Alternative income streams plan and progress

18 Comments

Instead of just having one goal based on net worth, I’m finding it increasingly important to have my eyes on another prize. I want to have enough income coming from places outside my day job to cover all my typical month expenses. This way if I get downsized, as I did when the Internet bubble bust, I can get by. This may sound like a doomsday scenario, but as we are a two income family, I don’t expect it to be the problem that it once was.

Here are my preferences for alternative incomes:

1. Passive income such as that from bank interest is ideal. This requires no time or effort on my part.
2. Incomes such as that from that my investment property is very good. This requires some maintenance on my part, but it’s not daily.
3. Incomes such as that from this blog is fine, but is still good, but less valuable. It does require significant time for the money, however, since I enjoy it and can do it while watching TV in my underwear, it’s good quality.
4. I’ll add other ways I can earn alternative incomes here as I think them up.

My current revenue streams:

1. Prosper.com - I’m a big believer of this site because I thought it up back in 1999. There’s just too many middlemen in banking. There’s too many in real estate as well, but that’s changing too.
2. Bank Interest - No explanation needed on this one, but in general, I think I can do better in Prosper.com.
3. This blog - I’d do better working at Starbucks or Wal-Mart, but it still qualifies as an alternative revenue stream.
4. My investment property - This may not actually be an “investment” for quite some time as I’ll lose $550 a month in the first year. However, I’m taking a long term view of things.

I can attack this goal in two directions, bottom up or top down. I can increase my alternative income streams or I can reduce my expenses. I hope to do a lot from the bottom up and a little from the top down. There is only so much I can slice out of the necessary expenses. One big one is my HELOC, which I used to ask my fiancee to marry me. Some may condemn HELOCs, but that was one of the best decisions I made. Even from a financial perspective, we each save a lot more money living together than we did separately.

Here are my monthly necessarily expenses are:

$1,049 - Housing (including my current rent and mortgage on investment property minus the incoming rent)
$325 - Transportation
$143 - HELOC
$125 - Groceries
$43 - Internet + Cable
$27 - Gas and Electricity
$30 - Cell Phone
$25 - Property insurance
$7 - Home Phone

$1,774.00 - Total

My current alternate income (after taxes) from the aforementioned services:

$17.00

So I’m only 0.96% of my way there - this is going to be quite the journey.

This post deals with: ... and focuses on:

Alternative Income

Posted by Lazy Man on October 20, 2006

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Alternative Income Streams Progress - January 2007
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Alternative Income Streams Progress - Mid November
Alternative Income Streams Progress - May 2007
Alternative income streams progress - End of October
Alternative Income Streams Progress - February 2007
Alternative Income Streams - February 2008
Alternative Income Streams are Coming into Style

18 Responses to “Alternative income streams plan and progress”

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1. 
   18
   Alternative Income Streams - October 2007 (One Year Recap) Says:
   October 1st, 2007 at 5:55 am

   [...] been a full year since I started tracking my alternative income. I look back on that post and remember how excited I was that I had made $17 that month. I was [...]

2. 
   17
   Lazy Man and Money » Alternative Income Streams Progress - March 2007 Says:
   March 1st, 2007 at 5:56 am

   [...] the start of a new month, it’s time for another update to my alternative income. Last month, I had the biggest jump forward, a near 43% gain as I went to from $50 to $71.49. This [...]

3. 
   16
   Lazy Man and Money » The Simple Dollars’ 31 Days of Finance Fixes - Day 7-12 Says:
   February 9th, 2007 at 8:26 am

   [...] Dollar recommends that I do it by the week. Unfortunately my living expenses is by the month (see my living expense information here). So I’ll simply multiply that by 12 and divide it by 52. That means my living expenses are [...]

4. 
   15
   Lazy Man and Money » Alternative Income Streams Progress - February 2007 Says:
   February 1st, 2007 at 6:00 am

   [...] been a little over three months since I started tracking my alternative income. Last month, I had noted that I went backward a small bit as my blogging income can be volatile. [...]

5. 
   14
   lazymanandmoney Says:
   December 7th, 2006 at 10:46 pm

   Andy, thanks for stopping by. I just moved from MA to CA and I’m trying to figure out this cash redemption value (CRV) thing. Back in MA, you take the can back to the store where you purchased it and you’d get a nickel. It’s easy and makes sense to me, but I don’t know how to redeem for CRV.

   When I was little my dad drove me and brother around to gather cans to redeem. We redeemed enough to make it possible for my dad to buy an IBM PCjr, my first computer. I’m a software engineer today because of that.

6. 
   13
   Andy Says:
   December 7th, 2006 at 2:41 pm

   Hi there.. Mr. Lazy Man,

   I’m very impressed with your blog… In CA, we have a bottle and can deposit… makes it easy to gain a few extra bucks in the savings. My kids and I collect the bottles and cans at their school and after tennis practice as well as whenever we see one tossed along our dog walks… We’ve saved $615 since last year just collecting and turning in them for recycling.

   We also invest all found money in Real Estate Investment Trusts… We’ve found over $100 per year the last six years.

   You can check us out at: http://www.foundmoneyjar.blogspot.com

   ANDY

7. 
   12
   Alternative Income Streams Progress - Mid November | Lazy Man and Money Says:
   November 20th, 2006 at 7:38 am

   [...] This is the third installment tracking of my alternative income streams plan and progress. I find myself enjoying these updates more than I do others. I think it’s because I seem to be making progress every couple of weeks. My net worth statement isn’t improving due to my actions since it’s largely geared toward the stock and real estate markets. With my investments in these alternative income streams the results are more predictable. Since my blog is getting a little more traction, I’m starting to see small amounts of gains in that area. It’s barely enough to pay for my Vonage bill, but it’s something. I’ve been plowing more money into Prosper. Plowing might not be the correct word as I’ve been waiting for some loans to verified as much as 9 days now.  As a reminder, I’m adjusting income downward for risk (in the case with Prosper) and taxes. [...]

8. 
   11
   lazymanandmoney Says:
   October 23rd, 2006 at 4:32 pm

   Good eye Vincent. It’s really an estimate based on the first 8 days of living in San Mateo county. It might be a little understated because we might not have had everything unpacked and plugged in on the first day. In fact, I’m sure it will go up, but I recently moved across country and right now that bill is the only sample size that I have to go on.

   That said, my fiancee and I both work full time, so during the day there’s very little usage then. We haven’t turned on the heat (and there is no air conditioning). Considering the coldest it gets to is about 50, according to the locals, we might not turn on the heat all year. We are used to Boston’s cold winters, so it should be a lot better. Also, the number represents only 43% of the total electricity because My fiancee pays 57%.

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