January 2015 – Detailed Financial Report #1

Gen Y Finance Guy Financial Freedom, Monthly Financial Reports 66 Comments

Last week I announced after I created the new Financial Stats page that I would also be publishing a detailed financial report on a monthly basis. In these monthly reports the plan is to give you all a month over month update on Gross Income, Assets, Liabilities, Net Worth. There is also a detailed break-down on Expenses, Investment Contributions, and progress towards my mortgage pay down goal. One more note before we get into the financial report for January. I just want to point out that I am publishing this report at 8:22 am on 1/31/15, and as you can imagine we could spend a few more dollars today. However, I was so excited and anxious to get my first report out that …

Financial Stats for Gross Income and Net Worth Now Have a Dedicated Page

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When I first started this blog last year, I knew that I wanted to provide full transparency to my readers. The best way to do this is to post my own numbers. The dedicated Financial Stats page, which can be found under the Menu at the top right of this website (click the menu icon and the pages will pop out from the right), will be updated on a monthly basis. Although this page will only contain a summary of my monthly and annual results (as pictured below), I will also be publishing a detailed monthly report that I will link to on this page in order to have all of this financial information available from one place. The first report will be published …

The Slight Edge

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The Slight Edge is by far the best book I have ever read (so good that I just read it for the 5th time). It literally is the handbook to success regardless of the endeavor. It is a philosophy that has and will stand the test of time. This is the “Holy Grail,” if there ever was such a thing. Below is a diagram that Jeff Olson, the author, created that beautifully captures the entire philosophy. The Slight Edge is about leveraging the power of compound effort. It works in finance just as well as it works in fitness or relationships or business. The Slight Edge works for you when you practice simple disciplines consistently over time. And it works against you when …

The Mortgage Snowball Strategy: Pay Your Mortgage Off In 5-7 Years

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In a previous post, I mentioned that I had recently become debt-free outside of the mortgages on my primary residence and investment condo. In that blog post, I announced an outrageous goal of paying off the mortgage on my primary residence in 7.5 years. I gave you the Cliff Notes version there of the strategy I devised to accomplish this big, hairy, and audacious goal. In this post, I want to expand upon the thinking and get more granular on the strategy. My hope is that by the end of this post you will realize that this strategy is easy and anyone can follow it…even though most won’t. Only those truly hot in pursuit of financial independence will have the discipline and …

Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge

Joined the Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge

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This blog started from a challenge a little over 3 months ago. In order to take this blog to the next level for both myself, current readers, and those readers that will find us in the future, I have joined the Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge. Below are the guidelines: Yakezie Network Submission Guidelines The Yakezie Network List is an exclusive list reserved for Yakezie members.  For those who want to be on the list, they must first commit to participating in the Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge for a duration of 6 months.  The challenge is open to personal finance and lifestyle blogs. THE YAKEZIE ALEXA RANKING CHALLENGE 1) Install the Alexa toolbar if not already and comment what your current Alexa …

The Path Is All Math

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A few weeks ago I heard a quote that really hit home with me: “The path is all Math” – Unknown I am naturally a numbers guy with a background in Finance and Analytics. I look at almost everything through the lens of a spreadsheet…at least at first glance. Anyways, it got me thinking about the simple math that got me to where I am today. On September 29th of 2012 I was at my best shape ever at 188lbs with about 8-9% body-fat. A little over two years later I was sitting at 220.8 (12-28-14) lbs. So if you do the math, it’s no surprise as to why I gained almost 34 lbs. I ran a cumulative calorie surplus …

The True Financial Death!

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Do the thing, get the power. – Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s the day after Christmas and I find myself at a Starbucks at about 5:45am, while my wife and family are still sleeping for another couple of hours. We are just passing through for the night on our way to Bryce National Park. I was absolutely amazed how many people were here on Christmas night when we were checking into our rooms. So many people sucked into the casino to gamble away their hard earned dollars in hope of that big payday. Little do many of these people know,  the payday that they are hoping for will never arrive. I long ago realized that the casinos are in this business …

A Certificate of Deposit that returns 100X my Chase savings interest rate

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As we all know, interest rates are at all-time historic lows, and therefore so are the interest rates paid on many savings accounts out there. I remember the days before the financial crisis when you could open an online only savings account through HSBC and collect a 5% interest rate. At the time I was still in college, but I still took advantage of this opportunity. For at least a year I found an arbitrage opportunity in the market where I could pay all my tuition and school expenses on my credit card and transfer the balance to a new card at a 0% interest rate for 12 months and then leave the cash I had in my online HSBC …

Fail Forward and Make Mistakes to Reach your Goals In 2015 And Beyond

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So many people are afraid of failure and what others will think of them that they never really truly attempt their deepest desires. I am here to tell you that it is okay to set a goal and fail. Just think, Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. But he didn’t really think of it as failure, instead he said this, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Sometimes we just have to step out of our comfort zone and shoot for the stars. In 2014 I set a goal to make an extra $20,000 in my new consulting business. I started with zero revenue and by the end of the year I …