Friday, December 30, 2016

Passive Income Report: December 2016 ($2,658!)

It is time again for my Monthly Progress Review, the last of the year, and a PERSONAL RECORD!

In each progress review I will list a summary of all dividends I received, the rental income I received, and any purchases I made from that particular month.

This monthly report covers December 2016.  

I hope you enjoy these posts and that we can learn how to grow our passive income streams and build real long-term wealth together! 

I am happy to report that December saw the highest Passive Income amount I've ever achieved in a single month, which I'll analyze in depth in this report.


Read More to see how I earned $2,658 this month in passive income,

Monday, December 26, 2016

Updates to Site, Side gig over, Upcoming Posts

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  A Savior is born unto us.

This is just a quick post to let you know that I have made some much needed updates to many pages on Passive Income Dude.  Now that my 'side gig' is over, I should have more time to commit to my site. Here are all of the updates:


Look out for the following posts coming up over the next two weeks:
  • December Passive Income Report 
  • December Income/Expenses 
  • A thorough 2016 review on each of my 3 rental properties:
    • Missouri Rental Property Review
    • Colorado Rental Property Review
    • North Carolina Rental Property Review
  • 2017 goals 
Thanks for reading!

Passive Income Dude


Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Thoughts on Interest Rates

Hello all,

I recently completed two finance courses here at business school: Applied Fixed Income and Speculative Investments, and Global Asset Allocation and Advanced Investments.  Both of these courses were very well taught (and very challenging if I'm honest), but I'm glad I took them because I learned a lot and because a good amount of the course material was about interest rates and hedging interest rate moves, etc. which seems pretty applicable in today's investing environment.  So as a result I thought I would briefly comment on interest rates, since the Federal Reserve finally completed another (albeit small) interest rate increase.

To start, I read this from Vanguard's website yesterday (copied directly):

Monday, December 19, 2016

Happiness

I recently heard an incredible message that talks all about happiness, and I wanted to share it with you.

Happiness is such a interesting concept in today's society, isn't it? For some reason it seems like one's happiness is apparently THE ULTIMATE PURSUIT in life. We find that happiness is placed above morality, or truth, or intellectual growth, or peace, or sacrifice, or courage, or any other virtue or feeling there is out there.  Think about that.  Why? Why is it that happiness is above everything else, and what is going on?

This post also seems pertinent during the Holidays; where happiness is so intensely desired, but not often achieved.  How many holidays bring intense feelings (and expectations) of happiness, but are oftentimes left with something else and not happiness at all?

Anyway, here are some quotes from the message that resonated with me.  This small sampling does not do it justice, but I hope it encourages you to listen.  You won't be disappointed.

"When you're proud, your life becomes an endless cycle of comparison and competition."  

Can anyone relate to the power in this statement?   It is very relevant to me personally, and as a member in our blogging community, it is especially relevant where we routinely share each others' progress and successes for our readers to see on a monthly basis.  How dangerous it is to see each other's monthly dividend reports and net worth updates, etc.  when our thoughts and pursuits are not checked against a large amount of humility and a proper focus on what is actually important!

"We are all hungry. Our souls are hungry.  And the reason for that, King Solomon explained, is because God put eternity in our hearts.  Blaise Pascal and other philosophers have said this as well; God has created the human heart with a gigantic hole in it. And we spend all our lives trying to figure out what goes in that hole.  And so we try money. We try the approval of others. We try romantic love.  None of it works. Because that hole is in the shape of God himself and it's the size of eternity!".....The reason that these items don't make you happy is because they were never intended to make us happy in the first place!

And my absolute favorite:

"Most of us are in a culture where we THINK that our happiness is directly proportionate to our circumstances.  And if you want to be happy your circumstances have to change. In fact, our word "happiness" in English comes from the word 'happening' - you are happy when what you want to happen happens. When your happenings are happening correctly, then you are HAPPY. And when things are not happening correctly, you are UNHAPPY. But Jesus says your happiness, if you're ever going to find it, is not going to be contingent on your happiness or your happenings.  Your happiness is going to be contingent upon your relationship with God."

"It is when you hunger and thirst for righteousness that not only will you be filled, you will overflow with happiness!"

In closing, the message is definitely worth listening to.  Here is the link to it below:

Eight Ways to Be Happy According to Jesus

Thanks for reading, and be happy...!

Passive Income Dude


Saturday, December 10, 2016

Income/Expenses: November 2016

One of my favorite posts of the month! It's very personal and helps keep me extremely accountable!

I think it takes a little bit of guts to share your income and expenses openly with the world. But that said, I think there is value for both of us in reading this post. I will do a similar post every month.

General Thoughts on this Month: Progress is happening, albeit slower than I would like. Fortunately I think I will reach another of my goals for this year JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME! Thanks to diligent saving and spending I believe I will have my family debt reduced to my goal amount of only $5000 left (I know, still high!...agh) by the end of the year, but I started the year at $29,000, so I am not too disappointed, with this goal actually being achieved on December 15th. Very thankful for this!  It may not seem like a big deal, but to me it is!

All of that said, listed below is a detailed display of all income and expenses for the month of November 2016.  

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Passive Income Report: November 2016

It is time again for my Monthly Progress Review.

In each progress review I will list a summary of all dividends I received, the rental income I received, and any purchases I made from that particular month.


This monthly report covers November 2016.  


I hope you enjoy these posts and that we can learn how to grow our passive income streams and build real long-term wealth together! 


Read More to see how I earned $581 this month in passive income,