What will you read in my May 2020 monthly report? We will go into major life updates, May expenses, May passive + side hustle income, and May goals.
The last couple of months went so fast and so slow at the same time. It’s incredible. More and more countries are opening up and people are going out to see each other again.
I am very grateful that my friends and family are healthy, I am able to work from home still, and that I can go for a daily walk outside to get some fresh air.
Besides that, the world is protesting and going out on the streets. Many countries all over the world are protesting, with the US at the core of this change. We need systemic change. We need responsibility. The change needs to come in our schools, in the law, in the streets, and in every single person on this planet.
Hi, I’m Marjolein
Over the last couple of months, I have introduced myself to more and more people with my first name.
It is important for me to have a connection with the people that come to my blog. I feel that mentioning my first name is a great way to build a more personal connection.
Besides that, there are many many people with my name in the Netherlands. I am not afraid that my manager or my colleagues will find me.
Hi, I’m Marjolein, nice to meet you!
Personal Update
In May I took some PTO as requested by the company I work for. They need everyone when everything turns back to normal, so they requested everyone take their PTO now. They even paid 20% of our holidays, that’s an offer I would gladly accept.
That was a no-brainer. The weather has been great, so I was having a blast. Walking outside, biking around, and writing a lot.
The days off are what I want my life to look like once I am financially free. I want to work on my passion projects, do whatever I want, and have fun!
I’ve been working on an ebook based on everything I’ve learned over the past couple of years. Do you want to have something included in the ebook? Let me know below!
Do you want to stay up to date for when the ebook gets launched? Sign up for my email list below:
Over the last couple of months, my investment strategy has slowly changed. From a portfolio aimed at peer-to-peer lending, I am now focusing more on the stock market and dividend investing.
I will be financially free when my passive income is more than €1000 monthly. That is a great thing to strive for!
Highlights of my May month:
💸 Expenses of €968 (I blame the dentist for €350 of that)
👉 83% savings rate
🌟Passive income of €65
💰 Side hustle income of €209
May Expenses
Nothing too crazy in May. Went to the dentist to finish my root canal treatment, I’m happy that I got my tooth fixed.
May gives me a monthly savings rate of 82.8%, which I’m very happy with. My goal for 2020 is to have a savings rate of 75%. Currently, I’m well above that with 80%.
Here’s the breakdown of my expenses:
May Income
Here is a breakdown of income per source:
| Source | Income | Annual Return |
|---|---|---|
| Blog | €147 | |
| Reselling | €55 | |
| Cashback Groceries | €7 | |
| Mintos | €18 | 12.06% |
| Crowdestor | €9 | 2.38% |
| EstateGuru | €7 | 7.25% |
| Funding Circle | €4 | 6.57% |
| Reinvest24 | €0.19 | 1.96% |
| Total | €246 | P2P: 3.33% |
Let’s get into my passive income, side hustle income, and my other income for the month.
May Passive Income
Every month I try to grow my passive income. Passive income means that you’re making money while you’re sleeping. Putting in little effort and getting recurring income. My peer-to-peer loans and quarterly dividends are my main sources at the moment.
My current strategy is to pause my peer-to-peer investments (not cashing out) and reinvest that cash in the stock market.
Note that I’m not a financial advisor and I’m not giving you any financial advice. I’m only telling you what steps I’m taking.
In May I got a total of €65 passive income for the month.
Here is a breakdown of all my passive income sources:
The biggest part of my portfolio is coming from peer-to-peer lending or crowdlending, which means higher risk and higher return.
What will happen with the peer-to-peer lending market? I have no idea. I still have trust in the market and I will continue investing. At this moment, I will keep a balanced approach and wait until the market calms down again before reinvesting more capital into the market.
This is a great time to see how the different lending platforms react to the crisis.
I was aware of this risk in peer-to-peer lending and I want to be open to you about all the possible scenarios at this point.
To summarize:
- Grupeer had stopped payments to investors, bank accounts have been frozen so nothing can be paid out, and communication has somewhat been resumed. Whether or not Grupeer is a scam is up in the air at this point. They seem to do their best to resume operations, you can read their FAQ here. Current legal action is still proceeding. You can fill out this form if you want to participate (closes the 8th of June end of the day).
- Crowdestor paused all payments in April so that lenders have time to get their finances in order. If companies can still continue to pay, they will investigate that and continue with payment. I have received money for a couple of projects myself – Crowdestor will continue to release projects that are able to pay. In the first weeks of June, all projects will be done with analysis and payment schedule resumed or adjusted.
- EstateGuru and Reinvest24 have continued to pay according to schedule.
Crowdestor
Portfolio Value: €4,357.63
Average Interest Rate: 2.38%
Passive Income: €8.50
Crowdestor did a great job at keeping investors updated with the project status, I’m very happy about that!
Of the 17 projects I’m invested in, 13 have confirmed that they are able to resume payments. For 4 projects Crowdestor is still discussing. This is above my expectation, so props to Crowdestor!
I currently invested €4357, which has yielded me €8.5. That’s 2.38% interest for May, I assume this picks up massively over the next couple of months.
Check out my Crowdestor review 🔥 for more detailed info.
Open An Account At CrowdestorMintos
Portfolio Value: €1,780.43
Average Interest Rate: 12.06%
Passive Income: €17.89
Mintos is currently one of the biggest peer-to-peer platforms in Europe, which makes it a good platform to start if you want to start building up your passive income streams.
Mintos is still a good place to invest IF you are careful. Only select the loan originators that have a great rating. They are solid and will be generally safer than a loan originator with a low rating. Mintos has daily updates on what are the outstanding amounts per loan originator, to keep you up to date with how they are doing.
I currently have €1,780 invested with Mintos. That gave me €18 passive income in May, which is a 12.06% average annual interest rate.
🔥If you’re not using Mintos yet, check it out. You can read detailed Mintos review here or you can sign up directly.
When you sign up with Mintos using my link, you get a 0.5% extra return on any investments made within the first 90 days!
Try Mintos NowEstateGuru
Portfolio Value: €1,124
Average Interest Rate: 7.25%
Passive Income: €6.79
EstateGuru is my addition to diversify my portfolio and get more into real estate investing.
I have added some money to my portfolio. I enjoy investing with EstateGuru and like to have the extra security of collateral on my investments.
Currently, I have €1,124 invested in EstateGuru, with a €6.79 return.
🔥 If you sign up using this link to check it out yourself!
Join EstateGuru Today >>Funding Circle
Portfolio Value: €775.85
Average Interest Rate: 6.57%
Passive Income: €4.25
Funding Circle was the first crowdlending platform I invested in back in 2018. They have no early exit option so I’m waiting until my loans expire.
All the other platforms I mentioned have a far greater risk-reward ratio, so I would recommend checking them out instead.
🔥 If you’re interested in real estate crowdfunding, I have a list of platforms that I recommend here.
Reinvest24
Portfolio Value: €98
Average Interest Rate: 1.96%
Passive Income: €0.19
In October I started investing with Reinvest24, a real estate investment platform that allows me to invest relatively low amounts.
The thing about Reinvest24 is that they give you yield on your investment, just as if you’re receiving rental income. On top of that, property gains will be calculated on top of that when a property is sold.
🔥 If you want to give Reinvest24 a try, sign up here or check out my complete review here!
Open An Account At Reinvest24May Goals
Here they are:
- Move daily – PASS! Every day I walk for 30 minutes during lunchtime.
- Read two books – PASS! I’ve finished The Lost Symbol (by Dan Brown), Man’s Search For Meaning (by Viktor Frankl), and Deep Work (by Cal Newport). A lot of time to read over the last month.
- Work out 3x per week – FAIL! Okay, working out was NOT on my mind the past weeks. I’ll give it another try in June, as I want to prevent becoming a couch potato.
- Work ahead 4 weeks in posts – FAIL! I’ve worked ahead 3 posts per week for the upcoming 3 weeks, let’s try again next month. As I’m back to work, I have less time to work on the blog.
June Goals
- Move daily
- Work out 3x per week
- Work ahead 4 weeks in posts
- Grow my Twitter following by tweeting 4x per day – I really enjoy Twitter & interacting with people there, so why not focus on that
- Launch my ebook
How was your May? Let me know below!
Marjolein is a financial consultant who has built over €4,000 monthly passive income and saves over 70% of her income. Read Radicals’ inspiring story, from stuck in the 9-to-5 to loving life. Feel free to send Radical a message at the bottom of this page
Hey nice to meet you Marjolein 🙂 I agree with you, giving your real name gives a higher sense of connection between the reader and the writer. I’ve been doing it since the beginning and I don’t regret it so far. However, I’d not be brave enough to reveal my surname, at least at this stage.
Congrats on your savings rate, not even a dentist can stop that crazy rate!
Good job on your blog passive income. Hard work is paying you off. Keep it on! 🙂
I’ll see you on Twitter more often in June. Good luck with your goals, especially on your work-out 😀
Hi Tony, yes I agree! I’m sure my surname will take a while as well, perhaps when we’re able to quit our jobs – that would be a good moment for sure! & Yes we’ll see each other more in June on Twitter, I like the platform and I feel like there is a lot of connection there. Let’s see how I do with my workouts lol!
Hi Marjolein, great to get to know you a bit more 🙂 M was very Bond-alike but perfectly understandable. Well done on your sky-high savings rate, you certainly give my search for FI boost and extra motivation.
Your monthly goals are a nice mixture of keeping active and educate/entertain via book reading, some would argue it’s almost lost art for some these days! Nothing can replace it in my eyes! Summer months should make working out much easier, even if it’s just some home exercises, it all counts!
I’m very impressed with your regularity in publishing new articles, they are very good quality and not feel forced. It’s a pleasure to spend my spare time reading your blog.
Speak to you in comments on Twitter 🙂 Good luck!
Hi Marjolein,
You have a lovely name, and I’m happy to finally know it!
Wow—82.8% savings rate for May?! That’s crazy impressive! Nice work!
Chrissy
Hi Marjolein,
Thanks for sharing your update. I have Man’s Search For Meaning on my reading list, do you recommend it?
Could you expand on your blog income? Would be interesting to read where your efforts get you!
Hi Marcin, thanks for your kind words! We’re still both M, right – just with a couple of letters behind that. Actually, both our names start with Mar! 😃
I absolutely love reading and I want to keep doing it – if you have any book recommendations please let me know!
Happy to hear you like the blog, I’ve been writing daily for over 1.5 years now – if you go back to my earlier articles you’ll see the difference. Great to see the effort is paying off! Writing within 280 characters is not my strength, so I’ll be practicing more of that this month
Hi Chrissy, thanks for your kind words!
My income for May was a little higher, as we get a holiday payout in the Netherlands – which means 8% of our annual salary is reserved and paid out in May. Either way, trying to keep my expenses low helps a lot!
Hi Mr. Robot, YES I loved Man’s Search for Meaning! The story is very compelling and I finished the entire book in a weekend – it’s interesting.
With regard to my blog income, what do you want to know? In May I had a sponsored opportunity and I received some affiliate income from Mintos. Any detailed questions, you can also email me at info@radicalfire.com!