The Bottom Line
💰 My owned income increased from $559 to $564/month
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Personal Finance
I’m deleveraging my emergency fund by investing in stocks, real estate, and businesses to own my income. Join me in using my free template to offset one bill at a time and achieve financial security!
I landed another engineering/business job starting June. What a ride it’s been since February: publishing articles, selling options, and starting a handyman business which alone made me over $3000 in less than a month. I may slow down in my businesses/side hustles, but we aren’t stopping.
If this layoff has taught me anything it’s that my financial philosophy of owning your income through stocks, real estate, and active businesses is critical to your financial peace and a much better strategy than relying on an emergency fund. These financial pillars of Bratto Biz couldn’t be more true:
Cash flow > Net Worth
Debt-free > Leverage
Owning My Income > Renting My Income
Though my income only went up slightly from last month, it’s a little misleading as my dividend income went up quite a bit while my interest income dropped due to buying a used car. I actually prefer to have as little interest bearing cash as possible as it’s transient in your owned income journey. Dividend income is the most important to track and increase, as it’s 100% passive and the most stable form of income on the planet. Here’s the breakdown:
Personal Taxable Brokerage Dividends: $266 to $316/month
Business Taxable Brokerage Dividends: $94 to $153/month
Interest Bearing Cash: $200 to $96/month
These were the changes to my bills the past month
Car Insurance reduced $1344.58 to $1277.88
Car Tab reduced $252 to $205
$400/month Car bill eliminated. This is not shown in FIRE calcs as we do not try to offset debt payments with investment income yet
I’m still working toward offsetting my Energy bill, which costs me $167/month. My free budgeting and forecasting tool calculates I need to get my passive income to $618/month and will conservatively take me about 6 months, though I think I’ll do it faster. Since we’re making $564/month, we need to create $54/month of additional passive income to bridge this gap.
Remember, fixed costs are the first priority to cover with passive income as they tend to be the smallest, most numerous, and most rigid costs that will never go away for the rest of your life.
Investing
📈 Read my latest publication on SPYI: In The Trenches: Pairing SCHD With SPYI For Financial Independence for FREE on Seeking Alpha or on my friend’s awesome newsletter at GRIT Capital.
Free Template and Financial Health Screening
📊 Download my FREE Google Sheets template to create a budget and calculate exactly what your bills actually cost you and how much you need to become financially independent. This is a reality everyone will need to face at some point in their lives. You will not find a spreadsheet capable of forecasting your budget, cash flow, and cash supply this precisely.
If you want a second opinion on your budget, debt management, and financial plan, reach out using one of my links. Texting me on Minnect is preferred to get things going!