You want my money, you better take it.

Until the day I have enough cash to live through the month......

No, until the day a debit card pays me back CASH for my transactions, with no fees, businesses better have card processing. I never carry cash and I'm only just beginning with the debit card. If you can call it that, I only use it at Aldi. I'm okay with this transaction, because Aldi saves me way more then the 1% I would received on my Visa.

Go ahead, make strange faces of pity at me. I don't care! I pay my card off every month and so far this year I have received $390 cash back. With more money on the way. Just because you can't manage your bills and credit cards, don't assume I can't.

I guess it is 100% up to the business, do they want my dollars or shall I head to the next location. It isn't a hard choice.

Passive Income Updated

Do I even earn interest any more? Barely!

I am expecting $45 in Cash Back Rebates.

Passive Income Update

Amazing, when you stop to look at your Passive Income like this. Every dollar in this chart, comes from no effort of my own. Thus, the passive reference.

Honestly, I am so happy with our Passive Income Streams. They, for 2008, will earn more money then I. This has been the goal for a long time. And the reason for my last post on debt. I would not have these numbers, without the debts we took on.

Well, except for the cash back on my credit cards and the one time event extra flows. I seriously doubt that our interest would be there without the help of the other income streams.

We are currently in a 10 year window that will eliminate the debt where these incomes derive from. With a commercial property note scheduled for payoff in just over 8 years about 10 years ahead of schedule (yea!). And the 2ND mortgage on our home, carried so that we could hold the mortgage on our last home, to be paid in just under 10 years. Although, I suspect we could eliminate it in 5, if we stopped living again.

The thing is, life is short and we have missed so much. Our kids are almost grown and the time can never come back. Money is a commodity - family is EVERYTHING!

Note payments for both of the above and our monthly expenses are included in our Monthly Goal. You may notice it declined over my last publishing. This comes from my rate adjustments that my banker put through for us.

I remember when I supported the kids and our home alone and my monthly expenses were under $2000. $900 of that was a house payment and $500 was child care. I have no idea how we made it. I always joked - we lived on less then the deductions the government gave us. :-)

Read the fineprint!

I was planning on receiving my Ebates cash earned this month on August 15th. I was curious as to why the dollars weren't posting to my PayPal account. Then I found this:

Purchases Posted Between -- Big Fat Check Sent
Jan 1-Mar 31 -------------- May 15
Apr 1-June 30 ----------------Aug 15
July 1-Sept 30 ----------------Nov 15
Oct 1-Dec 31 ------------------Feb 15

Now I know. My purchase that pushed me over the minimum payment didn't get credited until July 15th.

It's all good though - I'll get the money in November. At least now I know the dates. :-)

Thought it might interest you too.

If you haven't signed up yet - do it now, before Christmas Shopping gets underway! You can save up to 25% (or get rebated ;-)) - from Ebates.

I failed at the interest in half the time

I just tallied up my interest for the end of June and I didn't make my goal.

I was so close! Only $1.10 away from matching 2007 total interest earned. Had I held off a transfer 1 more day, I could have gotten to the match. I just couldn't wait. I have to pay things when they come in. I get so nervous if I don't.

There are 2 missing pieces to this story too:

1. I haven't been credited interest into my PayPal account yet for June.
2. My "B" rated Prosper loan, the last of the initial 4, has not paid it's June 16 payment. Unbelievable. Even a "B" rating is not a good loan risk.

Those 2 items, along with a 1 day delay in transferring of funds and I could have toppled last year.

Oh well, such is life.

Will I make last years interest by month end?

3 things make me think I can do this -

• HSBC's interest boost to 3.5%
• The Estimated Tax money I didn't withdraw from HSBC for payment this month
• and the Visa Bill money I put in HSBC until bill is due next week.

My month end in my HSBC account just passed yesterday. Earning me $13.26. That is almost double the $7.04 I estimated I would have earned. Thanks to the above 3 things, I saw more.

There is also a bad trying to stop me from achieving my goal. My last of the original 4 loans I made on Prosper is late. I can't believe it. Hopefully, it is a temporary delay. That should have been another 40¢. My new Prosper loan isn't due until the weekend. I'm just crossing my fingers. Can I pick them or what?

At the moment I am $33.57 short of my goal.

• My ING Direct account has accrued $20.58 so far.
• I need to transfer from ING for taxes - ~ $10.27 to be earned
• At .15%, if I'm lucky I'll see $3 here (only a flow through for paper payments and mortgage)

Meaning without the 2 Prosper loans, PayPal, and the Business Money Market I should have this locked up with $33.85. I will transfer from ING tomorrow. Don't want to get to close to my due date of taxes and the Visa bill (which is auto draft).

Making it with barely anything to spare - sweet!

.5% higher and no fan fare

It is true. I was reading my bloglines subscriptions and I saw that one blogger site was saying that HSBC Direct raised their interest rates.

AND IT IS TRUE!!!!!

They went from 3.05% to 3.50%

This is definitely going to help with my savings goal. Making me an extra 4¢ a day!



This will also change my plans for transferring cash back to pay estimated taxes. This account holds these dollars, but I'm thinking I will transfer out of ING Direct instead. Gaining me a half of a percent in earnings.



Good things are on the horizon for savers.

Matching earned savings interest in HALF the time.

A quick look at my ING Direct account shows my interest for May has been credited. Although, no transaction is shown for that CD I purchased. I'm thinking on the date of purchase, it will go through. Time will tell.

Anyway, I keep a little tally on my desk for current year interest earned. Not from property sales or business sales, but from actual cash investments and savings. Last years measley $248.48 is looking to be achievable by the month end of June.

I just need to hold transfers out, to pay bills, until the last possible moment. And try to float some savings cash in the mean time, while awaiting bills.

Without any hanky-panky I will come in (estimated) about $4.10 short by June 30th. So, with some minor tweaking, I may be able to squeeze some extra pennys out. At 3% interest, I only need 30 days of $1,662.77 more in my daily balance.

I need to transfer 2 amounts out in June:

• $978 for estimated taxes
• $2350.21 for another tax bill

I am planning the $978 to move on the 10th of June. Of course, holding off the transfer for 3 more days, would earn me another 24¢ at HSBC.

The plan on the $2350.21 is to move it on the 20th, but maybe I should take another 3 days here too. That would mean 57¢ more towards the goal.

Of course all these numbers come from moving ZERO dollars to savings for the month. With just $3.29 more needed, I can pull this off with a transfer of $1334.27 to savings. Since I've been moving about $1850 - I think this is doable.

I think I am liking this savings thing much better then calculating interest to pay.

Passive Income Update

It just occurred to me, that I make more in passive income in 6 months then the majority of Illinois residents earn a year from working. If memory serves me right - the median income is somewhere in the $30k range. I'm going to hit that in June.


To get to this level, it was not without risk. Although, as time progresses the risks diminish and the rewards become more apparent.

Some day, in the not so distant future, I expect these dollars to be a replacement for our working income. That will definitely be a day of FREEDOM!

After all my numbers are in for the rate adjustments, I will be able to adjust my Monthly Goal with the new lower amounts. Just making the gap shrink.

Higher Rates from a Week Hold?

There is one thing that drives me crazy about ING Direct's Orange Savings. One thing that taunts me every day I log in to see my interest accruing.

I made my last transfer to ING Direct on 5/2/08 and it is showing "not available" until 5/12/08. The "not available" part isn't where I get upset. In fact, there probably needs to be a temporary hold, to ensure all money becomes real. I'm sure there is some crook out there, looking to play the "get rich off of transfers" game.

The thing that irritates me is that my checking account was drafted the dollars on 5/5/08. That means for 7 days my cash is floating in limbo somewhere. It is not working for me, earning interest, because ING is not calculating interest for me on this sum. It is not accessible for me to be used as I see fit.

Instead, for 7 full days, ING has my money somewhere working for them. I am making a loan to them and they aren't paying.

I just feel they should be accruing interest from the moment they get the cash in their hands. They can keep a hold on it, just let it work for me.

Not that I am so mad I will stop using them. They are basically like all other online banks. I'm just interested in more! I want MORE.

I have referrals if you need one - just email me (see side bar).

40¢ a day

With this shift from debt interest paying to interest earning, I'm gaining in excitement.

At the end of April I was only short of last year's interest and dividends earned of 40¢ a day ($97.36).

On one hand it is only so small, because we didn't make squat last year. I guess this qualifies as the bad.

On the other hand, we are making much better strides this year. Especially with only 1/3rd of the year past. This is the good.

Not all accounts are equal - but by my easy calculations:

• ING Direct - $1.35 a day
• HSBC - $0.24 a day
• Brick & Mortar - $0.01 a day (joke)

Not counting bonds, PayPal, MMK Interest, or Notes Held, we are earning $1.60 a day. SWEET! That means every day we cover 4 of our need to match last year. Covering 124 days of need in the 244 days of earning that are left, in May alone.

That means starting June 1st, if nothing changes, we will have 213 days to earn $48. That is only $0.23 cents a day. A very attainable number.

I wonder if it is possible for us to double last years. Ahhh, I shouldn't go crazy. Especially with only 3 months till college payments - OUCH!

Yippee!! $20

I just received 2 emails and I am totally excited. Both report that 2 people have made good on my invitation to open an ING Direct Savings Account.

That is wonderful news! They both earned $25 and made me $10. I'm so grateful! Plus, I'm so excited for them making 10% on their money today!

Plus, all their deposit will earn 2.96% (3.00% yield). Ah, the sweet smell of cash. Better then the pennies shaking out of the local brick and mortar - currently @ .38% - could it be anymore painful?

Have you been toying with the idea of opening an ING Direct Savings Account? Well, toy no more. Email me today and I will send you a link - so we can both be winners.

Don't you wonder why HSBC and other online banks don't offer bonus'?

Payment Modification

I am doing a switch-up in our credit card use. One that will remain in effect until November.

I am removing my hubby's GM Card from his wallet. We use this card for all business purchases, but with a huge amount in Vehicle Rewards - which would be many vehicle purchases to use up - we don't need these wasted points. I wish we could opt for cash, but I just don't see it.

I have replaced the GM Card with my Cash Back Visa. This is the card I use for everything. It pays back 1% on all purchases - in cash. We have never maxed it out, with our personal purchases - but I believe this will change with business purchases.

That said - I will not be using the Cash Bank Visa, unless I have too. Instead, I will be using our Unlimited Cash Back Discover Card. Where I can receive 1% back on groceries and gas and up to 5% on their chosen quarterly promotion.

Why didn't I just switch DH to the Discover? Easy - it isn't as widely accepted as Visa and he would get all confused if a vendor said "we don't take Discover." I've learned - keep it easy and it works - fluster and it is a buster.

In November, when our 0% offer expires on the Chase Card, I will replace the Cash Back Visa with the Chase in his wallet. Which is unlimited in cash rewards. And offers up to 3% on gas and groceries. We buy a ton of gas for the business. Should be sweet, free money for us. With no expense!

Not even worth the paper statement!

I received a savings account paper statement from my brick and mortar bank. And it was very discouraging! In more ways then one.



First off, it is a brick and mortar bank that only deposits interest on a quarterly basis. So tell me, why send me a monthly statement? I do exactly 2 transactions a month - I know my balance. They aren't paying me - so why waste paper.



I took a survey for this bank less then a week ago. I did request electronic statements. We get way too much paper from them.



And these fools should take the money saved from not mailing statements and add it into the interest rate. Of course, can you call it an interest rate when it is .38%?



It's a joke people. This is why I would never keep any money here. I find a new respect for my ING account every time they show their rates. Email me, if you want to increase your savings rate - like 10 times these crappy rates!

Money Received From Ebates

All that Christmas shopping, linking in through Ebates, paid off. I just received my second payment from this site - YIPPEE!!

This time my BIG Check - actually my BIG deposit to PayPal was for $30.85.

I still have a link on the side bar if anyone it is interested - $10 for signing up now through March 31, 2008. After your first purchase is made linking through.

PayPal Experiences System Error that may have cost you money

I received an email today from PayPal. Apparently, a flaw in their system caused for miscalculated Money Market Dividends in January.

This is the one account I don't try and tabulate the interest every month. Too many daily transactions. With a balance left small. Doesn't equal time well spent.

I have to say, I'm impressed that the issue was found so close to the end of the month. Not to mention rectified. Go PayPal!!!

Passive Income 2008

So many financial changes in 2007. I felt it was only appropriate to change the chart as well.

Of course, now the numbers kind of turn my stomach. A whole lot of cash passes through our house. Some day, it will be freedom. At least that is the goal.

Changes:

• Contract Sales - only includes interest earnings. Didn't seem quite right including principal, since it was owned prior and still.
• Rents -only for personal held commerical property
• 1x's - include any money we didn't have to work for that came to us. Could be gifts, refunds or what ever.
• Other - Credit Card Cash Rebates
• 2008 Income grows each month adding into the year to date totals
• Months By - is how far into the year to divide the income to come up with:
• Passive Income - Monthly
• Monthly Goal in Green - is the goal to reach. It would cover all regular expenses (not new furnace) for all properties and our home.
• Shortfall in red is based on earnings for year to date divided by 12 months. (Currently, if we earned no more dollars - we would only have $835 in Passive Income a month)
  
  
  

75% of the way to replacing our incomes

I've been working on our January plan. Not a budget. I am not one to budget. I'm just compiling incomes from sources that are not taxed when received and calculating my estimated tax liability. I like to know before I pay the bills how much I need in reserve to pay my Uncle and 2nd cousin Mr. State.

With the recent changes in our assets, things are much different. Especially, that income that does not require me to do any work. My FAVORITE type of income. I like to call it:

Passive Income

In a perfect world all my income would be passive and residual. I guess this is true for all of us.

When looking at our W-2 income, my DH and I don't make a whole heck of a lot of money. In fact our monthly income is only $5750 combined - GROSS.

I've never revealed that before.......I guess my need to reveal comes from folks thinking we are rich. We have never been rich. We are in the building stages of a secure life. I'm referring to a comment on my DEAD FURNACE post, where I was advised to use some of my $588k (net at the time) to cover the expense. I felt like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life - you see this money is not cash in the vault, it is in properties and assets silently working to help us build a strong financial fortress.

So, contrary to the commenter's belief that we could "just pay", we actually felt the burden when you consider the repair was a 1/4th of our monthly earnings.

Putting that behind us..............:-)

I realized that 2008 is going to be a huge growth position for us. It appears that our new additional income sources are bringing us income (not including expenses) of 75% of our payroll. How cool is that?

Broken down by stream:

• Commercial Rental - $2945
• Business Sale Loan - $468.75(interest only)
• Paper Mort. Held - $910.51 (interest only)

Bringing in a total of $4324.26.

I have not included the residential income for a couple of reasons. First because it is not profitable and will not get there until I find quality tenants- a goal for 2008. Second, because this property is held in another entity and the income of rents would not flow through to us, without first paying expenses for said corporation. Should I achieve my goal of profitability I would see roughly, $100 cash per month to add above.

I also did not include any Prosper Income - for obvious reasons - I've lost more then I gained.

No inclusion of interest or dividend income. Only because for us, it is a wishy washy category. Although, we may receive a decent sum one month - it isn't guaranteed. And I do not expect it to be a viable source until we are debt free. Which is my first and foremost priority. All income here is incidental.

Let's not forget all my cash back income, from credit cards and online rebate services. Again, not guaranteed. I do believe that this source is steady, due to the fact that I never use cash and I always pay my month to month charges off. I just don't feel good including it.

So, with keeping and tallying only the larger more noticeable income sources I would like to find and increase our Passive Income by $1425.74 in 2008. That would definitely be a wonderful life. Especially, since DH is in construction - high risk. To have income streams in place to live on - should the worse happen would be an awesome safe place.

I actually have a business idea I am toying with now. I do not have all the numbers yet, but I believe it could surpass this amount - if it would work for us. It all depends on how much land is need. We have 3 acres undeveloped. I'm hoping that would be plenty - DH thinks it will run short.

The year is young though - I'll find something.

Passive Income Update

Not sure where time goes, but I have been neglecting my Passive Income.

Passive - meaning I do nothing over recording and receiving. Dollars come from no "work" of my own. At least not after the initial set-up.

The first column is the paper mortgage payments I received.
The second column is any and all interest and dividends I personally receive.
The third column is the money I am taking for the laundry, for the % of mortgage insurance it is claiming. (this is new this year, do to the freedom the laundry is experiencing as a debt free entity)
The forth column is where I am tracking my rebates received from my credit cards for items I would be purchasing anyway.

Do to life and changes, this spreadsheet is going to require changes. For instance, I only calculated our needed or dreamed of passive income, from our home costs. Meaning all our personal expenses for the home. I do not track college bills, or sporadic bills, or even property payments for other investments. On the other hand, I do not track rental incomes from other property's here.

My logic so far, was to base the "need" on what we would pay in a desperate situation. Meaning, home, health, food, utilities first always.

There seem to be a ton of variables for this type of tracking. I just can't seem to find my comfort zone. What do I track, how often, what is my base line???

Passive Income August

So far, we have collected over $12k in passive income. Personally - meaning: not from any sources held in business.

We still have a short fall of about $1300 a month, if we want these dollars to cover all our living mandatory expenses. This could quickly be rectified by the sale of the laundry and the regular receipt of rent.

In the future, I suspect that I will need to re-evaluate our monthly mandatory bills and adjust our "needs" accordingly. Just off the top, I am not including any of these large college bills. I also believe I want to include more of our privately held investments too. Right now, my monthly amount of $2688 only focus' on our personal (household) expenses. A broader picture may be more complete.

That is the trouble with multiple streams. Knowing where to have things, when to exclude and maintaining a forward motion with multiple pieces in the air.