Diversification is a term used by investors who don't put all their financial eggs in one basket. This really is a good idea. After all, if one income generator fails, you have others to fall back on. This is what I have done on my own small scale.
- I am purchasing stock in McDonald's through a payroll plan. I spend $20 a month to buy shares. To date, 5.230176 shares of MCD. A dividend of $7.65 has been rolled back into stock purchases. I haven't exactly gotten rich, but then I don't own many shares yet.
- I just signed up for the McDonald's 401K program, having $15 per paycheck deducted for that. They match funds, so I'm hoping that by the time I retire, if I stay with McDonald's, I'll have a little cushion there.
- I signed up for the PayPal Money Market, but it has fluctuated quite a bit over the last months. I only received $1.47 from the fund for December. That's been about the average amount. However, I know that a lot of that depends on how high my PayPal balance is. With holidays, it has dropped to about $100 now, so it's not working to its potential because of my having to dip into it. This is something I'm going to be changing in the new year.
- I have also gotten a PayPal debit card. I get Cash Back Bonuses from it, depending on the type of purchase I make. As long as I choose a Credit Card option, I get the bonus. Not every place gives you that option, so Debit Card purchases actually receive no bonus. However, I have received $4.53 for the month of December from the Cash Back Bonuses, so it's really working out ok. It would work out a lot better if I could figure out how to make Walmart run it as a credit card instead of a debit card. I have some high purchases there, but none have given me a bonus.
- My bank has a points program for debit card purchases. I have two debit cards there for two accounts. I can convert the points to cash, as I indicated in a previous post. However, I waited until after the New Year to do that because I didn't want that added to my 2007 income. I will be checking soon to see just how many points I have accrued and how much money they're worth very soon.
- From all other sources of revenue online, meaning sponsored posts, I have received $681.35, which is pretty decent for a sideline income. Beginning this month, though, I'd like to bring that up to at least $1,000 per month. Doing that would mean a lot more content in my blogs and certainly a lot more work, but it would also mean less dependency on my regular job and possibly a way to gain more freedom.
All told, this is a
total cash income of $687.35 outside of my job. I plan to give you a report of this every month, near the first of the month when I've received all the payouts and data from the previous month. I hope this will encourage you to begin your online income generation as I have. It really does help me stay solvent.
