Showing posts with label additional income. Show all posts
Showing posts with label additional income. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2010
Boosting my IRA's Growth with Monthly Dividend Stocks
In my constant drive to educate myself in every way possible, I have come across a plethora of information about investing in dividend paying stocks and why I should. From the information I have learned I started researching the idea of monthly dividend stocks. I own various companies that pay dividends, but I have never considered monthly dividends before. After some research I have decided to give monthly dividends a try in my IRA. Hopefully the monthly dividend payments reinvested into the stock will jump start my IRA's growth through reinvestment. My plan is to choose two monthly dividend stocks/funds that I will make use of for long term investing. The obvious choice mentioned in every book, and various blogs and dividend writings on the web mention The Monthly Dividend Company or Realty Income Corp I am not a financial adviser and this is not investing advice for anyone. This is only what I am doing. I have made the personal choice to invest into this company and another closed ended fund that pays monthly dividends and has a good dividend payment history as well. I will reinvest every single monthly dividend payment back into the stocks of these companies as well as continue to buy into these companies $100 at a time until I have accumulate $1000 into each stock/fund. After I reach this value then I will decide to continue investing or come up with a new investment plan. The stock market and investing is new to me and I feel that with continued practice, research, and discipline to stick to plans will greatly benefit me in the long run and help me build wealth over the long term. On a side note every dividend I receive from any stock or fund I own is reinvested in the stock for free with Sharebuilder.com.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Unexpected Christmas Bonus
I was notified that I will be getting an unexpected Christmas bonus of $500 on my next paycheck. Problem with bonuses is I would like to know how much of the bonus I am going to have after taxes. Just as I have found and use a payroll adjustments tool CalcXML Payroll Adjustments. I have also found a Bonus calculator to answer my question: How much will my company bonus net after taxes? The answer is at CalcXML with their Net Bonus Calculator. With this tool I was able to see how much of my bonus I am actually going to get and can plan to use it accordingly.
Friday, October 16, 2009
I'm Starting to Love my Credit Cards
I am beginning to love my credit cards more and more and I have even ditched the regular use of my debit cards. I am using credit cards more for two reason security and cash back rewards. In order to love and embrace credit cards you must first not be in credit card debt. Learn to control your expenses by identifying your problem expenses with Mint.com and begin to control spending, then use a tool such as Dueminder.com to calculate a plan to pay off your credit card debt quickly.
Now my number one rule for credit cards is to never carry a balance. Credit cards are not a substitute for money that isn't there. I will pay off my credit cards every month treat credit card purchases as if my credit card was a check book, keeping track and only making purchases when I have the cash to back it. With this method I can rack up points and turn them into cash. An added benefit I see for this is that credit cards are generally safer to me than debit cards when used for purchases both online and in person. If you have ever had your check card info stolen you know that even if you aren't liable it is your money that disappears when you are compromised. Wouldn't you rather it be the card issuers money that disappears when you are compromised, that way while you are waiting to get the money back you still have your money in the bank.
I will not use more than one credit card at a time. I am going to alternate my two rewards cards per pay period using one card and then paying the balance in full. Then switching to the other card and repeating. This will hopefully rack up as many rewards points as possible and keep a revolving payment history on my credit accounts for my credit report which I believe is better than a dormant unused account. Once I've accumulated a substantial amount of points I will cash them. An added benefit is that while I am using and and paying off my credit cards I am using the issuers money interest free allowing me to keep my cash I in an interest bearing account earning a little bit of interest before I pay off the credit card balance in full.
In recap for this to work I must have zero credit card balance. I must also maintain proper credit card discipline, a skill apparently not many Americans know or practice. Through the repeat practice of paying off credit cards every month and never riding a balance, I hope to establish a strong habit in controlling my finance. By paying off the credit cards every period I will never pay a cent in interest and I will in turn earn interest on the money I hold in my interest bearing account plus I will earn a small but additional income from rewards points converted to cash. This supplemental income may be small, it will be just a few percent of what I spend, but if I use my credit cards for as many purchases as I can I have the potential to return the equivalent to an extra few weeks pay per year which I can then invest in order continue my quest for wealth.
Now my number one rule for credit cards is to never carry a balance. Credit cards are not a substitute for money that isn't there. I will pay off my credit cards every month treat credit card purchases as if my credit card was a check book, keeping track and only making purchases when I have the cash to back it. With this method I can rack up points and turn them into cash. An added benefit I see for this is that credit cards are generally safer to me than debit cards when used for purchases both online and in person. If you have ever had your check card info stolen you know that even if you aren't liable it is your money that disappears when you are compromised. Wouldn't you rather it be the card issuers money that disappears when you are compromised, that way while you are waiting to get the money back you still have your money in the bank.
I will not use more than one credit card at a time. I am going to alternate my two rewards cards per pay period using one card and then paying the balance in full. Then switching to the other card and repeating. This will hopefully rack up as many rewards points as possible and keep a revolving payment history on my credit accounts for my credit report which I believe is better than a dormant unused account. Once I've accumulated a substantial amount of points I will cash them. An added benefit is that while I am using and and paying off my credit cards I am using the issuers money interest free allowing me to keep my cash I in an interest bearing account earning a little bit of interest before I pay off the credit card balance in full.
In recap for this to work I must have zero credit card balance. I must also maintain proper credit card discipline, a skill apparently not many Americans know or practice. Through the repeat practice of paying off credit cards every month and never riding a balance, I hope to establish a strong habit in controlling my finance. By paying off the credit cards every period I will never pay a cent in interest and I will in turn earn interest on the money I hold in my interest bearing account plus I will earn a small but additional income from rewards points converted to cash. This supplemental income may be small, it will be just a few percent of what I spend, but if I use my credit cards for as many purchases as I can I have the potential to return the equivalent to an extra few weeks pay per year which I can then invest in order continue my quest for wealth.
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