I Have Cancer.  Now What I Am Going to Do?

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i have cancer now what

Two weeks ago I learned some pretty shocking news: I have cancer. What started out as a seemingly simple trip to the doctor to find out why my neck was feeling so constricted lately quickly escalated into an 8-night stay at the hospital full of scans, biopsies, and blood-work which ultimately concluded that I have Stage II Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Believe me – to say this has been quite a shock is to say the least.  I’ll be turning 35 years old next month and this is something I would have never guessed I’d be dealing with at this stage of my life.  I’ve always worked very, very hard to stay … [Read more...]

12 Things I Learned From Writing Over 30 Guest Posts Last Year

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guest posts

Anyone who is anyone when it comes to blogging knows that one of the best ways to grow your business is to offer to write guest posts for other sites. While guest posting doesn’t directly make you any money (at least not if you’re one of those shady sponsored post authors I ignore in my inbox), it can give you and the brand you’re trying to develop plenty of qualitative value. And, as you might guess, that qualitative value can lead to things like more traffic or better search ranks results that will eventually yield you more income (more on that below). If you really think about it … [Read more...]

Extra Income Taxes – How I Messed Mine Up and What You Can Do to Get It Right

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Extra Income Taxes

Even financial bloggers don’t always get everything right. This year I found out there is a dark side to earning a decent amount of passive income.  While making money outside your job is absolutely great, you have to remember that at some point you have to report it all to the IRS.  And that means paying a whole lot of extra income taxes! While the concept of having to paying taxes on your earnings is no secret to anyone, the way you have to go about it is a little bit more complicated than simply waiting until February and then paying in a thousand bucks one time.  In fact because of … [Read more...]

Niche Website Update 25 – $1,577 in Income – Thank You Amazon!

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make money online

Welcome to another edition of the My Money Design monthly niche website update. For the last 2 years now I’ve been working very hard to develop a collection of sites that will serve as a stream of sustainable income.  I’m doing so by treating this blogging effort like a business rather than a hobby; meaning every month I come up with goals and new strategies to try that I anticipate will make next month better than the last. I feel so fortunate to have discovered the concept of passive income and invested energy into it.  All the money I’m making is money that I make OUTSIDE my job.  … [Read more...]

Our Ultimate Plan to Retire at 45 – December 2014 Update

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money plan

If you have any aspirations to retire early some day, then this is the post you’ve been waiting for.  It’s my annual update to our plan for financial freedom. Trust me – you’re not going to find another plan like this anywhere else. For some time now I’ve been saying that my wife and I plan to retire when I turn 45 years old.  How do we plan to pull off such an ambitious goal?  That’s what this plan is all about.  We put numbers to paper and actually see what our cash flow will look like all throughout the future.  Hence the name of the blog, this is our “money design”. If you have … [Read more...]

Recognizing the Important Aspects of Life

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important aspects of life

One of my favorite movies to watch during Christmas time is the old classic “A Christmas Carol”. Yes, I know.  It’s about as cliché of a Christmas movie as they can possibly get.  Pretty much everyone knows the story of bitter-old Ebenezer Scrooge and how he changes his miserable ways after a visit from 3 ghosts who show him how meaningless his life really is and convince him to change. I think most people will agree that the main point of the Dickens’s tale is that there is more to life than money.  However as I’ve become older I’ve realized that the theme of money actually highlights … [Read more...]

Can the Experts Help Us Find Good Stocks?  9 Month Update

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find good stocks

Welcome to another quarterly update of how my stock portfolio is doing and whether or not the experts were able to us find good stocks to invest in.  Every year I invest a small portion of my portfolio into individual stocks to gain experience with them as well as attempt to increase my wealth.  My long term goal is to build a stable portfolio of dividend yielding stocks that will eventually provide me a steady stream of income. If you’ll remember: The last time I bought stocks back in January, I noticed that each of the major financial websites had their own “analyst opinion” section that … [Read more...]

Niche Website Update 24 – $1,524 of Income – Amazon Site Progress and Next Steps

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amazon affiliate

Welcome to yet another edition of my monthly niche website portfolio update. Building and profiting from websites has become a very intricate part of how I’m slowly building my fortune and saving for financial freedom. The great thing about it is that it is in no way tied to my day-job or paycheck in any way.  I’m simply going above and beyond to create an income stream that will help support my goals regardless of my job. November is over and winter has been very much upon us here in the mid-west.  These are the kinds of cold months where I really look forward to staying indoors (where … [Read more...]