Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man Goal Update (April 2021)

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I usually don’t do two personal updates in a row, but that’s the way the editorial calendar bounces, crumbles, flows, I guess. On Friday, I published my March Passive Income report. I really like how that update keeps me focused on passive (or passive-ish) income and gives me a chance to share with you a slice of life (This is usually a bunch of pictures of kids and things that we did).

That update doesn’t cover mid or long-term goals. I made some goals to start the year like I do every year. However, year after year, I fail to make any consistent progress on my goals. I know I always plan to do too much. I also know that I forget to put the time and effort into the goals given the short-term life errands.

My hope is that doing this every month and a half will have me moving in the right direction. If nothing else, these goals get on my radar around 8 years a year.

April 2021 Goal Update

Before we get started here’s my spreadsheet. It’ll be helpful to follow along. If you have ideas on how this system could be better I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Lazy Man Goals

Is it possible to make “making good goals” a goal? If so, that is one of the things I’m hoping to get out of 2021. My goals are all over the place. Some of them are boolean (you either went to Europe or you didn’t). Some of them based on numbers. Some of those numbers are very strange because we already had some progress. My hope is that the act of working through this will help me improve and making the goals themselves and making them make sense.

Money Goals

Make $60,000 – I have $13,534.59 so far and I’m on pace for a little under $50,000. This is an aggressive goal and I wasn’t sure that I could do it with no dog sitting income (due to no travel due to COVID). However, people are starting to travel more, so I might be able to get closer to this. Realistically, the best way for me to get there is to come up with an additional source of income. I’m stretched thin in some places already, so it could be tough.

Wife Retirement Savings – My wife’s retirement fund is $5,000 bigger this year, but we are still behind the pace on this one. We might be able to get a little closer, but while my wife is deployed, we aren’t shifting money around too much. In March we spent a lot more money than we usually do. I’ll have more to write about that in the Family Goals section below.

Business Goals

Content Audit/Article Refresh – I’ve completed 8 of the 40 articles that I hope for this year. I have a lot of articles from around 2006 and 2007 that are very short, filled with a dozen of spelling/grammatical errors, and not very well put together. One of my goals this year is to take 40 of them, a little less than one a week, and update/refresh them as something new and useful for readers.

7,000 Twitter Followers – I lost 11 Twitter followers and now have 6634. It doesn’t seem like being more active on Twitter gets me more followers. It feels like this number only moves a fraction of a percent in either direction.

Minor Website Design – I made no progress on this one. I think the only way to move forward on this one is to put on a short-term to-do list, rather than this mid-long term one. Unfortunately, that short-term list is full right now.

Article for New Website – Zero. I didn’t write anything for the new website. I have been pushing back the launch of this for months and months now. My best hope in moving forward with this is that I schedule a solid hour or two every day without interruptions. I think we need vaccines to allow the library to open full-time for that to happen.

Personal

Lose Weight – I’ve lost about a pound of the 15 that is part of my goal. It seems like losing weight is always the toughest goal for everyone. I’m eating better and getting out more with the better weather. However, a weekend at a Bed and Breakfast with the wife meant eating out all the time. I skipped lunch and still gained weight. A March trip to Hawaii meant many plate lunches and that set me back. I’m optimistic that I can make gains in the next month and a half.

Bucket List/Dream Board – I’d say I’m 65% done with this one. I have a list of around 20 items that I gathered from searching around other people’s bucket lists. I was even able to cross one-off. My 7-year-old wanted to swim with sea turtles and I added that to mine. Well, the weather didn’t cooperate when we got out to sea and the captain didn’t feel it was safe enough to swim with them, but we saw a few close-up from the boat. He’s counting it, so I’m counting. As for the 35% that I have left with this, I want to create a dream board to make it more visual. When these things sit in a spreadsheet on a hard drive, they just don’t get done.

Professional Skills – Zero. I had a list of things that I’d like to learn for blogging, but also included a couple of non-blogging things. I don’t think I made any progress on any of them. I think I’m going to have to make this more specific for 2022.

Family

Travel to Europe – Nope. My wife had big plans to do a Greek cruise this summer. That wasn’t realistic, so she pivoted and came up with the idea of our Hawaii trip. We were able to get tested and fly over many states that would have forced us to quarantine. We had a great time. Remember above when I explained that we didn’t make much progress on our money goals, this was one of the main reasons why. We have no regrets.

Finish the Basement – We made a little more progress by removing an old water heater and a boiler. I saw someone with random Dollar Store sticker numbers on the side of a truck of someone who hauls it all away and sells it for scrap metal. I guess scrap metal prices are good these days and these were heavy items. The guy was a unique character, perhaps one of the most “unique” I’ve met. I won’t share them on this blog, but ask me in person some time and we can talk about it over a beer.

Parenting

YouTube Channel – I’m not sure if we made any progress on this. I got a book from the library about making movies. It was very high level and the 8-year-old read it but said it was boring. I don’t think he enjoys planning, creating a script, etc. We may just point the camera and shoot and see what happens. Any practice is good practice, right?

Drone Flying – We’re just getting around to drone flying weather, so maybe we’ll start this over the next month or two. Since my kids are very young, we have a very cheap (~$25), basic drone. If they get good with that, I have a more advanced one (~$75) that features a camera. We’ll just work our way up and see if it’s something they enjoying doing.

Outdoor stuff (hours) – I originally had 40 hours outside as a very minimum goal because the kids rarely do much outside. However, when we were in Hawaii we were outside almost all the time. (It’s one of the best ways to stay COVID-19 free, right?)

Computer Programming – I didn’t make any progress in teaching the kids this, but the 8-year-old has picked up Scratch at school and played with it at home a couple of times. This is another area where I got a book from the library, but for now, Captain Underpants and Dog Man have the kids’ extra-reading interests. I’m not going to push it, but just leave it around and see if they pick it up.

Specialty Camps – We’re half-done picking camps. There aren’t a lot of options because of COVID and space filled up quickly. I think we lost out on some as we were in Hawaii (and preparing for Hawaii) when all the camps opened. My wife caught up with her work only to get deployed soon after.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m not feeling like I’ve made much progress, but there are pockets of progress. Unfortunately, the next update probably won’t have more progress. My wife is deployed getting vaccine in peoples’ arms, so I’m trying to make this time extra fun for the kids. I won’t be doing much to finish the basement or explaining how recursion works (programming). Our travel is planned for most of the year (annual trips to Block Island and Hershey Park). That leaves personal and business goals left to focus on. Hopefully, I can make some headway there.

Are These Popular Side Hustles Really Worth Your Time and Effort?

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The following is a guest post from Martin of Studenomics, where he shares advice on everything from finding the best renter’s insurance to getting paid to drink coffee with Airbnb Experiences.

I’m all about side hustles because I know that we all want to make more money to have more options. There’s only so much wealth that you can build with extreme frugality. At some point, you have to increase your income.

More money means that you get to pay off your debt faster, save more money, and do more in life.

You just don’t want to waste your limited time and energy on something that won’t bring in any money since so many side hustles lead nowhere. This is why we’re going to take an inside look at popular side hustles and look at which side hustles are worth the effort these days.

[Read more…]

Eight Ways to be Financially Responsible

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Today I’d like to take a step back and review a few personal finance basics. Consider it a special bonus weekend article. I’ve been writing about investing a lot this year. The stock market has been the big financial news and it’s captured my attention more than ever before. However, I had to learn some important skills before I could turn my attention to investing.

For most people, graduating college comes with a lot of student debt. With a strong combination of luck and hard work, I earned a big scholarship. I also managed to go to college in my hometown, which allowed me to keep my high-paying pharmacy technician job. My peers, without that kind of income, turned to credit cards. They reasoned that once they made money in the real world, it would be easier to pay them off. It’s true that it is easier with income, but there were also more expenses. It took at lot longer than they thought to pay off all the debt.

A little fiscal responsibility may have gone a long way to getting them started on the road to financial freedom. Here are eight habits to start with.

1. Create a Budget

The first step to becoming financially responsible is to create a budget. Once you analyze your expenses over a few months, you’ll know what to expect. This way, you can see how much you spend on bills each month versus the amount you spend on frivolous items. This information shows you how you can trim expenses so you can save money.

Personally, this has never worked well for me. It’s just too much work, even though credit card categorizations can make it much easier. Instead, I developed a frugal mindset, which has helped me keep expenses low.

2. Start Paying Off Debt

Paying off debt can be daunting challenge, if you owe a significant amount. Paying extra toward your credit card debt each month is always best. Credit card expert, Donald Gayhardt of CURO Financial Technology Corporation always says the more money you can put on your card, the faster you will pay it off. Make it a habit to pay your cards and loans extra each month, even if you can only afford an extra five dollars a month.

Of course, the best plan is to avoid carrying credit card debt in the first place.

3. Live Below Your Means

It’s always best to spend less than you make. That’s why I adopted a really frugal mindset. It works even if you aren’t currently making much money. In some cases, it may be helpful to pick up a second job. In others, it simply means you need to cut out some of the things you spend money on. Cutting out subscriptions, shopping for cheaper services and buying food in bulk are all easy ways to save money.

4. Avoid Impulse Spending

Many people buy items as soon as they think of them, but this practice can be harmful to your wallet. When you are considering making a purchase, as yourself a series of questions to determine if you really need the item. If you answer “no” to any of the following questions, you shouldn’t buy the item.

  • Is the item a good value for the price?
  • Do you need the item immediately?
  • Will the item make life easier?
  • Is it a good investment?

My secret to avoid impulse buying is to spend a lot of thinking about expensive purchases. I often find that I didn’t need it after all.

5. Automate Savings

It’s never too early to start saving for the future. Even if you can only afford to put ten dollars a month into a savings account, set up an automatic process to do it. Set a calendar alert for every 3 months and review whether you can increase the monthly savings.

Put Money Aside for Emergencies

While savings are meant to help you if you want to reroof your house, an emergency fund is meant to help you with unexpected expenses. In a perfect world, you will always have extra money to repair your car, buy new tires or replace your HVAC system, but unfortunately, many people have to put these expenses on credit cards. Get into the habit of setting a small amount of money aside each month so you can dip into the emergency fund whenever and unexpected expense pops up. This way, you can avoid adding new credit card debt.

Cut Down On Living Expenses

Make it a habit to shop around for different services every few months to see if you can find them cheaper. You will often find a better price for gym memberships, insurance premiums, and cable subscriptions. Decide which expenses you don’t need and cut them when you can. For example, you may be able to call your cable company and negotiate the same package for less money. If you rely on your cell phone, you may be able to save a few dollars by eliminating a home phone. You can even save money by bundling several services together with the same company.

Cook at Home

If you don’t like to cook, you might be tempted to order out for every meal but this is one of the fastest ways to drain your wallet. On the weekends I’m always slow cooking something for the week. Boneless chicken thighs, onions, and some Thai sauces go a long way. Not only does this habit help you save time and money, but it is also a wonderful way to establish healthy eating habits.

I Bought (a lot of) a Company!

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Have you ever bought a company?

I know a few people who have a bought a money-making blog. That’s rare. It’s also possible to buy some real estate and create an investment property company. That’s mostly starting a company though.

Other than those cases, I don’t see people buying companies often. However, most everyone I know has bought parts of many companies by investing in stocks or mutual funds. Often they end up owning a millionth (or even less) of a single company.

Bought a CompanyLast month, I did something that was in the middle of both buying company experiences. I bought a double-digit stake in a company. It’s a small enough stake that I’m not expected to actively manage anything in the company. It’s a large enough stake that my suggestions will be heard and given a fair shake.

It’s not a public company. I’d be shocked if you have heard of it. The business is so extremely boring that I won’t describe it here for fear that you’d simply click away and never come back.

To make things easier, I’ll call the company WidgetTech.

WidgetTech has a lot going for it. Its customers need the service it provides. WidgetTech makes a profit. Just as importantly (to me), it has a profit sharing program.

I’m not going to share specific numbers such as how much I invested and what the return is. The WidgetTech owners know and read this blog. I presume they are a private company for a reason, and I respect that.

Instead, I will say that it is somewhat similar to one of our investment properties that we bought in 2013. We got it at a bargain price and it’s appreciated 60% since then. While we have currently a mortgage on it, in a few years, the rent minus the expenses (maintenance, property taxes, insurance, association fee, etc.) will earn us decent monthly check.

I like the WidgetTech investment more than the investment property for a few reasons:

  • Better Returns

    The amount of income that I’m making for the amount invested is better. In other words, the yield is better. This is usually the most important thing for investors. Making more money while investing less is a win, but it is elusive.

  • No Work

    Being a landlord can be a lot of work at times. Usually it’s somewhat passive, but it isn’t 100% passive unless you have a property manager. Paying a property manager cuts into profits. With a passive stake in WidgetTech, I’m not going to get calls at 3AM about a pipe bursting.

  • Recession Resistant

    WidgetTech has customers from all over the world paying for the product. While the United States may experience a downturn, WidgetTech’s global audience could allow it to weather a slowdown better than some investments. It’s a different kind of diversity from our other investments.

  • The People

    I’ve had some tremendous tenants. However, it would never occur to me to go grab a beer with them, much less go on vacation with them. That relationship is very strictly business – especially because it can get messy if you have evict them down the line. In contrast, I know the WidgetTech owners well and have a great relationship with them. There is very little direct client communication as long as things are operating well, so there’s no animosity there either.

While I wrote “no work” above, I want to put more work into WidgetTech. If you’ve watched Shark Tank, you’ve seen how the sharks work to promote their companies. That work improves the profits and value for all owners. I’d like to do something similar and I think there’s room to do it.

As you can tell, WidgetTech seems like a superior investment. That’s why I’m excited about it. However, you rarely get something for nothing when it comes to investing.

There are downsides to this type of investment:

  • It’s Not Liquid

    If you put your money in a savings or a checking account, you can get it back out easily. You might not earn a good interest rate, but you have great access to your money. If you bought stocks or a mutual fund, you could sell and get your money out easily as well. You might have to pay more taxes, but you’d still be able to get your money.

    With WidgetTech, my underlying investment money is hard to get back. It would require a very significant emergency to try to get it back. I’d be looking to exhaust all my other options first. This is another reason I consider it similar to the investment property. While I could take a loan out on the property, for the most part, the money is spent. I could sell the property, but it’s not easy and I find the costs to sell often prohibitive.

    Sometimes having an investment that is not liquid is a good thing. It prevents me from making rash/emotional decisions.

  • Risk of Company Failure

    Few companies last forever, right? If the company falls on difficult times or business landscape changes, the investment could be in trouble. I feel strongly about WidgetTech’s chances to last a long, long time.

In both investment cases, I know that I’m making a financial decision that isn’t for Lazy Man today, but for Lazy Man tomorrow. In today’s world of YOLO culture, this may not make sense to some people.

However, it’s easy for me to focus on the financial picture tomorrow. I’ve personally seen how the financial decisions over the last 20 years have put us in a great financial place today.

Alternative Income and Net Worth Reports

For the last few years, I’ve been publishing my alternative income which is passive and “passive-ish” income. This investment converts a large sum of money that was earning minimal interest in a money market account into something that generates significantly more through the profit sharing plan.

That’s going to give my alternative income a good boost. It will show up in the dividends category which is essentially what this is (even if the tax treatment is different). It’s certainly close enough based on it being the income return from investment in a business.

One the net worth side, I’m going to keep the underlying money that I invested as an asset. As I wrote above, it is possible to sell even if it’s difficult. This will give our net worth a boost going forward because the income earned is much better than what the bank’s money market was paying. In a number of years, this income will be worth the same as the underlying investment (if all goes according to plan), which would effectively double the value of it in our net worth.

This is no different than buying an investment property and keeping the value of the property on the books while collecting monthly checks.

Final Thoughts

When I started this blog back in 2006, I did it with the idea of coming up with a way to create passive or alternative income that would allow me to at least equal what my wife’s military pension will be. Life has a number of roller coaster ups and downs and twists and turns over a 13 year span.

With this investment, I can confidently say that the blog’s goal has been accomplished. (Just wait until you see what happens over the next 13 years of this blog.)

How to Work Less and Make Money from Selling Online Courses and eBooks

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The following is a sponsored post by Brenda Peterson of Ning.com. I usually don’t include sponsored posts on the website, but my curiosity was piqued because I remember Ning’s tools from 10 years ago. I also see there are a lot of bloggers making serious money selling courses and eBooks, so it’s definitely worth looking into.

Many people are starting to realize that working for a company is not the only way to ensure a steady income. Technology has made it possible for anyone to create online courses and eBooks which can be effectively sold online. The truth is, all you really need is Ning’s Professional Website Builder with proper monetization tools to make it all happen.

Even though selling courses on the internet and writing eBooks might look like a difficult job to people who are not technically skilled, it is in fact not as daunting as one may think. Here are a few ideas that can help you get started.

Passive income is your goal

The great thing about eBooks and courses is that you can keep making money from them for many years after creating them. For instance, an eBook that took you forty hours to write can actually sell for the next forty years. All you need to do is just make small amendments so it stays relevant over time.

If you are really good at what you do, and your online course or eBook is in demand, you will be able to make money literally while you sleep!

Use the skills of others

What if you don’t have the skills to write an eBook or create your own courses and websites? Things have changed and you no longer need to be a jack of all trades to earn money online. Start with finding a cheap website builder for business. There is no need for intricate technical skills to create an impressive website anymore.

Then, search the internet for places where you can hire professional content creators. You will be amazed to know how easy it is to get someone with the right knowledge to create a great course or eBook in any subject. The main advantage of using other people’s skills is that you can create eBooks and courses in various niches even if you are not an expert in them.

However, while you may choose to take this path, the reality is that you’re running a business and should be able to manage its different facets. You’ll need skills to manage people working for you in various locations, ensure that your customers are happy, and distribute the finances.

Give people what they need

Another skill you’re going to need is the ability to identify challenges, pain points, and problems that people are facing in different areas of their lives. You will need this knowledge to create the right content for your courses and eBooks. The fact is, people don’t mind paying for the valuable information which can make their lives better and easier.

Just remember that while eBooks and online courses can provide you with a steady income, it is vitally important to catch up with the trends and ensure that your content is relevant. However, no matter how much work this can involve, it will never be as demanding and exhausting as a regular nine-to-five job.