Comments on: Personal Balance Sheet, January 2010

By: TheInfoPreneur

TheInfoPreneur — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:41:40 +0000

HI Flexo,

I was recently pointed to this site after a recent post on my site ‘I rank higher than probloggers, but make no money’ (Didn’t want to link just incase it’s not allowed)

Where else do you write? How long did it take you to reach this level of income?

By: Hopeful

Hopeful — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:09:40 +0000

It is really cool that you keep yourself accountable for your monthly statements. Great work on your income!
I have just at 100k, extremely low expenses, not been investing. At 30yrs old, what do I do with this money is what I ask myself everyday. I earned this with stocks and lost a lot too experimenting, but a few years ago I lost my nerve when I reached this amount. I lost thousands more every year, I gave up. The savings interest is garbage compared to what could be if I knew what to do. I play stocks without money and have been doing terrible.
It’s uncomfortable to me to have this little bit of money since I am the only one in my family and peers to have anything like this. However, the funny part is, I live more modest then they do, very minimalist. It would “feel good” to buy nice things, but I fear to loose this to the point that I should forget I even have it. I feel more comfortable knowing that I am poor and live poor. I tithe at church but the funny part is, it’s only the 10% of the interest earned which is meager and if they knew, it would be embarrasing.
Wish to be more like yourself and do something with it.
Thank you for the website, very informative and insperational.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:38:41 +0000

That's a lot of questions. I've already answered some when I was including income/expense reports in my monthly financial updates, so you can find those here. I'll respond to more of your questions in a future post.

By: SavingEverything

SavingEverything — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:40:20 +0000

It would be interesting to see how your monthly expenses break down; all this and you own an apartment? How much do you spend on groceries, eating out fast food or restaurants, electricity-gas-oil and heat, netflix, grocery store rentals, alcohol, gas for your car, car and home insurance, internet, webhosting sites, and others. Can we get an idea of where your cash is mostly; is it in a checking account earning 0.05% or no interest; or, is it in a mixture of high yield savings accounts, reward checking, and regular bank savings’ accounts?? What are your biggest expenses on a monthly basis, besides your mortgage or rent? How much of your $11,000 income is from random people clicking ads on this site? What is your expenses total for this webblog and your others total? Do you have to pay into social security taxes, medicare taxes, and fica (6.2% + 1.45%) for your monthly income from your various side jobs as a self-employee? Is this included in your monthly balance sheets? Does the income include any referral bonuses for opening up an Ing accout or a brokerage account, that have refer-a-friend bonuses?

By: Monevator

Monevator — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:58:42 +0000

Are you not tempted to invest more of that cash in the bank, Flexo? I know I probably take things to extremes (besides my well-stocked emergency I treat cash as wood chips to stoke the investment engine) but the opportunity cost has been painful in recent months. Then again, you can’t argue with the sense of security.

Congrats on that six-figure blogging income, by the way. Like @Sam it sounds a dream to me, though I think like yourself I’d probably keep working for a while longer if I enjoyed it.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:43:38 +0000

It’s not a consistent $11,000 per month. That was the income for January, but that includes some long-term ad deals paid up front. I expect the income for most months will be somewhat less.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:42:38 +0000

Nothing nearly as big as Consumerism Commentary, but I write elsewhere.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:44:54 +0000

Nice work Flexo. The funny thing is, if I was making $11,000/month from my site and other online means, I think I would quit and move to Hawaii!

You’ll have to slowly share your secrets with us one day. Hope to join you in 9 years when I officially do retire.

By: Money Funk

Money Funk — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:22:13 +0000

I enjoy your balance sheet and would love to know the behind scenes of your wealth making efforts that continue to rise each month, per your goal quota. :)
You said you build online communities. Besides Consuemrism Commentary, what other online communities do you hold Trump to?