Andy Hough

January 2016 Net Worth Update

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penniesLast month I calculated my net worth as part of comparing my lifetime earnings to my net worth.  In order to keep track of my financial progress or lack of progress I have decided to calculate my net worth each month.

My net worth as of yesterday was as follows.

Assets
Cash – $3801.76
IRA – $21,243.28
Roth IRA – $9605.37
Loan – $1350
Car/Stuff – $5000

Liabilities
Credit Card – $6992.74
Student Loan – $125,777.25

Net Worth = $-91,769.58.

That is a $2,140.42 improvement from my last net worth post which was just three weeks ago. I’m pretty happy with that improvement. If I were able to increase my net worth that much each month I’d get to a $0 net worth in 44 months.

The improvement was mostly from lots of Amazon sales the last half of December.  Sales have already dropped off this month. My Amazon earnings will take a hit making it difficult to repeat last month’s net worth improvement. I also have to get four new tires and pay $410 for my annual bar enrollment fees this month so it will be an expensive month.

In the three weeks since my first net worth calculation my student loan balance went up $446. The interest on this loan is brutal.  I’m being charged over $21 a day in interest. I’d like to refinance this loan to a lower rate, but haven’t had any luck so far. Although my credit score is great lenders don’t like my debt to income ratio. Now that I’m self-employed it will likely be even harder to get the loan refinanced. I just have to keep paying it down as quick as I can.

Although I doubt I’ll match last month’s progress I am hopeful that I’ll still be able to make decent progress this month.

December Income – $2204.10

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Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

Online Income $112.50
Interest $1.69
Uber $131.93
Amazon FBA $1449.52
Cash Back $475.25
Class Action $33.21
Total $2204.10

 

My income recovered nicely in December. Since my income was about $1000 more than my expenses I can afford to stay self-employed for a while longer.

The big improvement in my income came from my FBA income which increased from $1000 from the previous month. The Christmas spending frenzy was great for me and I sold a record amount of stuff in December. It will be difficult to match that this month now that the Christmas frenzy is over, but I’m hoping I can keep the income to at least the $1000 level. I’ve still got quite a few products in the Amazon warehouse so another big month is possible.

The cash back income of $475.25 was mostly (I’d estimate over 90%) from buying stuff to resell on Amazon. The Chase Freedom card paying 10% on Amazon purchases provided a $150 of the cashback and the Discover 10% Apple Pay promotion and 5% back at department stores contributed over $200. There should be another big amount of cashback from Discover this month.

The class action income was a random check I received due to a settlement from a former employer. I’m not sure what the suit was about, but I’ll take the money.

I didn’t do a lot of Uber driving in December. Although I spent quite a bit of time working on my FBA business and did have some holiday obligations I could have spent a lot more time driving for Uber. I plan to work at least half-time for Uber this month.

For the first time in several months the online income category showed a profit. It would be nice to have another profitable month. That will depend mostly on luck since I’ll be concentrating more on increasing my FBA and Uber income this month and not on my online income.

Although I made about $1000 more than my expenses last month I need to make a lot more. If I’m going to be able to pay off my student loans in a reasonable amount of time I need to make at least $2000 a month more than my expenses. That level of income won’t be easy for me to obtain, but it is something to strive for.

 

December Expenses – $1017.03

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household $439.90
Entertainment $25.13
Transportation $8.87
Food $108.24
Student Loan $183.86
Travel $0
Phone $36.79
Health $214.24
Total $1017.03

 

My December expenses were pretty low and almost at my $1000 target.  This was a rare month that didn’t have any unexpected or annual/semi-annual expenses.  My transportation expenses were low since the only gas I bought was with a gas gift card that was included in November’s expenses.  My only transportation expense for the month was $8.87 for an oil change. The oil change was super cheap since I had a coupon due to being a Shop Your Way member. Food expenses were down because I didn’t eat out as often due to attending several Christmas gatherings.

The only extra expense for the month was $81.11 to pay off the remainder of my biopsy bill. Hopefully, my expenses will be low this month as well.  I plan to have both a doctor appointment and dentist appointment this month which could result in some increased expenses. My transportation expense will go up since that is the only way it can go after being so low in December. All of my other expenses should be about the same.

2015 Review and 2016 Goals

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With the new year around the corner it is time to look back on 2015. Reflecting on this past year I don’t feel like I accomplished much. I am happy that I was able to travel to a couple of new places Niagara Falls/Canada and the Portland area of Oregon/Washington. Other than that I don’t feel like I did much this year.

I did terrible on my goals for 2015. My three goals for 2015 were to run a 5k in 23:59 or faster, finish hiking the Appalachian Trail, and to keep my average monthly expenses under $1000 for the year. I also later added a secondary goal of being able to do a chin-up.

Keeping my monthly average expenses under $1000 if the only goal I achieved. When I set the goal I stated that I wouldn’t count the cost of getting dental implants or the cost of getting a car. Taking out those expenses and the unexpected biopsy medical expense I did keep my spending under $1000 a month in 2015. I usually do well with financial goals and this wasn’t much of a stretch from my normal spending so it isn’t too much of a surprise that I was able to accomplish this goal.

I didn’t even come close to meeting the goals of running a 5k in 23:59 or faster or finishing the AT. Getting hit by a car did derail my plans for hiking the AT, but I still could have finished the hike starting later in the year. Finishing the AT is no longer a priority goal though.

The 5K goal was my biggest failure. I never got into a running routine and I most likely couldn’t even finish a 5k in my current physical condition. I gained about ten pounds this year and am in worse condition then I was at the start of the year.

My track record for achieving goals that I post on this blog is pretty poor. This TED Talk from Derek Sivers states that you should keep your goals to yourself. This is because when you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge it, psychologists have found that it’s called a “social reality.” The mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it’s already done. And then because you’ve felt that satisfaction, you’re less motivated to do the actual hard work necessary. I’m not completely sure that is true, but I do know that sharing my goals publicly hasn’t helped me accomplish them. Therefore, I’m not going to share my 2016 goals on the blog. The exception will be my goals of running a 5k under 23:59 and doing a chin-up since I’ve previously posted that I was carrying these goals over to 2016. Once I’m making progress on my 2016 goals I will share what I have done to make that progress.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and a great 2016.

Friday Flip – Olympus Voice Recorder

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olympus I have finally gotten another Friday Flip post written and published. I’ve also changed the name from Flippy Friday to Friday Flip since I like the sound of the new name better. In this post I will share my most profitable flip in November.  In order to show both the bad and the good I will post my least profitable flip of November next Friday.

The item for this week’s flip is an Olympus WS-802 Voice Recorder that I purchased on clearance at Staples for $26.50. I was able to sell it on Amazon for $108.97. After subtracting the Amazon fees of $11.39 I was left with a profit of $71.08.

There was also an expense to ship the item to the Amazon warehouse. Since I send several items at a time it would be a pain to calculate how much the shipping expenses is for each individual item. This is a small and light item so the shipping expense wouldn’t have been too significant. I also earned 5% in Staples Rewards on this item. The item was also purchased with either a 2% cash back credit card or a discounted Staples card which would add a tiny bit more profit.

One drawback to deals like this is that they aren’t repeatable. Staples only had one of these recorders on clearance so I couldn’t go back and buy more once this one sold. In order to find more deals I have to browse the clearance area every time I visit. Although I don’t always find something worth flipping I find stuff often enough that it is well worth my time to scan the Staples clearance whenever I’m there.