Hi, welcome to my blog “Money Savvy Daddy”.
This is the place to be if you want to find real ways and unbiased views on how to make money online and what works best to save on your spending. Combining these elements with the option of choosing to learn how to build more personal wealth and an easier financial future.
This blog is run by just myself. My aim is to show just what one person can do to improve their personal finances.
I regularly share my findings in the clearest ways possible, so many other people, like yourself, can hopefully benefit by doing the same or similar. Or at least be inspired to achieve your own particular goals.
About Me – A Work From Home Dad
I’m Adam Stein, husband and very proud father of 3 gorgeous daughters.
At the time of writing, I have been a work from home dad for the last 15 years. I’ve been working from home a little longer than the age of my eldest daughter.
A couple of months before my eldest turned 4, we were blessed with then having identical twin girls. Our family was complete. When babies start coming out two at a time, you tend not to consider having any more. 🙂
Looking back over those early years, I can’t imagine now, making the decision to give up regular employment knowing a baby was on the way and having to pay the newly acquired mortgage and car loan. There have been ups and downs ever since, but I’ve always managed to find something new to bring in a few extra pounds outside of work.
As any parent will know, the costs of raising children are extremely high and at times it has been challenging.
Always Found Ways of Making Extra Money
Before leaving school, I had no idea what I wanted to do in my working life. I ended up in a low paid job I didn’t enjoy and was always looking for ways to make a few extra pounds.
I’ve always found ways to bring in at least a little extra income. From first discovering investing in stocks and shares during the dot-com boom and subsequent bust, to present-day affiliate income and more recently, having a go at Matched Betting.
My key breakthrough in working for myself was discovering the internet and the many ways to make money online. Over the years I have tried the likes of eBay and remember experiencing that initial feeling of “winning” an auction. In fact, more a feeling of having to win that auction! Hence I was into buying and selling for a while.
Eventually, I discovered affiliate income and other forms of passive income, which are a lot easier than packing and posting eBay items.
Over the years I’ve found many ways to make money.
Here’s a selection to illustrate the variety:
- Buying/Selling On Ebay
- Selling Memorabilia online (sold £1000’s)
- Affiliate Income (turned into a limited company business)
- Online Poker Bonuses
- Cashback
- Matched Betting (Personally made over £40,000+)
Plus I have experience in making any money I do have work for me, here are some examples of how
- Managing multiple bank and saver accounts for highest interest and perks
- Peer to Peer Lending
- Stoozing
- Dividends
- Investing in ISA and Sipp pension
Quite often the money-making methods have been related directly to my interests of the time, which I think is a key ingredient to success – Keep it interesting.
When my first daughter was still being bottle-fed in the night, I was mad keen on Texas Hold’em Poker, so would stay up to do the 2 am feed. This was by coincidence, the best time to play online poker (how fortunate!). At the time tens of thousands of American players were online and they were purely playing for fun, not to actually win. They were “loose” players, or “fish” as they are otherwise known.
At the time, I was playing the less risky limit Texas Hold’em at $1/$2 stakes building up to $2/$4. Taking advantage of sign up and reload poker bonuses on top.
I also combined my poker interest with my work and put together a website that pieced together various sources of quality information on strategy for playing this new popular version of the game (6 max at a table). This helped me as well as other players improve their game. It also earnt me a little extra from affiliate income and advertising from webmasters.
That’s just one example of a side hustle earning me a few extra pounds from something I was particularly interested in at the time. So it didn’t even feel like work.
The eBay selling was mostly buying items I wanted to handle, music CD’s, videos, rare promo items and collectables. Items of interest to me, that I wanted to pass through my hands, so I could listen to or watch.
The Importance of Diversifying Income
An important lesson I have learned from working online and from trying to build income from stocks and shares is the importance of diversifying your income streams.
No form of income is guaranteed to last forever.
From web sites declining in traffic overnight due to Google algorithm changes to affiliate income streams and poker income drying up overnight when a online gambling was unexpectedly banned overnight in the U.S.
A high paying affiliate programme might significantly reduce their commissions, or simply close down.
My main point is, there have always been ways to make money online. However, they are typically changing and I’ve always had to keep evolving, finding new ways to keep up or diversifying income streams in case one dries up. We live in a world of fast-changing technology and it’s obviously the same online. What’s popular one minute is forgotten the next.
So why Money Savvy Daddy?
I thought it would be interesting for a Dad to blog about his methods for making extra money online and uncovering new ways of making some savings and sharing with others.
It’s also important to blog about what you know and what you want to learn more about. Write about what interests you is in the recipe for success. I’m certainly interested in reviewing my expenses and looking for new ways to save money. Plus, I can always do with finding new ways of making a little extra cash.
Hence I decided on doing my own personal finance blog, sharing my own self taught personal financial expertise.
With a little help from the kids in the decision-making process, I decided to go with moneysavvydaddy.com as the site name. They loved the “daddy” aspect!
Money
Money is something we deal with every day in one form or another. The air we breathe is probably the only thing free in the world. Everything else we need to just stay alive, from food and water to shelter, we have to pay for.
Therefore it’s not surprising the vast majority of the population struggle to maintain a good flow of income over and above a steady outflow of expenses. Many people don’t manage and fall into the debt trap. It is a trap. One that is very difficult to get out of.
However, there ways we can turn even the worst of financial situations around and improve all others. There are simple rules we can follow, that will prove financially rewarding over time.
The rules may not be easy to follow because we live in a “have it now” society, that feeds the corporate giants. We simply are brainwashed into wanting it now. Doing such things as paying extra for nothing more than a name as we do for certain “brands”, many of which are of equal quality to similar unbranded products or services is just one example.
If we can learn to wait, feather the nest egg a little at the same time, it’s highly likely our financial future will be a lot brighter.
I’ve witnessed it myself over the last 20 years. The spenders and the thrifty.
The spenders, still renting, still working all hours, no end in sight. The thrifty saved, bought assets, now living in the dream location, be it a coastal town, or within a scenic national park. In some cases they are living abroad, occasionally working from the beach on from their laptops. Basically enjoying life however they dreamed.
Savvy
The definition of “Savvy” reads “shrewdness and practical knowledge, especially in politics or business”.
When it comes to money, there’s no doubting, I have a savvy streak.
When looking for a new way to make money, I will look for and implement aspects others have overlooked or not even thought about.
I look for that extra edge.
Every penny I save, I have it working for me to the max. Whether it be via investing money in shares on the stock market, a little stoozing, peer to peer lending or just basically maximizing interest on savings. I go the extra mile and reap the rewards.
This is something I need to be aware of when relaying methods via my blog to others. Not everyone will want to go as in-depth or as far. They might want to save, but maybe not to the maximum, for example setting up multiple standing orders back and forth, or maintaining a minimum number of direct debits. So I will bear that in mind and order in terms of what is initially most beneficial.
So I will probably separate some of my tips into Savvy Extras! For those totally on my wavelength.
In some rare instances, I may not want to go to the maximum myself, maybe time doesn’t permit, or for some other judgments call. However, if I do spot ways you can benefit even more I will be sure to let you know.
Daddy
There are two reasons “Daddy” is relevant in the naming of my blog.
Firstly, for the obvious reason, I am a Daddy. A parent of 3 daughters. Firstly, being a parent makes money-saving more challenging and secondly, money-making has to be constant due to how much we spend directly on our children. I will also be looking at the best ways to educate my own children about money.
At some point, I will also be looking at the best ways to educate my own children about money. I’ll be looking for an all-around balanced approach. Money is certainly important, and good money management will help them throughout their lives, but money isn’t the be all and end all. So it’s about finding a happy medium.
Anyone with children knows they are expensive. It feels like money is flying out in all directions every day! That’s because, quite often, it is.
The second reason, which kind of sold it to me, as my blog is unlikely to be an all-out parenting blog. It will be more a personal finances blog, albeit with a big hint of being a father.
However, “Daddy” also means “the best or most successful” and that’s what I will be looking to achieve with my informative blog posts. Finding the best ways to make the most money out of an opportunity, aiming high, being of use to people and being one of the best.
Personally, I think it’s harder to go into total thrifty, frugal mode if you have savings and children. This is because you want your children to experience life and a variety of fun days out. However, this variety comes at a cost. Day visits to farms, zoos, play parks are all expensive.
Yes, you can choose to opt for free options such as walks in the woods, taking a ball to park for a kick around and all kinds of alternatives. However, if you have the funds, there are certainly fun and memorable days out the whole family can have at the more expensive destinations. Plus they can be educational.
It’s estimated children cost approximately £150,000 (including childcare or time off work) to raise from birth to 18 years of age. That pretty much says it all. I’ve seen much higher estimates than that too.
I have no doubt, that in a life without children, I would already be financially independent.
However, my children are my life and it goes without saying, I’d far rather have them and their happiness than money.
Intentions
I intend to evaluate and rank the best ways, anyone can make money online. See what works, what doesn’t. What’s worth the effort and time put into.
Secondly, I will prioritize the biggest savings that can be made on typical family bills, regular expenditure and ways to cut back or more cost-effective alternatives. I’ll also review my day to day family spending. To make sure we are getting the most out of our hard earned cash and share ways I find to make savings.
I will set up some aspects of the website as information and useful reminders as if doing so for myself. So I will actually use my own website to refer to back to for sources of information and to remind me of tips etc.
Although I have experience online, I have not found the setting up of a blog to be easy. I will certainly be recording my journey and findings, to make it easier for anyone less experienced to follow suit.
I like to help people and in particular my family. Some of my family, do have money issues. Due in part to no fault of their own. Broken down relationships, ill health.
However, they do have their faculties but are just like many millions of people in the UK, in that they do not have the knowledge for making a few extra pounds online, nor know of the ways they could possibly be making significant savings to their weekly or monthly spending.
I hope some of the things I uncover may be of use to them and hopefully you too.