May was a great month. I visited family and friends in Israel, had a day in Frankfurt, and still managed to grow my net worth.
Banking, Debt, and Investments
Last month, I was debating paying off my mortgage early or investing in other places. My mortgage rate is 2.875% and my balance is less than $100,000. I found that for each $100 I pay early right now, I save about $50 in interest over the next 15 years. I wrote about it here, and a very insightful discussion followed. Based on that discussion, I decided to hold off on extra payments for the foreseeable future to allow me to invest elsewhere.
My $25 automatically deposit from each paycheck into my Lending Club account has now led to an account balance over $800. My net annual returns at Lending Club are 11.46% and steadily growing as I diversify into more risky, higher interest loans. I currently have 37 active loans, 3 in funding, and 11 fully paid and I have earned $102 in interest. I love Lending Club as an alternate investment vehicle.
Liberty Fund Update
I have a $30,000 savings goal for my liberty fund. Thanks to my bonus, I was able to make my biggest contribution to date. I started saving in August, 2012 and the fund balance is now at $23,549. I'm making great progress saving. I plan to use $2,500-$5,000 from this fund on some home remodeling projects in the next couple months.
The bulk of my liberty fund is in a combination of high interest savings accounts and a stock investment account. I suggest Ally Bank for this type of savings. I began this fund with a $5,000 emergency fund goal.
Side Business Income
Narrow Bridge Media – All Blogs and Online Activities
Revenue
- Private Ads, Freelance Work – $1345
- AdSense – $6
- Affiliate Payments – $145
- Premium Plugin Sales – $0 (will be reported only when paid by Code Canyon)
Expenses
- Freelance Writers – $30
- Email List – $19 (Provided by Aweber)
- Web Expenses and Development – $40
This was a pretty good month. My goal is $1,000 per month, and this month I made nearly $1,500 in revenue. I doubt that level will hold, but I'm not complaining!
I created a new WordPress plugin a couple months back to solve a problem I had. I was trying to convert from the Thesis Theme to Genesis (did you notice?) and couldn’t move my Thesis post images as expected. My new plugin takes care of that and is available for $10, of which I get $6 per sale.
Denver Flash Mob – Flash Mob Consulting and Planning
- Revenue – $339
- Staff Payments – $0
- Other Expenses – $0
The completely rebuilt the Denver Flash Mob website is sending me more business leads, but I don’t always have the ability to meet the requests. I currently have 4 events in the works. I am looking at buying a new speaker system this month and owe a payment to the choreographer.
I am considering selling this business to free up time for other projects, but I’m not really sure where to start with selling a business like this.
Net Worth
In total, my net worth was down $2,405, or .89%. I update my condo value from Zillow and update my car value based on Kelley Blue Book annually in January. I pay off my credit cards in full each payday.
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