May, 2005:

Ten days ago, I posted up some items on ebay for sale. The auctions are over and now I’m going to post the results (see table below).

I posted up seven items and five of them were sold. The Sonicare electronic toothbrush was in high demand and received a lot of bids. This shows you how many people want to use an electronic device to brush their teeth. I switched back to manual toothbrushes. Nevertheless, the Sonicare Elite 7500 was sold for $76.50.

I received a few questions about the Motorola cell phone. People were concerned whether they could use it in their area. After answering all the questions, the phone was sold for $14.04 — a lower price than I expected. This phone used to retail for $299.99, and when I switched phones almost 2 years ago, I could still have sold it for at least $100. Moral of the story: Procrastination costs you money.

I’m surprised the laser pointer received a bid. Hopefully the new owner will find a use for it. I got the item as a gift and never used it. The included battery in the box drained out when I tested it last week. The irock 860 was sold for $39.99. I bought this mp3 player for jogging, but since I got a iPod Shuffle now, I decided to sell it. Unfortunately, I will miss the FM tuner on the irock as the Shuffle does not have one.

Only two items didn’t sell. One of them is a coupon, which I posted up as an experiment. The other coupon for Office Depot received a lot of bids however. The other item that didn’t sell was the memory stick for laser printers — not much demand for this expected anyway.

Overall, my net earnings are at $123.38 right now. I still have not received payments for two items, so the totals will decrease a little after the fees, but the net earnings should still be above 100 dollars.

I hope my earnings of a Benjamin bill plus change will satisfy some of the people who made comments and laughed at the 18 cents net earnings I initially posted.

Thanks Nev for the nudge forward. It looks like when I’m not so lazy, I can really make extra money. This idea of ebaying your junk has accomplished me two goals. I have less clutter now and I made some extra bucks for this week. Hmm… I may go for a second round of ebay, since I still have a lot of junk left.

Millennium Bank offers very high rates for their Certificate of Deposits (see below). They pay as high as 8.25% for a 7-year CD with $100K deposit. Even their 1 Year CDs are very attractive, 5.50% for only $5K deposit. I browsed through their website and find out some facts. This bank is not FDIC insured and it is run overseas. My scam detector is on high alert. I would like to know how many people have invested in companies like these. What are the chances of getting your money back? Can anyone find out more details about this company? How long were they in existence?

Next update is going to be the results of my ebay auctions. I know a lot of people are waiting for the results. It’s going to be interesting. Let me put everything together and post them up.

I have a Chase PerfectCard and one thing I like about it is that it has a straight 1% cash rebate and it’s immediately credited to your next billing statement. There’s no need to wait until you accumulate up to $100 rebate.

This card sounds too good to be true. I wonder what the “catch” is. Then when I read this letter (see image below) they just sent to me and I realize their business strategy. I feel like I crack the code. There’s a part on the letter that states, “Reward dollars… will expire six months after the date they are earned.” Unlike other cash rebate cards that write you checks, the Chase Perfect card rebates must be applied as a credit to your future billing statement. Their master plan is to keep you using the card. You need a outstanding balance to take advantage of the rebates. Of course, the more you use it, the more business Chase gets. Ingenious business strategy! What a smart/slick way to keep cardholders charging the cards. And many people use the card for recurring bill payments anyway, so they will not be affected by the “catch.”

Chase Letter

Here are the other credit cards, I currently have:

AT&T Universal Card – Great card. Used frequently.

• Straight 1% thereafter. Can claim check once rebate accumulates to $50. Best part: 5% rebate intro period for 6-months.

AMEX Blue Card – Great card. Used frequently.

• 1 point per dollar. Best part: Points do NOT expire.

Discover Card – Used occassionally.

• Rebates based on a tier system, have to work your way up to 1% rebate. Best part: Double rebate value with gift certificates.

Chase Amazon Card – Only used for Amazon.com purchases

• 1% on non-Amazon.com purchases. Best part: 3% rebate on Amazon.com purchases.

Dawn, the author of Frugal For Life has a straight forward approach to a happier and wealthier life – by living below your means and saving as much as you can. Her blog lists many ways you can save money, from clipping coupons to creative ideas for items you would throw away. “Living below your means (lbym) is a fulltime job,” she says. Well, a dollar saved is a dollar earned, right? Being a smart shopper/consumer saves you money over the long term.

Okay, pop quiz. Let’s work the muscles of the cerebrum a bit.

I have a subscription to Netflix and I return two DVDs in one envelope instead of the two they sent. I’d save each of the extra envelopes in case I’d need it. Now, I have a stack of Netflix envelopes. What creative ideas do you have to best use these extra envelopes?
i.e. Scrap paper? Table cloth?

I also have a large collection of the free AOL CDs. What creative ideas do you have to best use these extra CDs?
i.e. Table coaster? Door stopper? Flying discs?

As I have expected, the traffic (chart below) for May 11th and May 12th would be significantly increased due to the news coverage from Neville’s site. At that time I put up some invading ads in the middle of the contents. My smack-in-the-face ads got 4 clicks which is a 400% increase from the previous 1 click on May 9th. It seems like intrusive ads can earn you a bit more revenue, but I believe it also decreases the value of your site. It tends to repel visitors. I don’t like sites with annoying ads myself, so I believe it is more important to keep a site more clean. I would rather have more visitors than earned the few extra pennies. For a total of 1,294 page impressions and 9 clicks, I have earned $2.00. While my site is still young, $2 for the time I have put on AdSense is not a good return.

AdSense Results 5/1/05 – 5/16/05

I’m planning to update my feed URL to http://feeds.feedburner.com/GrowingMoney. For RSS readers, please update the new address immediately.

Nickel says that it’s possible to use the local atom feed and tie it to the feedburner so I will just need to publish one feed URL. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. So in the meantime, please update your RSS Reader to pick up http://feeds.feedburner.com/GrowingMoney

I’ve shrunk the annoying ad to a small box now. I personally don’t like web sites oversaturated with ads. I know this is a very good opportunity for many sites to make money with their ads, but it also decreases the value of appeal of the site. I usually ignore ads when I see them. But many sites are making money with ads now, it would be a wasted opportunity not to gain some revenue. However, you would want to make the ads subtle and non-intrusive. Like Cap@StopBuyingCrap.com says, have your ads “blend in your site template or layout” to make a compromise between appeal and revenue.

I tried my best to match the ad background color to my blog’s. I can’t seem to find the exact code for the color palette, but it’s close enough now. I hope it’s all easier on the eyes now. Also, I can’t add the ads on the right side of my blog, under Sponsors. Does AdSense limit the number of ads you can put up?

I’ll report the AdSense revenues tomorrow.

Can you manage your money as well as you believed?

Many people think that with a large amount of money they can make even more money. They tend to underestimate the skills you need to make this happen. It’s true that if you have money, it is more probable that you will earn more money. But it is in no way a guarantee. If you are to suddenly receive a huge lump sum of money, do you think you can manage the money properly and increase your net worth? Are you sure?

Allow me to point you to this article, 8 Lottery Winners Who Lost Their Millions. Eight people received a large sum of money, but guess what happened? Instead of having more money, they ended up losing everything. What went wrong? Did the Grinch come at night and steal all of it? I don’t think so.

When you suddenly have so much on hand, you are more inclined to spend it. After all, your wish has come true and now you can buy anything you want. You can buy a new car. Oh yes, pick the most expensive one, it’s only $250,000 you have to shell out. Well, guess what, that kind of thinking will hurt you in the long run.

Also, there’s the sudden urge to make more money. So you dive into a business, any business in hopes of generating more income. Do you understand the business? No? Well, you pay the consequences. “Because the winners have a large sum of money, they make the mistake of thinking they know what they’re doing. They are willing to plunk down large sums on investments they know nothing about or go in with a partner who may not know how to run a business,” says Bill Pomeroy, a certified financial planner in Baton Rouge, La.

And also, your addiction to gambling does not stop just because you win the lottery. Look at Evelyn Adams, she won the lottery twice. I guess once was not enough. You may be one of those people that will just keep gambling with your winnings, and that’s a dangerous financially behavior. It makes you wonder how the casinos survive, right? Let me tell you something, they’ll still be here hundreds of years from now. Why? Casinos captivate the strongest and weakest of human nature – GREED. Everyone goes to a casino to gamble — to win quick and big. If you lose, you’d want to play again to win. If you win, you’d want to play again to win. Believe me, you’re trapped.

So you see, with poor management you will soon realize your huge pot of money shrinks over time. After all, you’re in money shock. Your lump sum makes suddenly more powerful. And if you don’t control these powers well, you will be become a victim of your own greed. Aside from family issues, your big time purchases and carelessly planned investments will cost you your fortune.

So what should you do if you’re suddenly rich? First, you should sit down and establish a game plan. Learn before you invest! Just because you’re suddenly richer, doesn’t make you suddenly smarter. Do some research, see what options are available to you. Assess the risks and rewards of each investment. Know what you are doing, even if you hire someone to handle the money for you. So at least you will have an idea the financial advisor is working in your best interests.

Just because you’re rich does not excuse you from the basic knowledge of Money Management. Save a portion of your money in a safe high yield savings account. Contribute to your retirement accounts. Think before you buy. Is it really necessary to shell out $250,000 for a Bentley? Can a $75,000 Audi do the job? That’s a savings of $175K. Put the 175 grand to work and you can probably buy another Audi after 12-months. That’s making your money grow.

It’s true, no matter what your financial status is, it is very important to develop good financial habits. Keep a note to yourself, and start early. Learn how to manage money even if it is a small amount, because you’ll never know what opportunities may arise. Good habits make successful people.