While 2021 has definitely been an interesting time, October was no different. Throughout October, our personal finances have changed as well as our mindsets. We will break down what our focus is, what is to come, and the results of this month in detail.
Here are the numbers for the month of October:
Total Income: $7,121.33
Total Expenses: $4,408.42
Savings: $2,712.91
Savings Rate: 38.10%
What changed in our personal finances?
The primary amount of our income came from our jobs. I was fortunate to hit some bonuses at work and earn $3,495.21 for the month while my wife was able to earn $2,023.21. While my income is about 1/2 of what it used to be a year ago, i’m just fortunate to have any type of income coming in. So since we are disciplined and smart with our money, as income rises so does our savings and therefore speed to financial independence.
The difference from September to October was mainly the hours worked and mindset around income moving forward. I have been working at commission-only positions for quite a while and it gets old the longer you do it. Especially if the payouts are small on a closed deal. $200-$300 on a deal that takes weeks to close. Eventually you receive 20% of it after the third month. I’d rather work in a position where a closed deal is 10X the commissions at my current job.
Therefore, I will be transitioning into a much better situation that offers not only a generous salary but also a hefty commission as a software company. I’ve been selling myself short for a few years now of what value I feel I can bring to a company. So I am grateful to find a company that pays me well for my time and value I bring to the company. That position will start in December. This is a massive blessing because that would allow us to expedite our financial freedom journey and escape the rat race much faster.
Side income sources
Other than our jobs, my other sports blog brought in $43.16 in affiliate sales, and book royalties totaled about $223.65 in sales. I then earned $485.04 from the sports consulting gig I do on the weekends. Our primary residence on Airbnb brought in an additional $851.04 after taxes. So all together, side hustle income brought in $1,602.91 for the month.
If you are not doing a side hustle, please start one immediately. Esepcially if you can do something you love, it becomes a game to see how big you can make it.
So while things are starting to pick up on the side investments, we still have a long road ahead. It wouldn’t be a fun journey without a great story to tell from it.
Our biggest expenses
Uncle Sam always has a good chunk he likes to take but overall, the biggest expense for us by far was oru mortgage. That totaled $1457.67. But the next runner up is our health/car insurance. That totaled $712.28. The reason it’s higher than usual is due to us switching providers so we essentially double-paid for car insurance this month. It will be reduced to about $450 all together which will be a really helpful saving.
The extra $260 will help separate us from the rat race even further moving forward. Our personal finances are ever-evolving and as our income rises it is important not to fall into lifestyle creep where the expenses rise along with the income.
We will do our best to maintain the expenses we have currently. If anything, business spending will rise but if done correctly, so will income. Ideally, we want to reduce our housing costs even further but that will become more of a focus with the new software job in December.
What are we focused on?
Like the past few months, our personal finances are focused on no or minimal investments with massive upside potential. This could also be known as a asymmetric risk-reward investment. For example, we built one of the revenue streams around print-on-demand merchandise and books. That way, worst case scenario, you spend less than a dollar a month or no money at all and if it works out, you can make huge returns on your money without buying anything on your end.
This allows us to make a profit without owning any inventory (risk) of our own. When an order is placed, the product gets created, shipped, and 100% handled through the service provider. This allows us to free up our time and let another company do all the heavy lifting. My main responsibility is to provide an honest and high-quality promotion on social media. One post on Tiktok or Youtube can generate plenty of leads for a potential opportunity for both affiliate sales and book royalties.
The goal currently is to grow the social media channels which should provide a direct raise in income from traffic brought in. From the money earned, it will get reinvested both into advertising dollars and towards real estate. Our biggest expense is our mortgage so our next investment is to get a house hack to live in one unit and rent out the rest providing a reduced housing or completely free home to live in. This would give us a raise of $1460 or more if we can eliminate our housing costs to $0.
How are we handling our personal finances?
We currently track all of our expenses manually through google sheets. This allows us to have a manual pulse on our personal finances. Rather than using apps and software that automatically track money coming in and out, we’re able to get down to the exact dollar amount that comes and goes into our account. Some of the apps we’ve used in the past have been off by $1,000’s month over month. Therefore, by inputting each and every income and expense, we know exactly how much we spend in a month.
This is extremely important as if we are ever going to be financially free, it is imperative to know how much money is spent consistently. I would highly recommend you do the same in order to significantly reduce areas that you might spend a bit too much on. Check out this spreadsheet as it lays everything out in a simple way and you can adjust the tracker as necessary. The cool thing is you can make the tracker work exactly the way you want. Put as many formulas, change the colors around, make it yours!
What does the future look like for our personal finances?
We’ve never been 5 year plan people but we do know for now, we will continue putting away a percentage of our paychecks and scaling our businesses. This will allow us to take the approach that works for us and where we’re at in life. We’re married with a little dog and baby. In the past we would’ve put 75% of our money in a cryptocurrency in hopes of it winning big. And while we’ve made wise and also stupid investments, decisions change according to life responsibilities. The plan now is to support the family and continue growing on social media, the blog, and increase the real estate investment portfolio. The next big investment will be a house hack.
With the new job starting in december, it’s looking like we will hit that mark 4X faster than currently as the pay is substantially better. God willing the job income mixed in with our other ventures will continue to grow and provide better and better lifestyle changes. We’re extremely grateful to be where we’re at now with our personal finances. We appreciate all of the support and we’d love to respond to any questions and for you to subscribe to the newsletter as we’ll be sending out personal finance tips. Thank you for your support, be sure to leave a comment below with your thoughts!
- Eric