July 2014 Money Report

Welcome to the July 2014 Money Report!  I’m late again with my report this month, but with my new job starting, vacation, and house hunting, I’ve been just a little bit busy 🙂

To view all previous monthly money reports and to find out why I publish these reports, click here

 

 

Actions Plans for July 2014

Key: Complete/Some Progress/No Progress

• Publish my eBook and paperback book:  Stock Market Investing for Newbies
  • COMPLETE! – I’ve sold 29 copies so far and it’s been downloaded for free 220 times!  Pretty cool.
• Conduct at least two tutoring session for $$$
  • COMPLETE – In July I went tutoring crazy!  I held 11 different tutoring sessions and made a total of $740!  
• Sell 5 things on eBay
  • Some Progress – I was only able to sell 3 items in July:
    • Crate Guitar Amp – $50 (bought for $4)
    • Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii – $22 (bought for $3)
    • Legend of Zelda: Twighlight Princess Wii game – $15 (bought for $3)
• Get halfway through the book the The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill
  • COMPLETE – Made it about 55% through the book

 

July was pretty good for goals.  I set the bar pretty low because I knew that I was going to be super busy with interviewing for a new job.  I’m happy with my progress.  Let’s look at the financials for the month:

Notes on Making Money for July 2014

It was just a normal month for salaries, but I set another record in July for the highest side-hustle income for a month!  I brought in a ton of money from tutoring, and guest posting also did well.  Here are some details:

• Tutoring – $740!!!
• Guest Posts – $350
• Dividends – $162
• Ebay – $87 – sold three items
• Stock Market Investing for Newbies – $26
• Google Adsense – $25
• LegalZoom – $15
• Youtube – ~$13

Total side income (dividends plus side-hustles) came in around $1,250+!  That’s the highest so far since I started this blog 🙂  I put in a ton of hours tutoring (not sure if that is sustainable as I felt pretty burned out towards the end of the month), but it was nice to earn some cash spending money for vacation in August.

Notes on Money Saving for July 2014

Routine expenses for July were pretty standard.  Daycare prices kicked-up since school is out and both of our kids are now attending full time.

Non-routine expenses popped higher as I brought my wife along on a job interview to Georgia.  Between food for her, her plane ticket, and an extra day of renting a car, we spent about ~$700 for her to come along.  It’s a good thing we did because she was able to scout out the area and identify a couple different job opportunities for herself.  More about that next month.

Our total savings rate for the month of July was 47% – that’s pretty standard for us these days.

Notes on Investing for July 2014

I moved a bunch of money from cash over to investment accounts in July.  I finished off my wife’s Roth IRA for 2014 by purchasing ~$1,500 of VNQ.  This is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that pays a 3.6% annual dividend.

Additionally, I bought 53 share of VBK at a price of $121.05 – a total investment of ~$6,400.  VBK is the Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF.  It pays a small 0.6% dividend as it is setup primarily to grow vs. provide an income.

As you can see, I’m still working to move more of our assets from cash and corporate bonds into higher risk investments like the stock market so that we can realize increased long term returns.

If all this is Greek to you, why not check out my new book: Stock Market Investing for Newbies?  It is sure to turn you into an investing guru in no time 🙂

Actions Plans for August 2014

Even though I am extremely late to the press for my July money report, here are the goals I set for myself for August:

• Take a vacation!
• Get our current house in Virginia listed for sale
• Find a new house in Georgia that is substantially cheaper than our current one (we’re talking half the price or more!)
• Finished the book the The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill
• Support my wife in finding a job in Georgia (like she really needs my help 🙂 )

Again, for this month I am setting the bar pretty low because my free time is nearly nil with preparations to relocate from Virginia to Georgia.

Other Points of Interest

• I applied for and accepted an internal promotion within my company.  My new position will be Site Technology Leader at a plant in Georgia.  I am super excited to relocate to this new area and start the new job!
• Here are the posts developed for the month of July on MoneyAhoy – check them out if you missed any as it really is a great collection of info:

1. My First Office For Newbies Video is Up!
2. How to Save Money on Your Fourth of July Party
3. How Saving 50 Cents Cost Me 500 Bucks
4. My New Book: Stock Market Investing for Newbies is Finally Finished!!!
5. How to Save Money at Theme Parks (guest post)
6. Tips for Starting a Successful Small Business (guest post)
7. Are Short Sales Good Options for Buyers? (guest post)
8. How to Seal Coat Your Driveway and Save
9. Tips For Building The Self-Restraint Needed To Pay Off Debt (guest post)
10. Maybe Insurance Companies Are Not So Bad?

What are your money saving, money making, and investing plans for August?