FI Anonymous

Hello everyone! With my May financial statements and portfolio updates out of the way, and a couple posts in the works, I wanted to drop a quick post to give an update on one of the goals I had set at the beginning of the year. You can read the goals I set here  if you need a refresher. The goal I refer to in the title here is the first on the list - I wanted to grow my annual dividend income to $3,750 by the end of the year. I most recently updated my portfolio tracker in mid May, which you can view here , and I realized that I had broke the $3,000 annual dividend income mark! From the time I set my goal, I've increased my annual income by $500 in just over 3 months time, and with more than half the year left to go, I'm confident I will be able to not only meet, but exceed my income goal! As a side note, I have not added any significantly large positions since my goal has been set. My largest new position is Occidental Petroleum, whose yield made it tough to pass up, which

April has come and passed, and with the exception of a few hot, sunny days here and there, the cold temperatures are still here in the Midwest. As I'm writing this post, it is now mid May, and it is time to examine if my financial growth has gone cold like this month's weather, or if all these April showers have brought some real growth! Enough with the weather puns - let's get to it! Comparison Another month down, and another month of solid financial growth. Outside of my cash position, everything moved in the right direction. Let's break everything down a little further below.  My nearly $4,000 drop in cash from prior month end was a combination of a couple different factors. More than half of the difference can be attributed to the $2,300 decrease in my credit card debt (which I pay off in full every month), and the remaining change is due to investments I've made in April. In addition to contributions to my Roth IRA, I had also decided, after

Hi all! It's been quite a while since I've posted outside of my normal financial updates, but with the Holiday and some personal errands behind me, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to write on something that's been on my mind for quite a while. It seems that "side hustle" is somewhat of a buzz word as of late in the personal finance community. Everyone knows that co-worker who slings sneakers, does taxes on the side, or refinishes furniture after work and on the weekends. Side hustles can be great! I know people who get a real bump to their income outside of their normal 9-5 jobs, and often it's doing something they love, something they'd be doing regardless of whether they made money. But side hustles aren't great for everyone. If you work long or unusual hours, it can be extremely difficult to try and find the time to work on the side. For example, if you're trying to start a person-to-person sales-type side hustle, but you wor