New Goal: Fund IRA with “Online” Money
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I’m currently making one of the cardinal mistakes of personal money management… I’m not saving for retirement. Instead, every extra cent is going towards debt. My reasons for doing this are many… the debt bothers me psychologically, the stock market is terrible right now and I don’t want to invest, I do already have about $5000 in IRA/Roth IRA so I feel like I have a start, my employer doesn’t offer a 401K or a match, and so on and on. The biggest main reason is that my Fiance feels really strongly that we need to pay off our debt NOW so that we can start our lives (buy a house, get married, have kids, etc.) and he doesn’t want to put that goal off for anything, even for retirement savings. I’m still in my mid-20’s so, for this year at least, I’m not going to argue this point (although I may argue it more strongly next year once all the credit card debt is gone).
Instead, I have a new plan. I am going to try to fully fund my IRA this year using money that make online. In other words, I’m am hoping to make $5000 online over the course of the year doing various things online. Its probably unrealistic that I will make the full $5000, but I’m going to try really hard to explore all the resources out there for making money online (and for this purpose I mean places that pay via paypal, so that I can withdraw the money directly to a personal bank account and then to an IRA), and I hope to get as close as possible!
Where I Go Online to Make Money
- Pinecone Surveys. The frequency of survey’s isn’t great, but they always pay reliably and they pay $3 a survey, which is pretty good. I can’t link to this, because you have to find a banner to join and its elusive.
- Greenfield Surveys. The frequency is even worse here, and its frustrating because a lot of time’s I will start a survey and it won’t pay. It also takes a few weeks for the money to show up in your account after you complete a survey. However, they do pay via paypal and I’ve made $165 since I started with them last year, so its not terrible. And once in a while they offer a product test which pays more money
- Getpaidto.com (this IS a referral link). This is one of the better paid-to-try sites I have ever used. I’ve completed about 15 offers with them so far, and every single one has credited, which is way way better than a lot of sites I’ve experimented with. The offers here are just “fill-out-this-form” offers which don’t require you to put in a credit card or a lot of personal info. And you can cash out via paypal with as little as .50
- Lightspeed surveys. This site is good, but not great. They offer a lot of surveys and I usually find out pretty quickly whether I qualify or not. The payment amounts are relatively small, but not too bad.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
[...] Original admin [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
So he’s ok with the online money going to IRA’s but not the regular paycheck? In any case, as long as you guys have found a compromise that works for you both, then that’s a good thing. There will be a lot of compromises along the way, so it’s best to be able to do that.
And I like it that you have set a time limit of one year, and then you’ll think about it again…. always good to have those time limits in place. Good luck with it all!
My taxman even told me when I was trying to fund an IRA and remodel/add to this tiny house that rather than get a loan for the house and pay the IRA, I should just invest my IRA in the house - the payoff he thought (and not having to get a loan) would be just as hefty. Sometimes, there is a higher priority - and paying down debt when you are totally committed to it, is one of those times.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Yes, he is ok with that.
Thanks for the encouragement
Did the house remodel end up having a good payoff (even though real estate is in such trouble now!)
September 10th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I got a postcard in the mail yesterday from ING direct. They will give you $25 to open a ShareBuilder Automatic Investment Plan, plus the first months fee of $16 is waived! You can schedule investments on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis by selecting from their list of over 7,000 stocks.
Check out my post here: http://momsbyheart.blogspot.com/2008/09/25-free-for-investing-with-ing-direct.html
September 10th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Correction to above - I invested the $$ I would have put into my IRA that year and the next into the house - not that I invested the whole IRA!!!
Yes the remodel addition has a good payoff. Took a 560 sq ft mini house from 1942 - built for the mill workers at the local lumber mill - that I basically paid the price of the lot for - $40,000 and bought as-is, one bedroom one half bath, and expanded it to 1010 sq ft - Now 2 bedrooms and a bath and a half, which is enough for me and visiting grandkids who stay over about once a week while their Mom works nights. I put about $62,000 into it - so my investment is $102,000 plus a lot of elbow grease on my part. It should be worth $150,000-$180,000 - I am waiting for the new tax assessment which should come in next month to see for certain.
The property (lot only) was worth $38,000 when I bought the place. The lot only is worth $45,000 now in only 3 years. Real estate here (NW coastal Oregon) is not in trouble that I can see…. Last year the prices rose out of sight, and now they are just back where they should have been… just a correction to normalcy. I was told a year ago that the house would be worth $225,000 and I told them at the time that was NOT solid and would fall like everything else that had risen so much. So now that the correction back to normal has occured, all is well.
I rebuilt this for me (age 54) to be my retirement home - so actually the payoff didn’t much matter as I intend to live there til I drop
It’s an investment in my old age - I don’t intend to sell it so it was rebuilt in my colors and floor plan - even made the walk in closet space, with window, into a scrapbooking room…. definitely made to order just for me!
September 11th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Thats good, I’m glad it worked out well for you
We’d love to be able to get a fixer-upper if we can swing it time wise. We need to get out of debt and into a house before we get ready to have a family, but don’t want to put off having a fam for too long… but I also don’t want to be remodeling when pregnant or buying a house before we are ready… very sticky timeline!
A scrapbooking room sounds great too
I used to scrapbook all the time when I had time… now I just make those Kodak photobooks (a lot easier, but way less nice/personal)
September 11th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Lori… that ING direct/sharebuilder deal sounds good… but if only the 1st months fee is waived does that mean I would have a fee in subsequent months?
September 11th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
If you can get a fixer-upper to finance, then it’s a good way to go.
You need to be willing to work on it, and have friends/family to ask for advice when you get stuck, and be able to live in the construction zone.
Previously I had rentals that were fixer-uppers so had some experience on it. Plus previous fixer upper houses. Almost all the houses out here are fixer uppers
Good luck with your timeline - sticky - but its all yours! Have fun!