Income/Expenses For January 2014

I’ve been tracking my income and expenses online since I initiated this blog back in early 2011. I do this for a couple of reasons.

First, I want to prove to the world that it’s indeed possible to become financially independent at a relatively young age even if you don’t make a lot of money. I don’t make a six-figure income. I never have and I probably never will. But it’s not necessary. Often, people focus on income too much. Expenses are just as important because if you make $200,000 per year, but spend $190,000 of it you’ll never become financially independent. Conversely, bringing home $40k and learning to get by on half of it means you’ll likely able to retire if you want to within about 15 years or so. Making less means you have less to save, but spending less means you need less to retire off of.

Second reason I do this is because I want this to be a live look at one man’s journey. You can find countless books by financially successful people, but often it’s long after they’ve completed their trek to significant wealth that they’re then telling you how they did it. It’s easy to postulate. It’s much more difficult to actually show the whole process in action, for better or worse.

So each month I will post my income/expenses for the previous month. I track every dollar in and out, so what you see is exactly what I earned and spent (rounded to the nearest dollar).

Income from January 2014:
Day Job Paycheck $3,899.00
Dividend Income $348.00
Online Income $1,211.00
Total Income $5,457.00
Expenses from January 2014:
Rent & Utilities $538.00
Auto $300.00
Health $978.00
Student Loans $224.00
Groceries $130.00
Restaurants $101.00
Fast Food/Takeout $111.00
Fuel $69.00
Auto Insurance $49.00
Pharmacy $50.00
Mobile Phone $40.00
Gym $30.00
Amusement $6.00
Everything Else* $90.00
Total Expenses $2,740.00

*The Everything Else category includes expenses I don’t have a regular budget for. In this case, I spent $50 for an annual membership to Sony’s online membership for PlayStation 4. I received a PS4 for Christmas from my parents and it requires a paid membership to play online with friends, which, of course, one buys if you have any interest in playing games online. It’s cheap entertainment on an hourly basis, so I’m okay with this annual expenditure. The other $40 was for household goods including cleaning supplies and an A/C filter.

Income was fantastic. This was just a great month with really no area that requires improvement. I had a great month at work, and the new guy isn’t fully operational yet so my income hasn’t taken a big hit so far. Dividend income, as recently discussed, was fantastic. And the big surprise was the online income. I no longer track small spiffs for miscellaneous sales programs we have at work in the same category as online income, and will henceforth include these small bonuses into my regular paycheck income category. This is so I can tack my online income as a separate category due to my goal to achieve $12,000 in online income for the year. Obviously, this is a great start to that end as this was my biggest month ever! I had a great month here at the blog and combined that with new writing opportunities which allowed me to achieve this new level of success. And I thank all of you readers for your continued support!

But as you can see it was an extremely expensive month. It was one of the most expensive months I’ve had since I started this journey. Most of this was due the fact that I had to get a root canal. So you see a larger-than-normal health expense due to this. The root canal expense is behind me as well as most of the charges related to the crown. I still have a small amount due to the dentist once the crown is in later this month.

Food was a tad high again. It seems I bounce up and down on this from month to month. I’ll have a great month and then slack off for a few weeks. I’ll then get takeout once or twice and before you know it I’m well over what I want to spend. I think February will be expensive once again in regards to food expenditures due to Valentine’s Day, but looking forward I have a good feeling I’m going to reduce this down to the mid-$250 area for the rest of the year even as I continue to eat healthier than I used to.

Student loans are now higher than they have been for the last few years. I’m on a graduated payment plan, and I just hit the next threshold. It’ll be this expensive for at least the next year before it goes up again. Ahh, the costs of being a college drop-out!

You’ll see that car insurance went down quite a bit. I scored a small victory here as I switched from Geico to Progressive. While my rate was already much less right off the bat even with increased coverage on my 2006 Corolla, I also allowed them to mail me their “Snapshot” product to monitor my driving habits. Obviously, I’ve been taking it even easier than normal and they already gave me a 20% discount. Score!

I managed to save 49.8% of my net income this past month. It wasn’t a total disaster only because I had a great month income-wise, but I’m hoping to get my expenses down to normal soon. The cash flow situation is a bit better than it looks, however, because the $300 auto expense is just me amortizing the cash purchase of my car.

My goal is to save 50% of my net income, averaged monthly. So far, I’ve hit rates of:

49.8% – January

A pretty solid start to the year as I’m right on pace. I had a great chance to come out of the gate hot, but the root canal slowed my roll. That’s okay because even though I’ll likely see my income slowly drift lower throughout the year, I also don’t have such expensive months very often.

How was your January budget? Save as much as you wanted to?

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: RambergMediaImages

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59 Comments

  1. Congrats on the PS4. I’m hoping to get one, my plan is to try to keep converting Discover cashback into gamestop gift cards until I have enough to cover it completely.

    Also, I just picked up some shares of KO and MSFT.

    Keep up the good work!

  2. Jason,

    Not used to seeing you spend so much, but dental work is a must I assume. That is the only huge expenditure I see. On the other hand, your food expense is really low compared to mine. How do you do it?

    The income generating from your website is getting real nice! Perhaps you could break that down even further for us dedicated readers who own blogs and follow you, just to see where we can improve.

    Great month, keep killing it!

    DividendVet

  3. DM,

    It seems like there are always one or two highly improbable but high impactful expenses each year. My wife had kidney stones last September. After 2 trips to the ER and finally surgery when she was properly diagnosed, I had a nice $5k bill after the insurance payment. The year before was a $4k air conditioner for our house. Do you use any kind of monthly accrual for these “Black Swan” events?? I haven’t, but I may start this year!

  4. Jason, I just checked out your Freedom Fund. My God, what a powerful collection of holdings. It looks like the stock holdings you see crawling off the pages of The Intelligent Investor and the Berkshire Shareholder Letters. It really is a collection of securities designed to survive a Great Depression 2.0.

  5. DM,

    Managing to save 49.8% of your income while having an expensive procedure is absolutly fantastic! Your discretionary spending is still very low as are your essentials. That online income is really starting to add up as well, well done sir!

    Take care

    -Dividendasaur

  6. Great month Jason, and props to you for your exploding online income. Just think, a year ago you were making a fraction of the income (less than $100) from your blog, and here you’ve already got over a 12-bagger in that arena! Keep it up and that $12,000 goal is going to look tiny at the halfway point of this year.

  7. Hi Jason,

    Very happy to see the blog generating so much revenue for you. It’s a unique historical document of our time as you suggest when you say it’s the story of one person’s journey in real time. The transparency of the blog, your openness, and your integrity make this, IMHO, far and away the best personal finance blog. Others can tell “how,” but you inspire with the force of your example.

    A couple of comments. First, as the online income rises, it may provoke some envy and maybe even some anger directed your way. At that point it might be tempting to reduce the transparency, but I hope you will stand firm. The transparency is key to your success, and 99% of your readers admire you and wish you nothing but the best.

    Second, I have a suggestion for a post. Have you ever written about the summer of 2011 I think it was when you went offline for several months, apparently not sure if the journey was worth continuing? Am I right that those were your “wilderness months,” so to speak, where you really had to wrestle with whether or not to stay on course. Anyone engaged in a multi-year project has got to face such trials, and fighting through them is part of what’s needed to succeed in such a project. Might make for an interesting and inspiring post.

    Keep up the good work!

  8. Pretty simple DV – Get to the point where you have 140k pageviews a month. At that point it is a matter of converting that traffic to income via Adsense, affiliate, Amazon, and other advertising networks.

  9. BuySmart,

    The PS4 is nice, but I don’t think it’s this massive jump from the PS3. But my brother-in-law plays online a lot and it’s nice to jam with him every so often. It’s really cheap entertainment.

    Great job on the purchases! I think you made some nice purchases there. Keep it up yourself. 🙂

    Best wishes.

  10. Even during a month where you had above average one time expenses, you are still crushing it Dividend Mantra. I do agree that frugality and smart income investing when coupled together can work wonders for ones journey to financial independence..

    Saving 50% of income is no small feat.. In fact, very few people in North America ever manage to achieve that..

    By the way, I was wondering if you would be opposed to including the amount of taxes you pay in your monthly income/expense reports. I would be curious to see how much you spend each month on taxes ( I guess you are lucky that you don’t have to pay state income taxes). My largest expense is taxes, after that housing, transportation, and then booze 😉 Oh wait, putting money in Diageo is an investment, not an expense, my bad 😉

  11. DividendVet,

    Yeah, I’m not used to seeing me spend this much either! 🙂

    It was an unfortunate month, because without the root canal I would have had an excellent start to the year. But such is life. Life likes to throw curve balls at you from time to time, but it’s more important what you do with the fast balls in your wheelhouse.

    This was a huge month for the online income. A healthy chunk of that was due to some writing opportunities, but I’m still generating around $700 or so from the blog – mostly through Adsense. I’m sure someone with a greater mind than my own could make much more money from this blog, but it’s just not something I have a ton of time to investigate. I’m quite happy with where it’s at now, so I’m just hoping to maintain that. I’ll try to put a post together sometime that breaks it down and maybe addresses blogging as a source of income in FI, because I can see how writing (if you’re interested in it) can help bridge the gap between now and FI.

    Thanks for the support!

    Best regards.

  12. Pipeline,

    Sorry to hear about the kidney stones there, but I’m glad to hear your wife is okay.

    Medical expenses just plain suck. I don’t really budget for these events, but rather just continue to track them as they occur. It’s very easy for me to add my total health expenses for the year and then just plot them year to year. Kidney stones is one of those things you can’t really do much about, but that’s why you have the health insurance. I didn’t have health insurance until the middle part of last year, but my assets had grown to the point to where I needed to protect them.

    Now if I’m diagnosed with some kind of condition at some point that requires ongoing medical care then I will have to budget in for something like that, and, perhaps, delay FI. I’m hopeful that doesn’t happen, however.

    Keep up the good work, and great job with the weekly investing! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  13. Tim,

    Hey, great to see you here. Always glad to see you stop by. I do visit your blog, but I haven’t signed up for a LiveFyre account so I can’t comment. Keep up the great work!

    Glad you like the Freedom Fund. It still has a long way to go, and there are quite a few companies I don’t own a piece of yet that I’d like to. I’m still filling in the pieces as I go. It’s like a sculpture that takes decades to complete. The journey, however, is half the fun! 🙂

    Take care!

  14. Dividendasaur,

    Thanks! I’m certainly glad I still managed to get to the halfway mark even with the big medical expense. However, I could have really knocked it out of the park without that. But I’ve got eleven more opportunities this year! 🙂

    Thanks for the support and encouragement. Much appreciated!

    Good luck to you as you continue to grow your fund and knowledge. 🙂

    Cheers!

  15. w2r,

    The online income has certainly been a big boost to me as I struggle through some high expenses right now. I’m anxious to get back to my frugal roots here very soon. Later this year the car expense will be fully amortized and hopefully I can reduce some other expenses as I go. It’s all just opportunity!

    I’m hopeful the online income continues like this, but I know that once I switch to WP my expenses for blogging are going to go way up. So the net income from online activities may take a hit, but it’s a play for the long-term and I’m not in this for the money anyhow. I want to own my own content and provide a richer experience for everyone, so I’m really excited!

    Take care!

  16. Anonymous,

    Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

    I agree with you in regards to my break there back in mid-2012. I think that would make a great post to talk about in terms of why I did it, how it helped me and how to deal with knowing that one’s goals are still so far off on the horizon. I touched on this a bit when I announced that I was coming back, but I think it’d be great to explore that a bit more. Thanks for the idea!

    And thanks for the support. In regards to the income, I plan to be transparent all the way to the time I retire, or become financially independent, and then there on after. I wouldn’t want to climb a mountain and only leave breadcrumbs for half the journey. I believe in doing things 100%, so I won’t back off from this even if it causes issues. I think that money is something that makes people uncomfortable, and that’s just one of the reasons I open up so much. It’s important for all of us to share and support one another. It makes us all stronger.

    Thank you for the kind words. I really do appreciate it. I started this blog a few years ago to do something truly different and unique, and I’m just really grateful that there is an audience out there that appreciates all the time and effort I put into this. So thank you!

    Best wishes.

  17. Instead of a monthly accrual, what about just setting up an emergency savings stash for such things? Unforeseen broken arm, car repair, flooded garage, or any number of things can and inevitability will happen.

    In my own budget, I have set a target to set aside $25K (at around $8K now) in savings for mild emergencies (health, car repair, job loss, etc.). It feels good to have a buffer, and whenever you need to dip into it, just save each month to replenish.

  18. Have you thought about putting any of your stocks into a Roth IRA? I know it ties up your money until 60, but it also means you have to pay zero tax on it after you put the money in. I think some of your higher yielding stocks, or future stocks, would be great candidates for this. OHI, or some other REIT, has a juicy yield of 6%, but this also means you have to pay 15% taxes on this every year, and probably more eventually as this country gets more and more broke.

    By putting just a part away in a ROTH, you’ll be able to save an extra 15% each year, which will compound numerous times. Definitely do not put too much in here since it will be untouchable until 60, but imagine having a nice big chunk of free money available to you once you make it to 60, tax advantages and all!

  19. You keep on kicking ass! You managed to save almost 50% even with an expensive medical bill.

    Your online income keeps growing, it’s amazing how high it is now. Congrats on the PS4, I have PS3 now and might get a PS4 one of these days. As you point out, videogames are very cheap entertainment on an hourly basis.

    Keep up the good work!

  20. You’re killing it! Way to go on just about nailing 50% saved for the month and also on the great online income. Have you considered writing anything about online income and how you generate that or your thoughts on the topic?
    I’ve said it before but I love reading the monthly income/expense updates. Thanks!

  21. Jason,

    Looking back I remember seeing your posts on the ERE journals page which then led to this site. Posting the “live” updates of your income and spending is always a favorite read of mine here. I like that you have a record of it for all too see. I hope to one day be able to feel comfortable in sharing our numbers but I’m just not there yet.

    I’m also struggling with the food category and trying to eat healthier. I wish I wasn’t addicted to my daily can of Mountain Dew but you Pepsi stock holders love me!

    Is it ok if in a future post I mention your site with a link?

    BJ

  22. Hi DM,

    the new table looks very good! 🙂
    Could be, that the table looks better, if the table is centered…?

    In Janury I have saved only 19% of my income!
    But February and March will be much better!

    Your income (after tax I think) is realy awesome!

    Best regards
    D-S

  23. Ravi,

    Good points there.

    Everyone has different requirements for their emergency fund. I discussed why I keep a relatively low emergency fund a while back. I tend to only keep around $4k or so on hand in cash because I don’t own a home, have low expenses, maintain a high savings rate and my stock investments are fairly liquid. The odds of me needing $10k all in one shot are very low, so I’d rather not forgo the higher potential returns of the stock market by keeping a bunch of cash in a MM account or something similar.

    Thanks for adding that!

    Best regards.

  24. Spoonman,

    Thanks, man. You’re also kicking some major ass! 🙂

    The PS4 is indeed cheap entertainment. Is it productive? No, but not everything needs to be. I get a lot done in a day with 11 hours at the dealership, hitting the gym three times per week and then actively writing/blogging about 3 hours per night. So I feel good about a little downtime here and there. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by. Looking forward to see what you guys are doing later in the year!

    Best regards.

  25. Matt,

    Thanks! Glad you enjoy these updates. I think these reports are really at the core of what I’m doing. You can be a great investor, but if you’re not a great saver you won’t go very far.

    I definitely should put together something specifically addressing online income, and how it bridges the gap between passive income and expenses. I plan to write even when I’m financially independent, so building this income now is even better.

    Thanks for the suggestion! It’s not something I’m on expert on by any means, but I’m doing way better than I ever thought I would!

    Thanks for the support! Looks like things are going very well with you in your own journey. You almost hit $100 in January. Keep it up!!

    Take care.

  26. BJ,

    Haha, I hear you on soda addiction. Although I’ve pretty much given it up during the week in favor of Propel flavored water, I do get a few cans in during the weekends.

    For my first couple years into this I ate very unhealthy and cheap. Plenty of ramen noodles and PB&J. I’m going to write a post about my diet these days, because the one article I have on that is now outdated. Most of my diet these days revolves around granola/oatmeal for breakfast, Lean Cuisine and water for lunch, and a couple of deli meat sandwiches for dinner. This is during the week. The weekends are mostly unplanned and a bit less healthy, although I still try to keep it cheap. I would actually say 70% or so of my monthly food expenditures are due to weekend eating.

    And feel free to include me on your blog. I’d be honored!

    Best wishes.

  27. D-S,

    Haha! It would probably take me another three years to learn how to center the table. It took me this long just to get a stupid little table up there. I’m really horrible with this stuff. I’ll do my best to learn, though. 🙂

    Congrats on saving 19% of your income. Nothing wrong with that. That’s still WAY higher than our national average.

    Thanks for the support. Really appreciate it. Hope all is well in Germany!

    Take care!

  28. Jakub,

    Thanks so much for following along since the beginning. I’m always glad to hear from readers from way back when. 🙂

    Congratulations for having such success with buying websites. I understand that can be very lucrative if done right. And I’m positive a greater effort in regards to making money online could yield greater results than what I’ve achieved thus far. I’m more than happy to hear any ideas you have.

    You can reach me at:

    [email protected]

    I’m making the move to WP to own my content, but also to provide a much richer experience than what Blogger can provide. And I’m really excited about it. But I also understand this could provide me a lot more flexibility/potential to earn income online. If that happens too, well, I’d be very happy! 🙂

    Thanks again for your readership. I appreciate you following along!

    Best regards.

  29. Thanks for your inspiring blog. A little over a year ago I stumbled upon your site, Mr. Money Mustache and ERE.
    In less than a year I have managed to put over ten thousand dollars in Dividend stocks. I have a defined pension plan and annuity from my government job. I used to be a Complainypants and thinking financial freedom was something only the lucky or truly gifted could achieve. Just by getting real and not blowing the occasional financial windfalls, and raises to end up being eaten away by lifestyle inflation Im getting stoked on being an investor and not a consumer. Im finding I get a more of a thrill investing in stocks than I ever did buying some item to pile up unused after a short time. Used my tax return yesterday an purchased shares in KO, and JNJ for my Roth IRA which I maxed out last year, and more than three quarters for this years. All on a low income and living in NJ. Keep posting and Thanks

  30. DM,
    I read your explanation and I understand everything you are saying. I would still argue that a Roth is in your interest. This is because with a Roth, there is no penalty for withdrawals up to the total of your previous contributions. So if you put $50K into a Roth by age 40, you can then pull $4K out of it every year without going over that limit. Plus, at your income level, you might get a tax credit for contributing to the Roth.

    You never know what changes might happen in your life that make you say, damn, now I’m making more money and the fact that $50K is not in a Roth is costing me $1K a year in taxes.

  31. Sorry, it’s too early to math. I meant, you can pull out $2K/yr.

    That’s 4%, which is what your dividends would easily be if you favored higher yields in the Roth vs your taxable account.

  32. Would also love to see the breakdown of taxes. I currently categorize my savings % after taxes, so it would be nice to see how much less in taxes you are paying then someone like me say, from NYC.
    SkyInvestor

  33. Hi DM,

    Great blog. I had a question I was hoping to get your opinion on.

    I have just started my portfolio and currently have 2k in disney. I have another 2k ready to invest. What company would you suggest currently?

    Thanks

  34. DM, jusr wondering if Day Job Paycheck $3,899.00 before taxes of after?
    Also, do you have some kind of Group RRSP (I think it’s 401K in US) from your employer?, for example I contribute 6% and employer 9% (it’s tax sheltered).
    P.S. good thing that we have free health care here 🙂

  35. How about that 15.4% dividend boost from Pepsi today! That will be great for the Freedom Fund.

    Mike :o)

  36. That online income is great. If you can remain consistent at this level you could quit your day job. That’s awesome, although I know you have bigger plans in store. January was an expensive month for me too and I’m ready for things to settle back down a bit. Great job in January still hitting your savings target even after including some one-time expenses.

  37. Don’t know why PEP is more than 2% down on pretty good quarter…. added today more PEP to my position

  38. DGI,

    Thanks so much! And you’re right: combining the powers of frugality with an intelligent application of the dividend growth investing strategy is indeed powerful, and can work wonders for one’s ability to become financially independent at a relatively early age. I’m trying to leverage both as much as I possibly can!

    I could easily include my taxes in these reports, but I include net because I can’t save my taxes. Taxes come out of my check before I ever see the cash, so it’s not applicable to a savings rate. However, I fear including taxes would then just open up lengthy discussions/arguments on taxes, and people like to focus way too much on taxes instead of worrying about things that are more within their control like their ability to limit spending or invest wisely.

    But I appreciate the suggestion. I’ll definitely give it some serious thought!

    Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

    Best regards.

  39. SkyInvestor,

    So that’s two votes for taxes. I’ll definitely think about it.

    However, I have concerns about how fired up people get about taxes. It’s along the lines of politics or religion. I think taxes sometimes causes people to miss the forest for the trees. I certainly have my concerns about taxes, as I moved from Michigan to Florida because of taxes (among a myriad of reasons). Furthermore, I’ve thought long and hard about my strategy to use taxable accounts exclusively so that I can limit the time to FI as much as humanly possible. What I’m doing is certainly controversial, but it works for me and I’ll be publishing the results all along the way. 🙂

    And, obviously, comparing my tax rate to yours or any others does not necessarily make sense. I’m single and live where there are no state income taxes. Living in NYC, as you do, is certainly not the best from a tax perspective.

    But I will think about it. If people gain value from the taxes I paid then I’ll include it. I’m just afraid of opening a can of worms…

    Cheers!

  40. Anonymous,

    I agree that a Roth would be the best option of all tax-advantaged accounts available to me due to the flexibility of one. Being able to withdraw contributions is very attractive.

    However, as I pointed out before the overall tax savings are very minor when looking out over the long haul. I think it added up to a month of work or less the last time I looked. And not that I’m taking a month of work lightly, but I guess I just don’t know if jumping the hoops to take my money out and add to the paperwork pile (due to tracking what I’m taking out) is worth it. This is obviously a question only you can answer for yourself. 🙂

    Thanks for adding that. I do appreciate your perspective. And I would agree that I’m leaving a little money on the table by avoiding a Roth. But I guess I’ve just come to the point where I’m okay with that.

    Best wishes!

  41. Chris,

    Thanks so much!

    I’m extremely blessed to be able to earn a decent side income from blogging while pursuing my passion for writing. It’s been really amazing, and I couldn’t do it without all of your readers. I truly appreciate it!

    I’m only hoping to return the favor by continuing to put out great content that people enjoy!

    Take care.

  42. Kevin Napalo,

    I’m really glad to hear you’ve turned things around! That’s fantastic.

    And I know EXACTLY what you mean when you say you enjoy buying equity in a high quality company way more than buying something that you’d only find enjoyment from for a transient period of time. That’s the great thing about dividends: they’re the gift that keeps on giving! 🙂

    Keep up the great work. I hope you continue your journey and keep us updated on your progress.

    Cheers!

  43. Anonymous,

    I find TGT and PM to be pretty compelling values right now, and that’s where I’ve been putting my money at. I think either would be a great candidate for your $2k, and that’s where I’ve been putting my personal money lately.

    I hope that helps!

    Take care.

  44. gibor,

    My paycheck is net of taxes, so after taxes. I only include net income because taxes are a forced expenses and my gross savings rate would be skewed unfairly. Furthermore, most savings rates are compared on a net basis because of the fact that taxes vary so much and they aren’t available to spend/save.

    I don’t contribute to a 401(k) because my employer does not match, and the funds they offer are poor in quality and high in fees. However, I’m really happy for you for getting such a great match! 9% is fantastic, and if I had access to that I’d be taking advantage of it too!

    And I agree that your health care is very nice up there. Although, as I understand it this public benefit is paid for through higher taxes, no? Everything has its benefits and drawbacks I suppose.

    Best wishes.

  45. Anonymous,

    I seen that! A very nice raise, indeed. They had a pretty solid quarter and the dividend news was wonderful. I just love being a shareholder of a high quality company that takes its investors seriously.

    Life is good. 🙂

    Best regards.

  46. Pursuit,

    The online income is wonderful, but at the same time I know it could go away at any time. Google could decide to suspend my account and there goes a lot of it. Or, the writing opportunities dry up.

    Whereas the dividend income is much more certain. That’s why I mostly focus on that. However, I’m certainly hoping the online income continues as that would allow me a big margin of safety as I get close to financial independence. It could also allow me to get there a little earlier than I anticipated, which would be phenomenal!

    Thanks for all the support. You’re doing fantastic over on your end too!

    Cheers.

  47. Are you going to ever go back and finish your degree? Do you have any kind of college degree? If you could do it over again would you stay in college and finish? Please don’t take these questions the wrong way. I’m not trying to criticize, just curious.

    I went to college on and off since 2001, finally going to get my associate degree after like 13 years, I graduate this May from community college and then I’m going to do most of my bachelor’s degree online through my state university. Most of my associate degree was done online as well. I really regret not taking my education more seriously because I have found it tough to make a living without a college degree of any kind.

    It’s really my own fault for slacking on the associate degree since community colleges tend to be cheap, but at least I’m graduating debt-free thanks to grants, money from work, and my parents kick in a little bit. I could have graduated faster but didn’t get serious about finishing my degree until about a year and a half ago. After I’m done with my bachelor’s I’m going into programming.

    Did you find it a struggle to get jobs without a degree? How did you make it to the middle-class without a degree? I’m currently making $11/hour. I understand I made a lot of poor mistakes. Please don’t judge. I have kicked myself over them but am trying to turn my life around. Please reply!

  48. Anonymous,

    I’ve thought about going back to college, but I just don’t know if it makes sense for me.

    There’s the opportunity cost of going to college and not being able to do everything I do now. So I’d have to quit my job for one less demanding on my time and/or quit the blog. So there would be an immediate impact on my income and my ability to continue funding my Freedom Fund.

    And then you have to add the actual cost of college itself. So you compound the loss of income with the increased expenses and my ability to become financially independent by 40 is highly unlikely.

    So I’d be basically placing this big bet that my degree would somehow land me the “job of my dreams”, which I just don’t put too much stock in. I don’t identify myself by a job, and I don’t see that really changing with a degree. I’d be giving up my dream of financial independence for a job I would hopefully love enough to not want to retire from at a young age.

    It’s just a big gamble, and why take that bet if I don’t have to?

    In regards to your question, I did find it difficult to make money for the first few years out of college. This was probably my fault due to lack of focus and everything that was going on in my life. Once I made sure my head was in the right place and I put my persistence to gear I didn’t find it too difficult. Now, I was only making $28k or so at 24 years old – which isn’t too far off from what you’re making now. I worked incredibly hard to get to where I’m at now.

    If I were you I’d ask myself what I like doing and if it’s possible to monetize that. If so, maximize your potential there. If not, find out what you’re good at. Are you good with people? Good with your hands? Enjoy driving? Working on computers? A degree isn’t necessary to make decent money, but determination and will usually is.

    Mr. Money Mustache actually put together a great series of articles on a list of jobs making more than $50k without a degree:

    http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/07/25/50-jobs-over-50000-without-a-degree-part-1/

    http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/08/05/50-jobs-over-50000-without-a-degree-part-2/

    I wish you luck!

    Best regards.

  49. Thank you Jason. Greatly appreciate you getting back to me. I am definitely going to check out these links.

  50. Well, make that three persons interested in taxes you pay 😉

    Actually, you will be able to reduce taxes if you hold a portion of your dividend stocks in an IRA or a 401k. I think that if you posted the amounts you pay on taxes, this is where the discussion is going to go, not about political mumbo-jumbo.

  51. Anonymous,

    Thanks for stopping by. Three votes in. 🙂

    I’m aware of the tax reduction that tax-advantaged accounts would give me. However, I’m willing to forgo the tax savings in exchange for unlocking freedom a little quicker. It’s not a decision that I take likely, or one that most people necessarily agree with. Works for me though.

    I think you’d be surprised by how much political mumbo jumbo you’d see with taxes. Almost every single time I see taxes come up in an article over at Seeking Alpha the comment stream inevitably becomes a hotbed of political arguments about taxes. I just think it’s a total waste of time. I can’t control the fact that I have to pay taxes, so I focus on the things I can control.

    I’ll think about adding this in. I honestly don’t mind including it, but like I said I just don’t want to get bogged down in lengthy discourses on taxes. I certainly opened this up in my article a while back explaining why I don’t use a 401(k) or IRA, but that article was simply meant to explain my viewpoint and hopefully provide support for others who have considered the same.

    Best wishes.

  52. Trader,

    Thanks so much! I’m glad you appreciate the effort I put into the blog.

    I’m hoping I can continue writing for another 10 years and people continue enjoying the content. It’s a real passion for me! 🙂

    Appreciate the support and readership.

    Cheers!

  53. So if I’m reading right, your income is represented as take home pay, correct?

    What industry are you in? How did you manage to get such a cushy job dropping out of college? Congrats, at any rate, I’m just curious.

  54. Ricky,

    You’re correct; the pay listed above is my take home pay, net of taxes.

    I work in the auto industry, More specifically, I work for a luxury car dealership as a service advisor. If you’re interested in what my job looks like you can click on the ‘Media’ tab above and watch the Today Show video. They have a couple shots of me at work.

    While I agree that I’m paid quite well considering my education level, I would disagree that my job is cushy. I work extremely hard for my money, and typically average well over 50 hours per week every week. It’s a grind of a job. It’s definitely not some office job where I’m in a cubicle working at a computer all day. I’m running all day long. I used to wait tables in high school and college, and I liken my job to that in terms of pace.

    Best wishes!

  55. After I posted that I did some digging and found that you were in the auto industry and tried to edit my comment. I realize it came off quite rude now! For that I apologize.

    There’s no doubt you work hard for your money! It’s stupid what a piece of paper will do for you these days, even though the value of said paper is either necessary or unnecessary depending on competition levels. Again, with your site and your job, there’s no donut you are earning your keep. So congrats and good luck with you’re journey!

    For me, even without reading anything about dividend investing, I knew blue chip, dividend paying stocks was were I wanted to be invested in. There just isn’t much replacement for buying companies that are real, breathing giants that produce income consistently. I never thought about the growth aspect of it, which I’m glad I have been reading more on that.

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