Lazy Man and Money

Alternative Income Streams Schedule Change

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Up until now, I had been posting my Alternative Income Streams every two weeks. I’m going to switch it to once a month starting with the new year. Why not continue the two week schedule?

  • With my company finally offering a 401k plan, I prefer to save money in this way. This doesn’t translate to an income stream for another 35 years for me.
  • I need to start saving for my Roth IRA contribution. Like the 401k above, this isn’t an income stream for now.
  • Even though Prosper is fun, I need to make more disciplined payments to my down HELOC. While I still believe I’m earning a little more in Prosper, I don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket.
  • Lastly, a report every two weeks is just too much. There’s not a ton of change in that short span.

I’ve purposely set the schedule for the beginning of the month to offset my net worth report. That report comes out in mid-month. This, every 15 days or so, there’s some progress that I’m going to be held accountable for posting.

Lastly, I’d like to give a thanks to Divorce to Financial Freedom, who had some very kind words to say about Lazy Man and Money and my alternative income stream report.

Net Worth Update – December Edition

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My net worth has edged up so very little this month. It grew from 0.16% from $181,501.19 to $181,787.61. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed. Upon further review there were a number of factors at play that made this happen:

  1. My Hawaii Trip – Though it was a relatively cheap vacation, it’s still a vacatio. That meant eating all my meals out and other associated costs.
  2. My home value dropped – I use Zillow as I feel it’s fairly accurate for my area. The drop this month of $2,000 largely eliminates much of my savings. This is okay, because I’m going to hold the home for years. Some day it will recover and I’ll have a fantastic month.
  3. It was a Short Month – Because I get busy, I don’t do my net worth at the same time each month. Last month, with the trip, I didn’t get it done until the 24th.
  4. I think I lost money – Poof… gone… I didn’t even get to spend it. When I logged into my bank, it looks like I’m getting the same amount as what I got last pay check. Typically that would be fine. However, I’ve bumped up against the maximum 401k for the year, so only $100 went there instead of the $1,000+. Where did the rest of the money go? I don’t know, but I’ll be looking at my stub later today to find out.

On the bright side:

  1. My retirement accounts – With new additions and general market gains, things are moving in the right direction
  2. My Prosper account – I was able to increase that account by 22.58% and I’m now lending over $3,000.

I’ve Been Tagged…

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It seems there’s something in the Blogosphere called tagging. I don’t know how it started, but I guess someone came up with the idea of saying 5 secrets about yourself. You have Golbguru of Money, Matter, and More Musings to thank for this list.

0) Because I’m a software engineer, I have to start with 0. I did this one yesterday with my take on Self-Appreciation Day

1) Off the top of my head the only two books I can remember finishing are Rich Dad, Poor Dad and the Great Gatsby. On the other hand, I typically spend 14 hours a day in front of a computer (9 of it required for my job).

2) I became a member of Mensa just to put it on my resume. It tends to get interviewer’s attention.

3a) My favorite TV show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can’t imagine any way to improve it.
3b) My favorite bands have a way of being one or two album wonders from the mid 1990’s. Such bands include Elastica, the Toadies, and Poe.

4) My dream jobs (in order)
a) Football Film Guru – I don’t know if this is really a job, but I’d love to spend 12-14 hours a day analyizing a team’s strategy and tendancies. Bill Belichick, you have my e-mail address, I’m waiting.
b) Statistical Analysis for the Red Sox. I already spend an hour or two in a fake baseball league. I’d love to use sabermetrics to be the next Bill James.
c) Technology researcher for VCs – This might be the most realistic. I love technology, but especially any new application on the web.

5) If I you had asked me a year ago what I thought I’d be blogging about it would be in order Technology Trends, Boston Baseball and Football, Health and Fitness, then Personal Finance. I think I just had more to say in personal finance that I didn’t think was being said. Turns out a lot of it was being said, but I didn’t find it until I started this blog.

So it’s time to continue the pyramid scheme. I’ll tag:

  1. No Limits Ladies
  2. Plugged in Finance
  3. How Do People Get Rich
  4. Young Finances
  5. and the person that started it all for me… Boston Gal’s Open Wallet

Welcome Five Cent Nickel Readers!

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If you are coming from Five Cent Nickel, welcome! I’m a 30-year old software engineer originally from Boston, but recently relocated to Silicon Valley. I aim for a balanced philosophy of saving money and growing income. So while “a dollar saved is a dollar earned”, I like to say that “a dollar earned is a dollar earned” as well.

To my regular readers:

Mr. Nickel has graciously provided me an opportunity to do a guest post on his site. I decided to write about how I saved money with Ebay in the last month. Please visit Five Cent Nickel. One word of warning… be prepared to spend a few hours and add it to your blog reader. I know I did.