Expenses

InvestorBlogger’s March 2008 Income Report

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It’s been a bit delayed, but this post is detailing March’s Income Report. Like many bloggers, I have a number of online income sources that support this blog, but I also try to keep a number of offline sources as a way to spread the risk. January 2008 was a stellar month, February settled back somewhat, but March has been much more subdued than even February was. So don’t expect any surprises, especially as the money tends to arrive in clumps. In fact, a quarterly report might be more insightful as far as the trends go.

I’ve been plugging my free download as a way to attract visitors to download the top twenty subscriptions. Still waiting for that to work. I guess most people already seem to have their own ideas about who they want to download and listen to or read. I’ll leave it up anyway.

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So let’s deal with the money fiirst this month. We’re edging ever slightly closer to the $10,000 mark. I had hoped that we’d pass it this month, but it wasn’t to be. Several sources of income proved unreliable this month as consulting work dried and I decided (temporarily) to quit PayPerPost. This really emphasizes why it is important to retain a number of income sources to prevent over-reliance on one. PayPerPost used to provide a majority of the income that this blog generated, but this past month I was forced out of the program because I had to choose between my own advertisers and PayPerPost – like that was a hard one!

* Bank Interest: $26.48
* Dividend Income: $75.52
* Affiliate Income: $3.04
* TLA – $81.43
* LinkWorth – $63.50 (for three sites)
* TopSpots – $1.78
blogging – $60.00
* hosting = $114.75
* Total = $426.50*
*there are a few other residual sources but they generally don’t generate much, like Voxant, NetAudioAds, etc. that generate only a few cents a month. In addition, some sources that generate a lot one month, but nothing the next are not included.

The odd factor about this income is that most of the money generated actually didn’t require me to do very much in terms of time, ie. it was mostly fairly passive income. If I had watched TV, written a book, slept for the entire month, or gone on a world tour, most of this money would have still been there. How nice! Of course, I wouldn’t desert my readers!

According to my plan, developing a part-time income from work is important. I have had several contacts for part-time work in Taipei, but it isn’t something I’m able to do just now. I’d love to switch my teaching load from full-time to part-time, but I can’t find anyone that would commit to working with us on a longer term basis. Renting is still an option that we’ve not explored fully yet, but my wife and I are talking about doing this in the longer term. We enjoy where we live right now, and we’re just not quite ready to move out.

Total Income Generated

Naturally, this means my total generated by blogging now jumps to $9446.87. With $10,000 just a little bit nearer, it surprises me that I could earn so much extra income just by focusing on what’s around me. Now I’m always looking for ideas to create additional income streams, and there are loads. But you can’t see them with your eyes: you have to use your head to see them.

Expenses

The blog currently only has a few expenses such as hosting through Dreamhost’s VPS system and it works well. Of course, Domains and I own about ten or so all need to be paid for annually and Paypal Fees. I currently don’t advertise, though I may do so soon again.

* hosting – $49.40 (est.)
* Fees – $0.00 (Paypal, Commissions, etc.)
* Content, Development, and Advertising – $94.20
* Total = $93.62*

*These figures are estimates as final figures haven’t been received for some, and other commissions are invisible having been deducted at source.

One other obvious factor that is now affecting earnings: the US$ vs NT$ is now approximately $1: NT$30.5 +/- 0.5 which is boosting some earnings superficially. Since I don’t do actual exchanges, the value is a notional amount, but it is worth mentioning that a few months ago the rate was over NT$32.5 so the NTD has strengthened quickly. We’d been expecting this for some time, but it was a surprise just how fast it jumped. It’s likely that we’ll see rates approaching NT$29.5 later this year, though it should stabilize in the short term. The USD is likely to remain weak for quite some time; and the GBP is looking like the next victim as the currency weakens in a slowing economy and property market. I’m not forecasting rates for that, but GBP:NTD is already 10% down from historical highs.

I keep getting cut off from my ADSL, so I guess this is a signal to finish this part of the post as quickly as possible. I’ve already written most of the traffic report, which I’ll publish tomorrow.

Mr Credit Card’s Survey: My Personal Answers… And yours?

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I just received this email from Mr Credit Card who asked me to share my answers with him for a report he is doing. Rather than just do that, I thought I would share my answers with all of you…

Mr Credit Card here. I am conducting a survey among personal finance,
investment bloggers about their credit cards and would appreciate if
you would participate in this survey. I would compile the results and
publish it in my blog

http://www.askmrcreditcard.com/creditcardblog/

and credit you and your site for participation. Below are the questions :

This kind of request could be great linkbait!… Anyway my answers!

1. How many credit cards do you have?

I currently have two credit cards in my wallet only. My wife has a dependent’s card on my primary account. Is this an average amount?

2. Which are the credit cards you have (please be specific about the actual cards – eg Amex blue cash or Chase Freedom)?

I don’t have any American cards at all: both cards are from local banks in Taiwan.

3. Do you have any credit card debt and if yes, how much?

I don’t currently have any amount of outstanding debt on either card. I do occasionally let a little amount ride over but I always regret it when I see the additional interest charges to be paid.

4. What is the apr you are paying?

If I have any outstandings, I’m informed that my APR would be 11.50% on that amount.

5. What is your average FICO score?

I don’t know. It’s not relevant in Taiwan.

6. Have you got any credit cards solely for balance transfer?

I’d like to, but banks here don’t do this to my knowledge.

7. If yes – which card?

N/A.

8. Do you charge your utilities, cable bills and internet bills etc to your credit card?

I only charge my mobile phone bill to my credit card because I usually pay most bills at 7-11.

9. Is your credit card bills set up such that it is automatically paid every month?

No, it isn’t. It should be. But I didn’t do it.

10. Do you use your credit cards at gas stations and supermarkets?

Gas stations – No. Supermarkets – Not regularly.

11. Which is your favorite credit card? (be specific, not visa or mastercard as an answer pls)

I prefer my Gold Card from Taishin Bank.

12. Which is your favorite credit card issuer? (banks, not visa or mastercard)

Citibank. But I don’t have one because they’re too fussy about financial details.

13. When did you get your first credit card? What was the card?

I had a credit card in University which undoubtedly was a mistake. I think it was a British card from Co-op but it was so long ago, I can’t remember.

I think there are several ways that I could really profit from using my credit card more, though. Reading these questions helped me think through the benefits.

I could charge all my gasoline to the card, and get bonus points. I could also charge almost all my larger purchases to it, and get an effectively interest free loan for the first 30 days or so. By putting that money in the bank, I could certainly earn 2.5% pa on my monthly expenses. There are also quite a few offers that my Credit Card company provide, some of which I could take advantage of.

What answers do my readers have to some of these questions? Share your answers in the comments.

Accident Prone: And it’s not April First

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Wow! I’m having a lot of accidents today. Normally I wouldn’t blog about these, but each of them is directly linked to blogging.

Don’t delete that FTP user!

I was clearing out the backlong of files for my server, emptying databases, and tidying up other stuff as well. Having been on Dreamhost for four years, I had accumulated over 50 mysql databases, twenty or so users (some now redundant), lots of installs, etc.. I began emptying the server in August last year, but only went part of the way. So last night I started deleting unused databases, and one or two infrequently used FTP users.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you are careless…

accidental kuixing

I’m told that Dreamhost has backups of sites for such emergencies, so I wrote begging for help. I wonder if they’ll get back to me soon or not. I don’t have a backup of that site myself, either. So I’m hoping that the owner will have a backup … he should. Right? If you don’t have a backup of your site, esp. the database and the files… you shouldn’t be reading this. Go and do it. NOW!

This is the said email: it’s just like that 911 call you hear on the news, distressed voice on the other line…

HELP!

I was checking through the users on the manage users tab… and I don’t know how it happened but I deleted user ‘kuixing’… everything is gone!

I swear I didn’t hit delete or anything… but I backtabbed from the delete user screen. Then I refreshed the main FTP user list page… https://panel.dreamhost.com/index.cgi?tree=users.users&

And boom! Everything for user ‘****’ was deleted!

Is it possible to restore this user’s data?

Kenneth

Of course, I want to hear good news, but I’m braced for the worst. Let’s hope the give the news soon. Dreamhost service hasn’t been as good as I experienced before especially since I upgraded to their VPS hosting. Let’s hope they come through!

Don’t put your glasses on the floor!

I had a quick nap in the afternoon. I must have taken my glasses off, and put them on the bed as I slept. After getting up, my wife came in and fluffed the blanks. Glasses became aerial and end up on the floor whereupon her left foot comes into contact with the left lens (the expensive lens) and suddenly I have several lenses of varying sizes. Naturally, since she is my wife, this is *not* her fault! My old IBM notebook met a similar fate at her feet.

P1000828

Of course, this is going to be expensive to replace, but fortunately the frame is fine somehow. I’ll give you a quote. Since I spend a lot of time at the computer, I need glasses so I have three pairs in all. I’ll be pressing my other pair into action this afternoon.

I want to hear good news on that one, too. But I know that it won’t be cheap to fix them!

Don’t drop the last coffee beans!

Then we’re almost out of coffee at work, the last precious coffee beans in the coffee jar. I put them in the grinder and hit grind. Then I stopped to see the quality of the grind, and the lid flew off scattering coffee half-ground beans ALL over the floor. Result: we all had half size cups of coffee. It was all the more delicious because it was so precious! The lack of coffee will affect productivity, too. I’d like to hear good news about those beans, but I have to go to Costco . That’s always bad for the budget and the waistliine.

Does anyone else think I’m kind of clumsy? Let’s see: I’ve lost my camera, lost several wallets, bank books, ATM cards, credit cards, ID cards, …