June 26, 2021

401K in my 401K

I just hit a new major financial milestone: 401K in my 401K!  This new milestone comes from 10 years worth of contributions and investment returns.  When I first started to invest in my 401K, I started with a 3% contribution per paycheck.  Then I slowly increased my contributions by 1% every few months.  I was finally able to start maxing out my contributions about 7 years ago. 

The low rate of return is due to a conservative asset allocation.  About 50% of the portfolio is currently sitting in a stable value fund earning a guaranteed 2%.  As I’ve shared before, back in late February 2020 and then in early March 2020 I sold a majority portion of my 401K into a stable value fund with a guaranteed rate of return of 2.5% (the rate has dropped down to 2% now).  I watched as the stock market continued to tank and I thought that I was so smart for correctly timing the market. 


Then when the stock market started roaring back in late March 2020, I didn’t have the guts to put my entire balance back into my stock market funds.  I sat on the sidelines with this huge stable value fund balance.  Market timing is extremely difficult because you need to perfectly time 2 different transactions: when to sell and when to buy.  I’ve been dollar cost averaging the stable value fund back into a total market fund over the last year.  Thankfully, we didn’t fiddle with our other accounts too much during this time. 


If I had simply just held on to my funds without selling in 2020, my account value would have been MUCH higher by now (probably over $180,000 higher!) due to a ~60% increase in the US stock market since late March 2020.  I wasn’t able to time the market properly and missed out on some huge gains.  Oops - an expensive lesson learned.  The stock market crash last year taught me that my risk tolerance wasn’t as high as I thought it was (previously 90/10).  Our overall portfolio (IRA, taxable, HSA) is now 70% stocks and 30% bonds - and will probably stay that way moving forward. 


My current new 401K contributions consist of:

71% Fidelity S&P 500 Index Fund (FXAIX) 

6% Fidelity Mid Cap Index (FSMDX) 

13% Vanguard Small Cap Growth Index (VSGAX) 

10% Vanguard Health Care Index (VHCIX)


My wife is also maxing out her 401K with international stock market funds to further diversify our investments.  We are Coast FI now but will continue to invest towards our financial freedom.  Here is the Fioneers’ definition of Coast FI:


“Coast FI is when someone already has enough invested in their retirement accounts that would grow to provide them with a comfortable traditional retirement. They wouldn’t need to add another dollar. If someone has achieved Coast FI, it means that they only need to cover their actual costs of living with active income.”  


You can find a great Coast FI calculator here.  How is your financial progress?  Keep investing my friends.

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Side hustles May 2021

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 

Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Just a random picture of our dog

Welcome to June!  Did you have a good May?  We are about half way through 2021 already.  Time sure does fly doesn’t it?  We continue to work hard, make money, and try to have fun along the way.  Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of May. 

Cash Back 

On 5.11 my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 5.11, my wife received a $20 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card from AMEX Offers. This was for $20 back on $100+ purchases made at Wayfair. We bought some furniture. 

On 5.14, my wife received a $30 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $30 off $30 on purchases made with PayPal checkout. 

On 5.22, I received a $4.20 cash back statement credit on my Citibank ThankYou Preferred credit card.

On 5.23, I received a $0.18 cash back statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash Business credit card. 

On 5.24, I received a $0.41 cash back statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash Business credit card.

On 5.29, my wife received a $22.63 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for their Saks Fifth Avenue credit, which offers up to $100 ($50 per 6 months) credit on purchases made at Saks. 

On 5.31, I received a $25 statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash business credit card from AMEX Offers. This was for $25 cash back on purchases over $500. 


Rental Income

We did not receive any rental income this month because our tenants are currently having financial difficulty.  We are giving them some time to get back on better financial footing.  The pandemic has been hard on their income streams.  This is one of the risks of rental property investing - consistent income is not guaranteed.

Survey Income

On 5.7, I received a $5 Amazon gift card from The Vision Council for completing a survey.

On 5.17, I received a $30 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey.

On 5.18, I received a $40 virtual Visa credit card from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey.

On 5.19, I received a $35 virtual Visa credit card from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey.

On 5.24, my wife received a $25 Gap gift card for completing a survey through Gap.  

On 5.26, I received a $50 direct deposit from GLG Survey for completing a survey. 


Miscellaneous Income

On 5.6, I received a $1 Amazon gift card from MyPoints. 

On 5.14, I received a cash payment of $1.01 for recycling a small bag of plastic water bottles and aluminum beer cans.  


Monthly Totals:

We earned $112.42 from cash back income

We earned $185 for completing online surveys

We earned $2.01 of miscellaneous income

We earned $20 of sales income


All of this totals $319.43 from our side hustles for the month of May!  We took a hit to our side hustle this month due to missed rental income payment.  With a large emergency fund, we are not stressing about this missing income yet.  That may change in the future.  For now we continue to enjoy our journey towards financial freedom.  Our finances and investments are automated.  And we keep growing our points and miles stash in anticipation of future international travel.  Keep hustling!  


Saturday, May 1, 2021

Side hustles April 2021

 The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 

Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Welcome to May!  Did you have a good April?  

It has been a busy few months but our home renovation is finally complete!  No more sharing one single sink or toilet for the whole house.  No more doing dishes in the bathroom sink, or having the whole family sleep in a single bed.  We’ve used this opportunity to purge a bunch of unused items such as clothing, furniture, toys, dishes, etc.  We’ve been slowly selling, donating and trashing items over the last few months.  It feels great to reduce clutter.

We’ve been able to take our kids out to more fun places as they continue to open up (with covid safety protocols).  We were super excited to visit the Natural History Museum again.  At low levels of capacity, we felt like we had the whole museum to ourselves.  We’ve also been able to visit the Los Angeles Zoo, Aquarium of the Pacific, and the La Habra Children’s Museum.  

The weather has been great lately.  It’s been perfect for going on walks around the neighborhood.  

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of April. 

Cash Back 

On 4.4, I redeemed 670 Citibank ThankYou points towards an Amazon purchase of $5.36.  While this wasn’t the best value use of ThankYou points, we still got to save money.  We are currently not collecting ThankYou points so we did not have much use to hold onto these points long term.

On 4.1, I received $10.53 from the Mr. Rebates cash back portal. 

On 4.6, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 4.6, my wife received a $30 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $30 off $30 on purchases made with PayPal checkout. 

On 4.22, I received a $29.77 statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash Business credit card. 

On 4.28, I received a $6 statement credit on my Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card from Chase Offers. This was for 10% cash back on purchases made at Petco. 


Rental Income

On 4.5, we received a net profit of $740 from our rental property.  

Survey Income

On 4.5, I received a $25 PayPal deposit from GLocal Rewards for completing a survey.

On 4.5, I received a $25 DoorDash gift card from Evolve Medical for completing a survey.

On 4.6, my wife received a $25 Gap gift card from Gap Inc. Insiders for completing a survey.

On 4.6, I received a $25 check from E-Rewards Medical for completing a survey. 

On 4.7, I received a $5 Amazon gift card from The Vision Council for completing a survey.

On 4.13, I received a $15 check from M3 Global Research for completing a survey. 

On 4.14, I received a $30 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 4.17, I received a $25 Amazon gift card from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 4.20, I received a $110 Amazon gift card from M-Panels for completing a survey.

On 4.27, I received a $25 Amazon gift card from M3 Global Research for completing a survey. 


Miscellaneous Income

On 4.16, I received a cash payment of $4.62 for recycling a few bags of plastic water bottles and glass beer bottles.  We’ve never been paid for recycling before - just never thought it would be worth trying.  With our home renovations underway, we’ve been drinking water from plastic bottles and thought we would give paid recycling a try instead of our usual city recycling bin pick up.


Sales income

On 4.30, my wife received $20 cash for selling a sleeping pack through Facebook Marketplace. 


Monthly Totals:

We earned $91.66 from cash back income
We earned $740 from rental income

We earned $310 for completing online surveys

We earned $4.62 of miscellaneous income

We earned $20 of sales income


All of this totals $1,166.28 from our side hustles for the month of April!  


Our home remodel has been our biggest splurge in the last 8 years.  We love our neighborhood and don’t see ourselves moving anytime soon.  Hustling for more income on the side helps us fund our splurges - as well as our financial freedom.  Keep hustling my friends. 

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Over 700K invested

Today, our investment accounts have now hit the biggest financial milestone to date: surpassing $700,000 in value!  

Our investment accounts include money in our 401Ks, Roth IRAs, taxable accounts, HSA and 529.  Index fund investing allows us to diversify our portfolio and keep our costs very low.  This does not include money in our checking accounts, savings accounts, home equity or rental property equity.

It’s both incredible and slightly scary how well the stock market is doing.  There are great reasons for why the market will continue to soar.  There are equally good reasons for why the market is frothy and will crash soon.  The current market sentiment is that the economy will continue to improve.  Covid deaths are declining, millions are getting their covid vaccines, businesses are re-opening, and consumer confidence is up.  There is pent up demand to travel, visit amusement parks, attend sporting events and spend money.  This is great for the economy and investors believe the economy will continue to boom.  

We are conservatively riding this wild stock market.  At this time, we are more comfortable with less risk of financial loss than missing out on bigger financial gains.  Being too conservative has risks though - I don’t even want to think about how much potential upside we have missed out on!  Our portfolio is currently sitting at about 67% stocks and 33% bonds and slowly moving towards a 70/30 asset allocation.  

The stock market can continue to go up or it can sharply pull back.  No one can really predict the future.  Our asset allocation keeps us invested and helps us sleep well at night.  

Here is a look back at the timeline of our previous investment milestones:

July 2010: I opened up my first Roth IRA investment account.

June 2, 2014: 100K

March 12, 2016: 200K

June 5, 2017: 300K

July 15, 2018: 400K 

April 16, 2019: 450K

November 5, 2019: 500K

January 18, 2020: 550K

November 7, 2020: 600K

January 12, 2021: 650K

April 7, 2021: 700K

We continue to hit new financial milestones, with each milestone coming sooner than the one before it.  The power of compounding is truly incredible.  We are looking forward to reaching financial freedom.  Keep investing my friends.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Side hustles March 2021

The great thing about doing side hustles to generate extra income is that you can hustle on your own terms.  The more hard work, time, and creative effort you put in, the more extra money you can make.  You can hustle as little or as much as you want, whenever you want.  It’s your extra money, and you can choose how you want to spend it.  Instead of focusing on what ideas don’t apply to you, try focusing on different side hustle ideas that you can implement to work for your situation. 


Once a month (usually on the 1st), I like to post a short summary of our personal and financial situation for the previous month.  While I don’t often post articles, I am committed to documenting all of my side hustle income.  Here I’ll share some of what’s been going on with our lives and our side hustles.  


Welcome to April!  Did you have a good March?  With our home remodel project still underway, things have been very hectic around the house.  The crew has been continuing to work 6 days a week, 6 to 8 hours a day.  We have needed to move most of our furniture and household items into the garage, which looks like a hoarder’s living space now.  For a week, our family needed to all sleep in the same bed.  The project is estimated to be complete in about 2 to 3 weeks.

Our kids have been pretty flexible with all the new changes going on at home, especially the need to be away from the home for hours at a time.  We’ve taken plenty of trips to local playgrounds.  We’ve taken plenty of walks around the neighborhood.

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach has recently reopened the indoor exhibits with safety protocols such as mask mandates and limited capacity.  Visiting the aquarium has become a weekly or bi-weekly activity for our family.

We recently visited Mother’s Beach and found it a great place to take the kids.  The water is shallow here and the waves are very gentle.  The sand is clean.  There is a fun playground here as well as many accessible public bathrooms and beach showers.

Here’s our monthly summary of side income that we have generated in the previous month of March. 

Cash Back 

On 3.1, I received a $62.29 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. This was for getting gas, which qualifies as a Chase Travel credit eligible purchase.  This card is essentially providing us with $300 worth of free gas each year. 

On 3.1, my wife received a $30 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $30 off $30 on purchases made with PayPal checkout in February. 

On 3.4, I received $50 in statement credits ($25 x 2) on my AMEX SimplyCash Business card. This was for two separate purchases of greater than $500 for our kids’ school tuition. 

On 3.4, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This card offers a $10 dining credit every month on select restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory or Shake Shack.

On 3.5, my wife received a $30 statement credit on her AMEX Platinum card. This was for $30 off $30 on purchases made with PayPal checkout.

On 3.7, I received an $18.06 statement credit on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card from the Chase Travel Credit benefit.  This was for a purchase made at a gas station. We have already used up the $300 Chase Travel Credit this year. It was nice to have $300 worth of gas covered by Chase. 

On 3.15, my wife received a $10 statement credit on her AMEX Gold credit card.  This was for the AMEX Gold dining credit - $10 off $10 spent at Cheesecake Factory.

On 3.21, I redeemed 4,786 Citibank ThankYou points towards an Amazon purchase of $38.29.  While this wasn’t the best value use of ThankYou points, we still got to save money.  We are currently not collecting ThankYou points so we did not have much use to hold onto these points long term.

On 3.22, I received a $29.11 statement credit on my AMEX SimplyCash Business card as automatic monthly cash back deposit. 


Rental Income

On 3.5, we received a net profit of $740 from our rental property.  

Survey Income

On 3.2, I received a $5 Amazon Gift card from the Vision Council for completing a survey.

On 3.9, I received a $30 Amazon Gift card from M-Panels for completing a survey.

On 3.9, I received a $40 direct deposit from GLG survey for completing a survey

On 3.14, I received a $3 Amazon gift card from MyPoints.

On 3.15, I received a $1 Amazon gift card from MyPoints. 

On 3.15, I received a $30 check from My Impact Network for completing a survey. 

On 3.30, I received a $10 Amazon gift card from Sermo for completing a survey. 

On 3.31, I received a $35 Amazon gift card from Sermo for completing a survey. 

Surveys continue to be a fun and easy way to earn extra income on the side.


Miscellaneous Income

On 3.16, we received a direct deposit of $5,261.20 from the IRS as our third stimulus check.  I list this as a side hustle, just like our last 2 stimulus checks, because our income qualifies only after taking into account the tax deductions on our gross income.  These deductions include two maxed out 401Ks ($19,500 each), a maxed out Dependent Care FSA ($5,000), a maxed out HSA ($7,000) and a partial Medical FSA deduction ($1,000).  We have been rewarded for saving more. 


Additional work income

On 3.31, I received a direct deposit of $144.28 for picking up extra hours with my employer.


Monthly Totals:

We earned $277.75 from cash back income
We earned $740 from rental income

We earned $154 for completing online surveys

We earned $5,261.20 of miscellaneous income

I earned $144.28 of extra income from my work


All of this totals $6,577.23 from our side hustles for the month of March!  We continue to slowly make progress towards our financial freedom every month.  Side hustles help us reach our goals a little bit faster.  Keep hustling my friends.  

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...