The Argument for Dollar Cost Averaging

I've heard a lot of talk recently about Dollar Cost Averaging in the last year, though I hadn't seen the numbers. First of all, a short explanation on DCA. The idea is to put the same amount of money into your stock account every month (or week, quarter, year), no matter what. The reasons are:

1. It helps you remember to put money in regularly, and moving toward your retirement.
2. With a promissory letter to the fund, you can start with lower amounts than normally needed - some ask for $5,000 minimum OR $200 a month.
3. If the fund is going up and down, you'll buy more shares (same overall cost) in down months.
   

I didn't really get the power of #3, and I'm a number person, so I decided to see for myself. The following took about 10 minutes to throw together in Excel, and is really indicative of the power of DCA.

Invest $50 a month
Fund price	Amount	Shares
$20.00	$50.00	2.50
$19.00	$50.00	2.63
$18.00	$50.00	2.78
$17.00	$50.00	2.94
$16.00	$50.00	3.13
$15.00	$50.00	3.33
$14.00	$50.00	3.57
$13.00	$50.00	3.85
$12.00	$50.00	4.17
$11.00	$50.00	4.55
$10.00	$50.00	5.00	50% loss
$11.00	$50.00	4.55
$11.00	$50.00	4.55
$11.00	$50.00	4.55
$12.00	$50.00	4.17
$12.00	$50.00	4.17
$13.00	$50.00	3.85
$13.00	$50.00	3.85
$13.00	$50.00	3.85
$14.00	$50.00	3.57
$14.00	$50.00	3.57
$15.00	$50.00	3.33
$15.00	$50.00	3.33
$15.00	$50.00	3.33	still down 25% after two years
Totals	$1,200.00	89.09
	$13.47	Price per share
	$1,336.34	Current value
	$136.34	Profit !
	22.7%	ROI

This is based on the fact that I started with $0 and ended with $1,200 invested, so on average had $600 in the market. How would that look - at the end of 2 years and a 25% decline in stock price to be up almost 23%? On the other hand, a steady increase in stock prices and your gains lag, since you keep buying stock at higher and higher prices. And it only helps you lose less on a steady decline.

smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.

smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.

More on How to Make Money on oDesk

As the one that is working and making me money, I am really starting to focus on oDesk. It's a job, yes, and my goal is Financial Freedom - and that will come from steady passive income, not pay-per-hour. But right now, I need money (don't we all!), so I take what pays...

Besides, I might have some ideas on how to make oDesk more passive. I'll post on that later though! For now, more on how things work at oDesk.

To make money there, you have to be the cheapest, the best, or otherwise unique at what you do. Considering the competition, I wouldn't try to be the cheapest - many work for under $2 an hour here. The best can also be a pretty high level... That really leaves being yourself and being unique, which means some branding. More on that in a bit.

To set yourself up, first you create an account. They walk you through that, and through the stages of building your profile - think of it as your oDesk resume. Here's mine. The focus is on what you can do for your client (called a Buyer as they're buying your services). So first I took tests to show that I'm not just saying I can write well. You need to take the introductory oDesk test, and then you're on your own. I'd recommend you do a couple obvious ones - creative writing, tech writing, etc. if you want to write. Then apply for a couple jobs and look at the other people applying - click on their names, read their profiles, and start adjusting yours. What other tests did they take? How did they write their intro? Have they worked a bit? Take their profile more seriously, like this one - notice the portfolio as well as tests.

One other thing - as you're building, don't worry about the pay. You'll get up to it. I started at under $2 an hour for my first job - now I'm at $14. The profile in the last paragraph, she started at $10 and now often makes over $30! Start. Write something. Get some positive feedback, and build. There is enough work out there to make a good career here.

Now you just have to stay motivated and working at home!

Making Money Online in February

And the word is ... interesting. I've actually been working offline a lot, which cut into time, and working on oDesk a lot, which cut into time for other projects here. As you'll see below, some have fallen flat on their face, and others are taking off. On to the results!

Blogging
Again, this has been one of my favorites, as there is lots of opportunities to express myself, think more deeply and reflect on life, and share ideas - hopefully with other people!

On the income front, however, we're not doing so well. Although I had more views in Feb, I made no money through Adsense and Amazon. I also had about two weeks with hardly any posts, so we'll see how that changes in March.

Posting Content
The Haiku I put up last month are my most recent posts, yet things are still moving. I like the possibility that I could have a hundred or more articles, and with a minimum of effort, a slow flow of cash. Even though I did nothing this month, there are 50 new page views - and some come from people who like a new post and move through to other pages. I will probably make it a point to post five articles here a month from now on.

Tally: 50 new page views for 8 cents.

Sales
I'm up and official - there are three pictures of mine up on Loxly. You can follow the link in the header to see the pictures I have have up, if you're interested. I'll be working on ways to market them now. I haven't done anything with eBay, as I don't have anything really to sell. This seems like it could be good, though I don't know really how yet...

Final tally: nada

Surveys
I'm registered with PineCone, panelbase.net, Greenfield, and American Consumer Opinion, and haven't received any new paid surveys. These sites, for the most part, email us when there's a survey we qualify for, so there's little you can do proactively to make money here. I have a few more sites to check out, though I'm discouraged by the lack of action I can take here.

Final tally: nothing new

Telecommuting at oDesk
oDesk is really taking off. I now have two bosses here - one in the Philippines, and one in Greece. Talk about outsourcing and an international market! I've been invited to an interview on what oDesk is about, so I'll put up a link for that if it works out.

As to actual work, I've put in almost 40 hours in the last 3 weeks. I'm working on the help text for a program, and spending a lot of time working out details for the wording and specialty concepts.

February tally: $539.00!

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So the grand total is $539.08, all pretty much from oDesk.

I'm a Happy Member of the Professional oDesk Community!

I am now an oDesk professional, as compared to an amateur - someone who does it as a hobby. And of course what that means is I got paid! I've been working for a little bit, but they have a delay - I assume so that the buyers can't cancel the payment. Let's go a little slower and explain how the pay system works there.

When a person or business looks to hire someone through oDesk, they have to give oDesk a method of payment - usually credit card, probably Paypal would work too (not a Buyer - yet!). oDesk then tests the card, and doesn't let that person hire anyone until they have a positive result. As long as the you(or me, a provider) works hourly, you clock in, are monitored, and oDesk keeps a record of time spent and what was going on with your computer. Sunday night, your hours for the week are up, and you have until Monday noon to make any changes - say you got a drink of water and spent 10 minutes talking to a friend; you don't want to charge them for that 10 minutes.

Now comes the wait. oDesk spends about 10 days processing: charging their credit card; handling their paperwork; waiting to make sure the money is safely there; and then they make it available to you. So my first week of work came available yesterday, and I got my first paycheck today, all $221 of it, deposited into my account!

So there you have it. oDesk is for real. There's a lot of competition, and some of it is from places with a much lower standard of living, so you have to work hard to differentiate yourself. But once you do, oDesk can be your new workspace. I make more hourly there than at my other jobs - while sitting in my easy chair, looking out the window. Well, sometimes - a lot of my work was really early in the morning.

In other news, Loxly Studios has three pictures of mine up here. Brand new, so I won't make anything this month. Take a look and see what you think. And let me know if you want anything specific. I live in Newport, on the Oregon Coast, so lighthouses, ocean, gulls, pelicans, the Aquarium, and so on are all really easy to get. I'm thinking about putting together some Motivational Posters - let me know if anyone's interested.

Finally, surveys have been a bust. I mentioned two possibles last week, and they both fell through. One never showed; the other one did, but was closed when I went to fill it out (apparently they sometimes close early). I'm going through the other sites again, but nothing new there either. Well, at least I'm learning what works - and what doesn't!

Monthly recap coming soon!

Online Work

Good news/bad news...

oDesk (and a real-life job) have been working wonders, and I've been very busy lately! This is also the bad news, as I can see it's been almost two weeks since I've posted here. So a quick update is in order:

1. Blogging, here and Lucid Living, have both taken hits. And they haven't made me any money this month, so you get what you give. I'll make it a priority to keep these up, as the goal is steady income.
   
2. Loxly Studios still hasn't put up any of the pictures I've sent. I'll keep on them...
   
3. Telecommuting through oDesk has gone great. I've put in 15 hours last week, and probably will have 10 or so this week.
   
4. Posting articles to Associated Content hasn't shown any new promise.
5. I've gotten a couple of Surveys, but so far just ones that will put my name in a drawing. Two coming up look promising, so we'll see.
   

I'll be working more for oDesk, and now looking up another I heard about: elance. Very cool to get paid to sit back with a headpiece on, chat with a boss in Greece, and write text that will make his product better.

An interesting realization: I currently have four bosses, in Idaho, the Philippines, Greece, and one in my town... Welcome to the global economy!

Making Money Online!

Okay, moment of truth time... Early each month, I'll post how I've been doing. Right now, I'm going to keep it on totals, but as things build, I'll move to monthly income. Each of my ventures will get some time devoted to it, so we can compare and contrast. Let's get started!

Blogging
This has been by far the most labor-intensive. I'm putting at least a couple hours a day here (though not this last week, as you'll note by the lack of posts... oops), and so far, little to show for it. Directly - I might have an oDesk job because someone liked the style of writing on my blogs. Anyway, AdSense shows an average of 13 viewers per day, and a total of 47 cents, most of that on a click-through. Nothing on Amazon.com, the other part of blogging income. Well, I was told it would build slowly!

I certainly enjoy the creative and expressive aspect of blogging, so let's see where it goes!

Posting Content
Didn't do much with this one. I got my five articles in by the end of December for a $10 bonus that didn't materialize. One of the 'articles' was a slideshow, and I don't know if that counts. I'll follow up by email and see what comes of it. I also posted two poems in January - haiku for Valentine's Day,here and here .

Final tally: 121 page views for 18 cents.

Sales
Looks like I finally exist on Loxley, but I'm still trying to get pictures up so I can work on selling them. Slow when you're waiting on someone else. I probably would have been better working with eBay or somewhere I have more control. I'm hoping to set up passive income here though. Probably should focus on just income first...

Final tally: nada

Surveys
Well, as I said, I'm signed up for several. I have registered with PineCone, panelbase.net, Greenfield, and American Consumer Opinion - and have only received invites for surveys that put my name in a drawing. And only probably 3-4 of those even. I need to get the second half looked at, and listed on 6-10 survey sites, not just four. I made $3 on two different surveys in December, and have £3 listed in my account from Panelbase.net.

Final tally: $6, and maybe £3

Telecommuting at oDesk
And the winner is... I spent 3-5 hours reading a book - that I would read anyway - and about 1 hour on editing the book, and made $10.53. I also wrote an article for a travel site to help build traffic and interest for $5, spending about three hours on this process too. So far, I'm making lousy 'per hour' income (though not as bad as the blogging), but I'm at least making some money. It also looks like I'm going to get a job on oDesk due to my blogging, so this will jump in February. Wish me luck!

Final tally: $15.53!

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So the grand total is $22.18 so far.