The Finance Castle

I type this post while recovering from an unfamiliar sensation: An earthquake. Having lived my whole life on the East Coast, I have never had the experience of the ground shaking for no particular reason. Unexpectedly cool days aside, today I’d like to talk to you about brainstorming for potential sources of income. Even if you have your daily 9-5 job, chances are you could always use some extra money either to pad your savings or fund your travels. Here are some starting points:

Stick to What You Know

Personally, I hate the cliche that you should make money from what you’re passionate about, since in many cases, passion does not equate to income. Yet if you are looking to make money on the side, hobbies are a great place to start. My recent foray into Fiverr has taught me that while certain hobbies may not be able to replace your full time job, they can act as a useful supplement. Even Craigslist Arbitrage can be a valuable asset if you are buying and selling items that you can discern the value of.

Get Creative

One of the biggest issues people (myself included) seem to have is that they’re not willing to go outside of the box when it comes to earning more money. Generally, people that need more than they bring in look for a new job or look for a part time job to fill up the rest of their waking hours with. Instead, try to find activities that you can do each and every day for a small amount of money. Many tiny business ideas can be started for as little as $100.

Be Consistent

If you find yourself a source of income, you need to be able to harness that opportunity and, if possible, scale it. It can be an adjustment to learn to motivate yourself to get things done if you are used to an office environment where it is always someone’s job to keep you doing what you are supposed to. If you find an idea you are willing to move forward with, hit it and hit it hard.

I almost didn”t want to write this particular post since people tend to get a bit touchy when it comes to vices, and a game like Poker is no different. Yet the reason I bring up Poker as an income source isn”t to encourage you to dump your life savings into a game that statistically speaking most players lose at. If you”re at all familiar with the , you know you”re probably barking up the wrong tree, anyway.

Instead, if you happen to enjoy playing Poker when the stakes are low and the play is fun, then it is possible to eek out some extra money each month and sock it away into your savings. There are subscription Poker sites out there that operate legally in the United States under “sweepstakes laws.” What this means for you is that you can play Poker for a cash prize or various items as long as the house doesn”t take their cut off the top (rake). As such, you can enter into a number of tournaments in a month and play for cash without paying for any sort of entry fee.

Now that the logistics are out of the way, here”s how you can get started as a player. While there are a number of sites out there, I play over at . Note that the link you see isn”t an affiliate link and I”m not compensated in anyway for the post, this is simply an exercise in fun.

Once you are signed up, you can enter a variety of qualifiers for cash prizes and/or login to receive a number of “points” each day which can be used to enter a few of the tournaments. If you have played poker at all before, note that in any free game the skill level will be very low, so expect some ridiculous calls and people throwing their chips away for seemingly no reason. The sites make their money by offering up ads during breaks and by offering a monthly subscription option that allows access to more tournaments as well as removing the ads during play.

Extra Disclaimer: I know I stated this before, but to reiterate, I”m not advocating . real money with online poker. What you see in this post is free, and so nothing is at risk except a few hours of fun. Enjoy!

When I first got into Personal Finance, I was convinced that the best way to go was simply save as much as you possibly can, build up a portfolio of income, and retire to wherever seems interesting at the time. As time went on, I realized that in order to do that, chances were that I would have to stay in a job that would not be the most rewarding personally but would provide financially. This isn”t always the case, mind you, but that was my own financial landscape.

As time went on, I realized that I didn”t want to wait 15-20 years to retire at the “young” age of 45. This didn”t mean I was getting away from saving for retirement at all, just that I wanted to do work I found fun everyday while saving rather than just aiming straight for the paycheck. So my priorities changed, and I worked toward building up income from a variety of sources. As such, each day would be different, the variety and fun would be rewarding, and I could retire like a normal person at 65 . If you really enjoy what you do, this isn”t such a daunting prospect.

Note also that I”m really not there yet. There are still a lot of things I want to accomplish even as I check off previous goals like purchasing a home. I want to travel more, and to do that I would like to bring my wife along, too. She is still stuck at her local office job, which she enjoys as far as jobs go but restricts her ability to move around for more than a week or two at a time. I”m going to have to work smarter and harder if I want to see this through.

Resources for Extreme Early Retirement

If you don”t mind putting the time casino online in for 5-15 years before pulling the trigger on your retirement but you want to get out of the workforce and doing what you want as soon as possible, I have two recommendations:

Early Retirement Extreme: Jacob is an extremely capable and bright person who had decided he wanted out of his current career and onto something more fulfilling on a personal level. It wasn”t easy, but if you have it in your head that you want to retire in your 30s, this is the guy to show you the way. He lays out what you”ll need to do and how you should go about doing it in short order.

Retire Early Lifestyle: From high-powered entrepreneurs and corporate drones to living on the sunny beaches of Mexico, Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are a monument to what is possible if you put your mind and financial resources to an important goal. They often write about their travels and experiences, and if you are curious about retiring early, this is a great starting point.

Resources for Working Happily

The Art of Nonconformity: As far as I can tell, Chris is a robotic cyborg programmed to show us that we”re not locked into a particular lifestyle. He is currently visiting every country in the world, writing a sequel to his book, running a successful business via his blog, and teaching us all how we can do the same. He works. A lot. But he enjoys it as far as I can tell, and provides a lot of inspiration for those looking to capture that spirit.

Nerdy Nomad: Kirsty from Nerdy Nomad is a free spirit, traveling the world while building up her online portfolio. I”ve never seen such a transparent blogger, as she is happy to provide a breakdown if income each month and talk about strategies inbetween her various global adventures.

Now a few months into home ownership, I feel like I have a lot to reflect upon. To start, let me say that I am not the kind of person that worries about a lot of things. I have built my life around minimizing unnecessary stress while working on the things I want to do. I have been marginally successful at it so far, but owning a home was always a tug of war for me. On one hand, renting seemed like a waste of money, something that could be used to build up an asset. On the other, renting meant I didn’t have to spend every day worrying about maintenance inside or out. If an appliance broke, I called the landlord, or the air conditioning, the lawn, and so on. By buying a house, I would need to keep up on and learn how to properly maintain my newfound property.

And worry I did.

After settlement, I was a wreck. Not normally rattled, I was bombarded with the idea that things needed to be fixed, improved, maintained. I had a hard time working because I would think about painting a room, or having the foundation checked, or…well the list went on. Such uncharacteristic behavior really made me wonder if I had made a huge mistake. Thankfully, after a few weeks, the worry subsided. This was my house and, come what may, I was going to do my best to make it a home. We made a lot of purchases in the first few weeks, but that has slowed down as well. I have a general list of what needs to be done, and we’re going to fix things as they come. It isn’t always perfect, but I’ve settled into home ownership, new responsibilities and all.

So, here are my thoughts, if you are considering buying a home in the near future:

Pros

• Ownership: Despite all of the finance posts you will read about being a slave to your mortgage, buying a home should not be treated as an investment. You are buying a home. A base of operations that allows you to mold the place into your image. As long as you plan properly and only buy a place you know you can readily afford, the financial aspects of purchasing should fall into place.
• Customization: When you rent, you have to get permission to do just about anything. When you own, you can do whatever you want with your new property. This opens up a lot of possibilities if you want to make adjustments, renovate rooms, etc. There’s a certain amount of fun to be derived from such projects, even as the process itself can be stressful.
• Light at the End of the Tunnel: When you have a mortgage, you also set an endpoint. If you rent, you will always need to pay someone for the space you live in. When you are working toward home home ownership, you know that somewhere down the line, you are going to live mortgage free. That is a very liberating thought, and certainly reinforces the idea of financial freedom. If your mortgage payment is modest, you can accelerate the payment of your loan, and the tunnel gets that much shorter.

Cons:

• Worry: Being responsible for your own property comes with a lot of upkeep. You have to mow the lawn, pay taxes on your land, make sure that all of the structural aspects of your home like electrical, plumbing, etc. are in tip top shape. Failure to do so can have serious financial consequences, and that can weigh on anyones mind, especially when you are first starting out.
• Mortgage: Paying a mortgage, simply put, isn’t fun. While you are working toward the end goal of owning your home outright, the bank will be bombarding you with interest in the interim. As far as I am concerned, the sooner you pay it off, the better.
• Other Costs: There is a certain element of randomness to owning a home in terms of the financial costs. Things may break that are completely out of your control, but will deal a significant blow to your bank account. These costs exist no matter how well you maintain your property, so owning adds a variable cost that can be hard to predict.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a person that you would generally call “Risk averse.” As such, I often fall prey to a very simple blunder that consumers and companies alike make: Letting fear and worry dictate their actions instead of doing what you know is right.

In terms of finance, the recent downfall of the U.S. stock market and, indeed, markets worldwide, has continued to shake the resolve of even the most stalwart investor. Everyone is convinced that they are willing to ride out the ups and downs of the market, right up until the realize just how far down those downs are capable of going. 600 point drops on the Dow are going to happen, especially in an age of economic uncertainty.  The solution, then, is rationally gauging how capable you are of handling risk, and adjusting your portfolio accordingly.

Going with a less aggressive portfolio composition shouldn’t be considered a sign of weakness or a weak stomach, but rather an honest evaluation of your tolerance for volatility. If you know that you are going to hit the panic button once the Dow drops off a cliff and sell at the worst possible moment, you can protect yourself by changing your investments to something that better fits you and stop you from havinf to make that decision in the first place. This will take adjustments of your savings rate as well, since less-risky investments offer a less attractive rate of return, so you will need to save more as a result.  As always, consult with your financial advisor before making any changes to your portfolio, or whoever you happen to confide with for financial advice (ie. not me).