Personal Finance Update - Steem Soars Above $5 as Earnings Keep Rising. Is This Real Life?

At what point do I stop thinking of these high SBD / Steem prices as a “pump,” and start thinking about them as the new normal?

_hmm….

It’s hard to say.

Always Preparing for the Worst Case Scenario

One thing is for sure. No matter what strategy I pursue, the worst-case scenario needs to be attended for.

The worst-case is that thing none of us want to think about: Steem absolutely crashing. The truest, worstest worst case is for Steem to literally go to $0 and stop functioning. Whenever I celebrate and capitalize on a great steem price, I must also balance this possibility in my mind.

_{What if the experiment fails?}

However this is easier said than done, because there is also the opportunity cost to consider.

Worst Case vs. Opportunity Cost

Definition of Opportunity Cost: When you work on one thing, you miss out on other things.

Right now since I am earning $1,500 per week from my Steemit blog, if we think of that as a full time job, I am earning roughly $37.5 per hour from my work here.

This isn’t perfect - for example, my 60 SBD @sndbox membership costs me an equivalent of $600 per month right now, so that subtracts from the total - but overall the earnings are insane.

If I spend time writing for Textbroker, I will earn about $7 an hour. Working on Constant Content articles will earn me something similar, maybe closer to $10 per hour on a good day.

If I spend a 5 hour work shift on Textbroker / Constant Content, I will earn at least $100 less from that day’s work compared to spending my time creating great Steem content.

The opportunity cost is pretty big. My net worth right now (ignoring today's massive steem pump) is roughly -$11,000, negative eleven thousand dollars. That means that the difference between my highest paying work (Steem) and lowest (Textbroker), in just one day, is enough to pay off 1% of my total debt.

This is true as long as Steem and SBD are worth their current value.

The numbers are so big that they make my head spin, lol.

Lucky Situation

The good news is: I don’t have to work actively on Textbroker to maintain it. I think the same is true for Constant Content.

I’ve written for Textbroker for more than five years - with at least two breaks of a year where I never logged in. That means it’s fine for me to stop writing there while I focus on the great Steem opportunity. I’ll still have Textbroker as an income stream if I need it in the future.

The same seems to be true for Constant Content - I’ve only written there for a year, but it seems like I could take longer breaks and not lose my account. Recently I took about a month off and it was fine.

My other income source - Bitcoin Canada - is better, closer to $15 per hour of work, and I can maintain it with probably an average of one article per week. That will be a small hedge to maintain the additional income stream - and the bylines are nice too.

Basically, everything is fine and I don’t need to worry too much. I can focus hard on Steem for my income now, and I’m still somewhat safe. Cool!

Personal Finance Update

My net worth should have gone down today as a result of me moving to my new home and starting to buy furniture for the room (old apartment was furnished) - it's gonna be about $1,000 of expenses.

But, the steem price pumped HARD. So it's pure dumb luck that I made progress on my net worth with this update:

ASSETS:

Checking Account #1 (Bills/Rent): $876
Checking Account #2 (Day-to-day spending): $450
Checking Account #3 (BTC Debit Card Wallet): $10

Savings Account #1: $210

Steem Liquid Wallet: 22 steem + 30 SBD / $120 + $300 = $420 (blaze it)
Steem Power: 1,691 SP // $9,300 (assuming a lowball of $5.50 Steems right now)

Total Assets: $11,266

DEBTS:

Money Owed to my Dad: $10,208

PayPal Credit: $5,798
Chase Credit: $440

Short Term Steem Loan: $300

Total Debts: $16,746

NET WORTH AS OF TODAY: -$5,480

LAST WEEK: -$10,077
NET CHANGE: +$4,597

New All Time High for steem = new All Time High for my net worth since I started taking on debt. Rejoice! We'll see if it holds up or if the price slides back down...

Starting 2018 The Right Way

I’m starting 2018 the right way: Working hard, staying healthy, and being smart with my money. If all goes according to plan, and if Steem stays at high prices, this could be one hell of a year!

How are you starting out the year? Any new financial strategies? I’d love to hear about what you are doing, let me know in the comments.