Expense/Income Tracking

January Investment Income- $53.58

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My investment income for January rose to $53.58 from $42.85 the month before. Although my investments went down I added enough new money to my portfolio to cause a nice increase in my investment income. Since I started tracking my investment income last April it has risen from $27.50 a month to the current figure of $53.58 a month. If I could continue to grow my income at that rate I wouldn’t have any trouble retiring in 10 years and living on my investment income. It isn’t likely that I’ll be able to continue that rate of increase but I will try to keep it increasing as much as I can. I’ll be adding more money to my investments this month but after that I probably won’t be able to add more money until the end of the year. Maybe my income will increase without my contributing more money.

Disclaimer:This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement accounts, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income.

January Income $788.36

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Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Online Income

$433.85

Interest

$25.66

Bank/Other Bonuses

$60

Survey/Half

$37.03

Stock Dividends

$45.73

Cash Back

$1.09

Medical Study

$125

Total

$788.36

This is an ok amount considering I’m not working at a job.  I came up about $20 short of making enough to cover my expenses for the month. My goal is to make enough alternative income to cover my living expenses.  I’ve come close or made that goal three out of the last five months but there is plenty of room for improvement.  This month my income will probably be down slightly.  My online income is going to be down because my Adsense and affilliate sales are shrinking.  My dividend income will also be down because only a couple of my stocks pay dividends this month.  I don’t see any other source of income making up the difference but I will look for ways to increase my income.

January Expenses $806.66

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household $406.98
Transportation $10.95
Food $37.23
Entertainment $74.46
Debt/Education $173.06
Phone $34.27
Medical/Dental $69.71
Total $806.66

I’m happy with this total. It puts me on track to have my expenses below $10,000 for the year. This month’s total should be about the same. I’ll probably spend a little more in the household and entertainment categories and less in the education category.

2008 Online Income Total $4644.28

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I just added up my online income for 2008 and came up with a total of $4644.28.  I need to double check and make sure I added everything up correctly but this figure is at least close to correct. This is my profit after expenses but before accounting for taxes.  Last year my online income didn’t even break a grand at a total of $883.84.  If I could increase my income at the same rate this year I would be doing very well.  That isn’t likely to happen but it would be nice.  I’m setting a more realistic goal of just making at least $1 more this year.

I need to come up with some ideas on how I can increase my income this year.  Last year I hired David at My Two Dollars to optimize my website for Adsense and that paid off handsomely.  Now I just need to figure out what else I can improve and how to do it.  Or pay someone else to do it for me.

December Income- $1309.44

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Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

Online Income

$450.12

Interest

$16.96

Bank/Other Bonuses

$44.10

Surveys/Mystery Shopping

$34

Stock Dividends

$53.10

Cash Back

$26.16

Car Sale

$480

Medical Study

$205

Total

$1309.44

My income was higher than my expenses which is always good.  Without the sale of my car though it would have been pretty close and my expenses will normally be higher than they were last month.  My income will probably go down a little this month. I need to find a way to ramp my alternative income up or get a job. I know a lot of people would be pretty happy with the alternative income I’m generating but since I’m not working I feel like I should be doing better.  I’m wasting a lot of time that could be put towards earning more income or at least doing something productive.