Financial Goals
What do you do with the leftover internet marketing money you have laying around?
The easy answer is, reinvest it back into your business. That doesn't work for me because I very rarely do any outsourcing or advertising.
Okay, so what about financial goals? I already own a car, there are no specific places I want to travel.
I want a house. Actually I want a condo... I don't want to have to deal with keeping up a yard or mowing the lawn or any of that stuff.
With a 30-year fixed mortgage at 8%, I could get a $100,000 loan for equal to the same rent I pay now, living in a 2-story townhouse, with no roommates. Okay great you say, what homes in California sell for that much?
There are condos down the street slightly larger than my apartment... PLUS a garage... that sold for $250k this summer... that are now $160k. If I can put $50k down, my monthly mortgage payment on that thing would be close enough to the rent I'm paying now for me to be happy.
So how have I been doing? Since buying my car with all cash in June (I should have had it financed... but that's another story) I added $20k over time into a stock brokerage account.
With a little bit of work and a LOT of aggravation I built that up into $30k by December. I learned a lot along the way. I avoided so many of the usual stock trading newbie mistakes.
It was way too emotionally taxing to gain $1000 in the morning on some days only for the gains for the day to go back down to $0 by the end of the day. I would check several times daily, sometimes every 5 minutes.
What I learned quickly is that I was creating another job for myself. It wasn't even a fun job. Either I gained some money and started worrying about losing it, or I lost money and worried about how I was going to get it back.
I was a freaking full-time gambler and I didn't even realize it. So where do you stick your leftover money?
- Figure out a way to reinvest it back into your business. You need to find some way.
- Put it in a savings account and slightly beat inflation.
- Put it in a CD for a 4% yearly return.
- Invest it in an index fund or money market account for a 5% return.
I no longer daytrade.
Whatever you do, don't create extra work for yourself. Don't create an extra job. Your time is way more important than any amount of money.
What are your financial goals? (Seriously, post here and share them with me.)
What do you do specifically to reinvest your profits back into your business?
Would you still pursue internet marketing and create products for fun if you had all the money in the world?
Filed in: Personal
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Hey Robert,
I used to want to be a billionaire. Now I’m happy to make enough money to support myself and allow my to pursue my own unique goals.
Hi Aritrim,
What goals would those be?
I would answer your last question first by saying: “Yes, certainly.” Working within the field of online marketing IS fun. All the thoughts about what one would do if they won a million dollars is usually just an “endless dream”-hunt… Why not find your passions and pursue them, even if one hasn’t won the lotteries? 🙂
That being said it is nonetheless highly different how challenging our surroundings can be. In Denmark house prices range between 200-300k (or more) depending upon where one wishes to reside. For online marketers, the advantages being than one is less geographically challenged than other groups (who need to be close to BOTH schools and work in some way or other)…
Investing into the business is an ongoing process. I would admit that I buy far LESS from those marketers who don’t run serious mailings to their lists. That has been shaved off considerably in 2007 because I found I spent far too much time checking my mail.
I want to be involved in learning, and sharing the knowledge with others in stead of paperwork. I used to do a lot of paperwork in some of my other jobs, and now I have decided to work in translations [http://www.blunck.dk/recommends/translate] and blogging about online income and web design [http://www.multidesigner.net] and helping people use their WordPress software better etc.
So everything is centered around SHARING KNOWLEDGE, and BRANDING my many abilities in people’s conscious way of thinking. Some of the projects that will come about in 2008 will build up those aspects even further, I hope.
Thanks for a good blog. 🙂
Leftover internet marketing money! Where’s the rolling on the floor laughing smiley …… ?
Making a little money on the Internet is not too hard in my experience. Making enough to replace a salary is much harder. I guess that would be the goal for me.
Hi, Robert ~
My goals consist of (1) having enough family income to pay our bills each month after tithing; (2) enough extra for investments/retirement/rainy day; (4)enough extra to grow our businesses; (4)have enough extra left over to begin paying extra car and house payments; (5)some extra for a little fun and personal pursuits; (6)be more financially organized. Whew! It all seems a bit overwhelming… baby steps…babysteps… 😀
Thanks, Robert for an opportunity to focus!
Janis
Oh, wow, I almost forgot… (7) have enough for a nice, modest wedding for our daughter. She is a wonderful young woman and deserves a wonderful day!! It won’t be any “lavish” affair, but we would like to make some of her wishes for her special day come true.
Hi Robert,
Sitting here at 3:00AM with a tooth ache and can’t sleep so thought I would respond.
Sounds like our housing situation is similar to yours except that here due to an influx of military the local folks got greedy and the prices for homes have gone completely insane. Some homes have actually tripled in price in the last 5 years.
Anyways, my goal is to eliminate my full time day job so if I want to take an extended vacation, I can.
I’m certainly not in a position yet to worry about what I would do with my extra income 🙂 but I’m working on it.
Hi Robert,
One of my original goals was to be as independent as possible and reach all other goals. Like you, I do not outsource…..that would sacrifice independence! Now, financial goals…..well, simply to make more this year than last year. I have reached that goal each year for 25 years. My dream home is mortgage free as well as a comfortable lake home. My vehicles are all less than 2 years old and loan free.
My real goal at this juncture is to have even more fun reaching that financial goal! Also, I will share more of myself (skills and talent) with others.
This reply may not be exactly what you were looking for but “Life is good”!
“Wherever you go,
There you are!” jk-z
Hi Robert,
My goals are many and varied, from keeping a long time promise to my kids to take them to DisneyWorld (before I have to pay for THEIR kids tickets too!!), to paying down the mortgage and socking those payments away into investments rather than into the bank’s pocket, money set aside for those dream vacations, the ability to support some important charities in a meaningful way, financing the next stage of development for my business, and finally having enough to provide for all my kids future educational needs.
Obviously the MOST important financial goal (to my kids anyway) is that trip to Disney, and then mine will be to reinvest present earnings growth into the business, which will then make everything else possible.
I’ve been a fan of your scripts and quality of your instruction, and I like what you’re working on here.. so to help out I will be adding your blog to my Blog Favorites for a little “linkjuice”.. my way of saying thanx.
Hey Robert,
Goals of any type are great, and I’ll share mine in a second, but can’t miss the chance to point out a key to getting your goals…
Knowing ‘why’ you want it. Clearly, specifically, and as image-based as possible… the why is everything.
1. My goals for this year are to replace my wife’s income so she would then have the freedom to choose whether to continue on with her career.
2. I’m working to organize a bit better to make my business more scalable so I can use profits to re-invest and grow my income to those levels.
3. I might work less (a difficult thing for me 😉 but I would probably spend a lot more time helping and contributing content about things that interest me.
Be well,
Allen
Also if I am not making big numbers in the net…
I usually like to spend the money 4 my business,
upgrading this, studying that….
Then of course if the leftover money would became too much to handle, I would suggest to use it to decorate your wall.
It’ll definitely increase the value of your house! : D
Have a nice day!
(1) make enough online to pay for all hosting fees and other internet related expenses
(2) ramp that up so that I can work from home (including equivalent income to cover all current employee benefits)
and then?
My goals are to be financially independent. Pay off the house, get a new car and be able to live comfortably from working at home.
My goals are to be able to work full time online and be able to pay all the bills.
Also be able to save some funds for my son’s education in the future years.
Hi robert
As with any investments there are many outside forces that change so its a matter of luck
G’day Robert,
I’ll take you up on your last sentence of your post first which said “Would you still pursue internet marketing and create products for fun if you had all the money in the world?”
Well, my bloody oath I would! After all, what I do I do for fun now anyway. If you don’t have a passion for the business that you are in, then find a business that you do have a passion for. Otherwise life just gets very boring.
I don’t have financial goals anymore. The goals I set for myself are x number of blog posts before 30 June, x number of additional subscribers to my lists etc. If you do that, the money looks after itself. The dollars are the result of those types of things and it is those types of things that you have to focus on in order to make the money.
Cheers,
Ric
Hi Robert; You ask where will put the money If I made enough I would defer my ssi check back to the government till I was 70 to maybe gain some more interest, I have another 5 years to do all this. just learning a new career hopefully I can make enought to open my little shop in my barn. all it takes is money. were are in on the east coast it gets cold in winterneed heat .thanks Dolores
You touched on two key things in your post…. “I was creating a job for myself” …. and “worrying about losing it”. A worthy financial goal would be to accumulate enough to live on without a JOB, and having the psychological strength to not worry about losing it.
That is what I dream for.
I’ve been a full-time marketer for several years and I thought I had things under control but lately my expenses have sky-rocketed. I brought my elderly father to live with me and my daughter started college. The problem is that my earnings have remained pretty flat, probably because I have less time to work due to taking care of my dad.
My house is paid off and so are my cars. I thought that would make me feel secure but it’s not enough. It seems like nothing is ever enough. I guess it’s just human nature to worry but when you own your own business it’s even worse.
So I guess my goal is to be able to start a serious savings/retirement plan.
Robert,
I am currently looking to expand my business. That is diversify it. Investing a part of the money back for developing stuffs that I personally cant do alone. That will generate some jobs for some people and I will be able to profit as well. Till now it is a one man show I code, I write the help files, I design the product graphics the website and then when it starts selling I give the product support. Somedays I retire to bed with a reeling head. Somedays I do not get to sleep. My goal is to invest the money to build an organised business where I will not do the jobs myself but rather divide the responsibilities. Multiply the man power, multiply the product numbers, project numbers, diminish the development time and give quality product support. If I succeed, I will really get a peace of mind.
I missed your previous post. Nice haircut!
My first goal is to replace my current earnings from my 9-5’er and then work full-time on my web biz until I’m making enough to pursue my other “creative” interests which I’ve had to postpone.