When I originally started looking for ways to make money online, Blogging is a topic that often came up as a source of making money. One pitch line that stayed in my head was "Blogging to the Bank". With what will soon be my sixth month under my belt in blogging, I can not say I have blogged to the bank. But, I have been able to write about one of my passions which is learning how to build wealth and share those lessons with others.

The 1st stock I purchased this year was Micrsoft (Ticker Symbol: MSFT). I purchased 1 share which paid 16 cent per quarter or approximately 5 cent per month. Shortly after that the dividend was raised to 20 cent per quarter which increased the average income to 6 cent per month. I know that is not a lot of money but it is where I started. I would eventually like to own 100 shares of Microsoft and rent them out for a monthly income, through what is known as a covered call. According to my research, a monthly return of 3% to 6% a month can be earned. I have been practicing in a virtual account this year. I'll post results at the end of the year.

I will continue to buy dividend stocks and save money to build up a stock portfolio so I can use the covered call process. I am currently thinking about buying 100 share of Sprint (Ticker Symbol:S) because it is under 3 dollars a share. It could be a great stock to test my covered call theory out on.

Just Been Paid (JBP) has become my primary source of online income. It is currently paying me 2 dollars everyday or 60 dollars a month. This covers my internet connection expense. I believe that I can increase my income with JBP if I re-invest, the profits. By January of 2012, my goal will be to have a monthly income of at least 82 dollars. This would complete 14 of 20 targets I have set for myself.

Here are my current positions and what they have paid. I have also added my account movements or transactions.

Doing what the Rich Do- So I can have what the Rich Have.

I started this blog on May 30th, 2011. My goal for writing this blog is to learn apply and practice principles of wealth an share them with others. Based on my understanding of how to be wealthy, I need to do 3 things: (1) Buy things that pay me, (2) Re-invest my profits, and (3) form a network.

I have successfully completed parts 1 and 2, but I am having difficultly with part number 3. So far I have not been able to form a group and duplicate.

Below is a Snap Shot of my Account at Options Xpress as of Today

In May I was able to purchase 1 share of Microsoft, and 5 shares of ARR. This created a month income from dividends of 60 cent. In June I purchased 7 more share of ARR which increased my dividend income from 60 cent to $1.44. The dividend income was automatically re-invested into a dividend re-investment program (a.k.a "DRIP".) The DRIP purchased .2 shares of ARR giving me a total of 12.2 shares of the stock. This Also increased my monthly dividend income from 1.44 to 1.45. Even though it was just a one penny increase I was encouraged to know that it was working.

In July I purchased 5 more shares of ARR. I have now acquired 17.2 shares of the stock. My dividend income has now increased from $1.45 up to $2.04. If I can get the income above $2.56 I will have taken out target 9 of my 20 step plan.

The hardest part about investing is dealing with commissions. Every time I purchase a stock a 10 dollar commission is paid. So far I have made 4 purchases, and, I have lost 40 dollars in commission transactions. In order to overcome the challenge of dealing with the commissions, I will have to complete step 11 of my 20 step plan. At that time I will covering the commission cost through dividends.

This is slow, but it is working.

Fast N Furious Wealth or Slow N Steady Wealth?

The Slow and the Steady will win the race of Income investing. Contrary to advertisements about investing being done at a Fast and Furious pace, true wealth is more likely to be built at a slow and steady pace. In a previous article I took the model of a penny compounded or doubled for 20 days to use as a model.  If a penny was compounded for 20 days, it would look like this

Target 1 ------------------------------>$0.01

Target 2------------------------------> $0.02

Target 3 ------------------------------>$0.04

Target 4------------------------------> $0.08

Target 5 ------------------------------>$0.16

Target 6 ------------------------------>$0.32

Target 7 ------------------------------>$0.64

Target 8 ------------------------------>$1.28

Target 9 ------------------------------>$2.56

Target 10 ------------------------------>$5.12

Target 11------------------------------> $10.24

Target 12 ------------------------------>$20.48

Target 13 ------------------------------>$40.96

Target 14 ------------------------------>$81.92

Target 15 ------------------------------>$163.84

Target 16 ------------------------------>$327.68

Target 17 ------------------------------>$655.36

Target 18 ------------------------------>$1,310.72

Target 19 ------------------------------>$2,621.44

Target 20------------------------------> $5,242.88

Based on the stocks I have been able to acquire in May and June, I have build a monthly dividend income of approximately $1.49 which takes out Targets 1 through 8. I have been documenting each purchase in my OptionsXpress Investment Journal.

Here are the entries documenting my trades.

Purchases In May

1st Stock Purchase

2nd Stock Purchase

Purchases In June

3rd Stock Purchase

1 Dollar and 49 cent in monthly dividend income is probably not all that exciting to some. But it is not where START that matters...It is where you FINISH.

What are the ways that you are building passive or residual income (Cash Flow)? Please leave your comments or questions in the comment box below.