I am so excited to see Shake the Money Tree reach a major milestone, surpassing $5,000 in tree height (also known as blog net worth). Since the first post on September 2018, I have been using this blog as a motivational tool to build this money tree from the ground. As I celebrate this milestone, I am looking forward to the $10,000 level with a diversified approach on creating passive income.
Key Elements of Getting here
As noted from the beginning, I truly believe that a series a small steps leads to great things before you know it, that is exactly how I did it. Looking back at the growth of the money tree, knocking down these small goals one at a time helped me stay focused.
#1. Just get started and move forward. I started out with a small personal loan to help me purchase a new computer and a website URL. I use Bluehost and WordPress, the traditional startup setup for a new blog.
#2. Find as many side hustles as you can and learn what works best for you and your schedule. I am reaching the point where I am electing to stop dedicating time to certain activities since the reward is not attractive enough.
#3. Open up a dedicated bank account to isolate and track financials. Ally Bank is my selection across banking and brokerage services.
#4. Built a Monthly CD Ladder
#5. Accumulated 100 shares of a Dividend ETF (SPHD) through a dollar costing approach.
#6. Setup a Monthly Dividend Ladder
Critical Sources of Money Tree Growth
As of April 2021 month end, the money tree was $6,245. I clearly had a significant month in performance with over $1,400 in monthly income but here are the major sources of income
#1. Cash Back Credit Cards. This is my primary source of income to date which has provided me over 60% of my income. I take advantage of the sign-up offers and cash back levels. I currently have two cards that I would highly recommend due to the new sign-up offers: Chase and American Express
#2. Finding items to sell online through Ebay and Craiglist adds about 9% of total income. I expect this to be reduced in the future as I prefer more passive vs active income streams.
#3. A list of Paid to Click Sites that I complete a daily routine helped me earn over $600 since the start, roughly 8% of total income
#4. Lastly, my stock portfolio has contributed of almost $60o in realized and unrealized gains mainly created by the dollar cost averaging approach during the pandemic
Learnings up to this point
Looking back, there are two key learnings that I keep coming back to:
#1. Just keep moving forward, even if it is a little step. There have been a few times where it is hard to find the time to dedicate to blogging. For me, it isn’t about the blog posts but more or less for the value creation, so as long as I keep at those activities that help grow the money tree, that is where I focus.
#2. Need to invest time in really understanding key SEO techniques and approach. I am happy to date with the blog identity I created, but there is so much to learn and apply to Shake the Money Tree
Where do I go from here
With this post, I am realizing the opportunity I have in front of me. Here is where I am setting the path forward from here:
#1. Net Worth of $10,000 in less than 2.5 years. Since it took me that long to get to $5,000, I want improve on the time to double up.
#2. Enhancing my Monthly Dividend Ladder to a total of $4,500 or $1,500 per quarterly rung.
#3. Diversify into another investment option, examples of what types of investment I am researching are: Fundrise, Peer Lending, or Start Engine.
#4. Seek support and help to build Shake the Money Tree to the next level
To all my readers and supporters, THANK YOU. I do appreciate it and let’s go!
I am a finance professional with over 20 years of experience and very passionate about all topics related to finance; enjoying the aspect of teaching and educating others along the way. All in all, I will show you how big this money tree can get over time as I get the branches (Earn, Save, Invest) as high as possible…Click here to see my financial progress to date: How high is the Money Tree?
