Question: What happens when the stock market goes up, you receive 12 months worth of a 401k match and you get a tax refund all in the same month?
Answer:
That’s what you get. Two guys combining for a net worth increase of over $25,000 in 31 days.
I’m pretty freaking excited about breaking the $50k mark. In fact I am now financially 35-44 years old, as the average 35-44 year old person has a net worth of $51,575. I’m 9 years early on that one!
But despite the great increase in my net worth, The Hoff is still kicking my freaking butt!
I’m Gonna Need Your Help!
I was feeling pretty confident about catching up with The Hoff. Last year I caught up about $7,000, and then started with a huge month in January this year. I was so close I could taste it.
And now this. He beat me by $3,000 last month, and another $3,500 this month. I’M GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!
One of the places I didn’t do well last month was in extra income. In fact, I literally made $3.85 last month from this website. Not exactly a banner month for me.
In order to increase revenue from this site without driving people away with lots of ugly ads, I’m trying to make a little more money via affiliate advertising. When I honestly believe in a product and it makes sense to talk about it, I’m going to recommend it here with an affiliate link.
I’ve already started a little bit when I recommended the PerkStreet FinancialSM Deposit Account after I helped my girlfriend Tag sign up for it. If you or someone you know needs a rewards checking account, feel free to use my post about Perkstreet to see if that’s right for you.
The other thing I’ve added to my site is an Amazon
recommendations widget at the bottom of the sidebar. If you click on that widget and buy anything from Amazon (not just the products I recommend) I get about 7% of your purchase price. So if you’re gonna shop at Amazon, feel free to navigate there via my link.
I know I’m shamelessly self promoting, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The Hoff is ripping me a new one, and I have to stop the bleeding quick!
And I want to clarify, my number one priority on this site is to entertain readers and provide them with some valuable personal finance information. If you ever feel like the business side of this site is getting in the way of that, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to fix it.
My Net Worth Tracking
As always, here are the net worth tracking graphs I use in my customized Net Worth Tracking Spreadsheet that is free to download. It’s fun to track this stuff, especially when the numbers are going up like mine have been!
By the end of the year I hope to pull even with The Hoff and show a big fat ZERO in the student loan line (blue installment line in the debts graph). Again, wish me luck!
Carnival Links
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
Festival of Frugality at Credit Karma
Totally Money Blog Carnival at Motivating Mum
Yakezie Carnival at Money Reasons
Carnival of Retirement at Finance Product Reviews
Financial Carnival for Young Adults at 20’s Finances
Personal Finance Whiz Carnival at Personal Finance Whiz
Carnival of Financial Planning at The Skilled Investor
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Congratulation to both of you. I think the Hoff is getting a hand from his partner. Is it fair to have a 2 on 1 fight? 🙂
I like the Amazon widget. Let us know if it works out. I’m also trying to move more toward affiliate products…
Great post. Keep them coming. Very Interesting. Congratulations
Awesome progress! I’m looking forward to getting my tax refund in the next month or so and even happier that it is pretty small (< $1,000).