Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Net Worth Update: End of May, 2019 (and End Of Blog)

At the end of each month, I post an update of my net worth, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of May, 2019 Net Worth: $1,027,079 Change from last Month: +$29,192 (!!) Events Of Note Last Month: My SQL courses on Udemy generated $56.20 of income. This is my last...

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Work - Now With More 401(k)!

Last year, I wrote about how I willingly went to work for a company that did not offer a 401(k) plan. At my previous company, I was contributing 19% to a 401(k), so when I took my new job and lost that option, I just started putting 19% of my pay into a regular brokerage account for saving. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my salary was high enough to disqualify me from contributing to any kind of IRA, so I just...

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Video Recording Issues

My Tesla software was upgraded a month or two ago and one of the new features I got was Sentry Mode. When this mode is activated, the car will monitor its surroundings while parked. If a threat is detected, such as someone leaning on the car, attempting to break in, keying it, pulling a hit-and-run in a parking lot, etc., the car will start recording video using its cameras, as well as display a warning on the large screen. If that doesn't deter the offender, the car will eventually start blasting classical music. It's sort of a car alarm on steroids. I've...

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Net Worth Update: End of April, 2019

At the end of each month, I post an update of my net worth, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of April, 2019 Net Worth: $997,888 Change from last Month: +$47,360 (!!) Events Of Note Last Month: My SQL courses on Udemy generated $68.65 of income. My courses on...

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Think You're Good At Spotting Scams? I Bet I Can Fool You.

Photo by Ahmed Syed   Not A Real Prince Scams are usually easy to spot. You know that Nigerian prince did not randomly pick you to help get his $10 million dollars out of his bank or to avoid government taxes. They're easy to spot, in part, because they ask you to pay a small amount of money in exchange for a larger amount of money. You’re probably good at ignoring these scams. You may even pride yourself in being too smart to fall...

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

After Six Years, Time To End My Online Courses

Photo by Matt Botsford Back in 2014, when I started this blog, my goal was to get enough passive income to pay for a Tesla. That goal, of course, changed, but passive income is still a great thing to have and to strive for. One of my passive income streams has been from teaching online courses. These are courses I created and recorded, uploaded to a couple instructional sites, and then collect money from each month from students who enroll....

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

On Vacation!

Taking some time off this week as we head to Washington D.C. for spring break! We're taking a train across the country, spending a couple of days in D.C., then flying back home. See you next wee...

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Net Worth Update: End of March 2019

At the end of each month, I post an update of my net worth, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of March, 2019 Net Worth: $950,528 Change from last Month: +$15,683 Events Of Note Last Month: My SQL courses on Udemy generated $59.91 of income. My courses on SkillShare,...

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Here's To Well Defined Goals!

Photo by Vek Labs on Unsplash Over the past 7 months, we have purchased two new Teslas – a Model S P100DL and a Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range. Doing so meant we took out a total of $148,100 in loans. Our combined minimum monthly car payments are $2,209. That’s a lot. It’s more than our house payment was a couple years ago when we were living in Arizona. We are actually paying $2,625 a month towards the loans. That’s what we have budgeted...

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Audew 12V Portable Air Compressor Pump Review

This week, I’m posting a review of a new portable air pump I recently received. Although it was provided to me by the manufacturer, the comments and opinions here are my own. Please see my disclosure page for full details. Back when I was 16 years old, I got my first car – a small, used pickup truck. It cost $4,000 and I paid for half with money saved from working summers and my parents paid the other half. It was great to finally be able to...

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Model 3 Delivered!

Deliverance Wow... The process of buying my wife's Model 3 was so much smoother and faster than what I went through buying my Model S! We pulled the trigger and ordered the car on February 19. We drove it home on March 2 - just 11 days later. And we could have actually had it as early as February 26, only seven days after ordering it, but we weren't ready that soon. (Because both of our names will be on the title, we both had to be present...

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

New Worth Update: End of February 2019

At the end of each month, I post an update of my net worth, including a brief discussion of any notable events that might have occurred. The latest month's figures can always be found under the Featured menu in the menu bar at the top of the blog. Last updated: End of February, 2019 Net Worth: $934,845 Change from last Month: +$26,297 Events Of Note Last Month: Ava hit 10,000 miles! I still love the car! Heading home to charge I...

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The One In Which I Buy A Second Tesla

In August of last year, I gave up on my dream of buying a Tesla using passive income and just bought one using a loan. I explained all the reasons why in this post, but to sum up, there were just too many negatives in waiting to get enough passive income. Now it's time to replace my wife's car and we opted to get her a Model 3. With this purchase, I'm likely not going to post daily details of the buying process like I did the first time...

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Tesla Winter Performance And Wheel Repair Photos

Snow Days! On the first weekend in February, the Seattle area got hit with the biggest snowstorm they've had since I moved here last year - 8 to 10 inches. Granted, that's not much compared to what the East coast gets, but it's pretty rare for this area. School was cancelled for three days and I worked from home all week instead of just two days, The snow itself wasn't bad. It was the icy roads that caused the problems. It was particularly...