Financial Panther

Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

Blog

How Much Did I Save In 2016?

Last Updated on 23 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

For me, 2016 will go down as the first year I began aggressively saving for retirement. It sort of bums me out that I’m getting into the savings game so late. At 30 years old, I’m way behind my more financially literate peers, some of whom have already retired or established huge treasure troves of savings. See folks like Millennial Revolution, Money Wizard, and Fiery Millennials.

A part of it is a byproduct of me entering a profession that requires years of extra schooling and a ton of student loans. While most people start their first job at 22 years old, most lawyers won’t start their first job until they’re 26 or 27 years old.

Financial Panther Around The Web

Last Updated on 20 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

I’m getting married today, so needless to say, things are a little bit hectic here in the Financial Panther household. It’s still hard to believe that I’m about to get married – it’s both very exciting and very nerve-wracking.

Anyway, in lieu of a post today, I figured I’d take the time to share some of the guest posts I’ve written and podcasts I’ve been on over the past few months. I haven’t done the best job of promoting my appearances elsewhere, so figured this would be a great time to do just that.

Enjoy! And I’ll see you on the other side.

March 2017 Side Hustle Report – $1,251.91

Last Updated on 16 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

Welcome to another edition of the side hustle report. To quickly recap, each month, I document exactly what I earned doing various side hustles using sharing economy/gig economy apps. I’m still always surprised at what I manage to pull in each month, especially since I don’t feel like I’m spending a ton of time doing these side gigs. Remember, I have a full-time day job and between that and running this blog, I don’t have a ton of spare time on my hands.

One of the reasons I’m able to do these type of side hustles is because they don’t take up a ton of my time. Instead, they basically help me to monetize the things I’m already doing.

Save $100,000 By Solving The Last Mile Problem

Last Updated on 19 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

One of the fun things about living in a college neighborhood is getting to see all of the different modes of transportation college kids use to get themselves around town. If you’ve never spent time in a college neighborhood as an adult, take a weekend afternoon and just hang out in one for a bit. I promise that you’ll never see so many creative ways to get yourself from Point A to Point B. Folks travel around on skateboards. Scooters. Rollerblades. Basically anything with wheels. These college kids are masters at figuring out how to get around a city quickly, cheaply, and efficiently.

Non-car based modes of transport that go beyond walking are totally normal in college areas but seem oddly out of place in many “adult” neighborhoods. I know that when I lived in neighborhoods populated primarily by young professionals, I saw far fewer people using bikes as a primary mode of transportation. In even fancier neighborhoods, you’ll probably rarely catch a full-fledged adult biking as a means of commuting.

How I Made $14k In One Year With The Sharing Economy

Last Updated on 27 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

The start of April means it’s tax time here in the Financial Panther household. As I’ve been gathering up all my tax documents, I thought it’d be helpful to share with you exactly what I made in 2016 via the sharing economy.

Without a doubt, 2016 was my biggest side hustle year. Altogether, I pulled in a total of $14,181.43 by taking advantage of sharing economy apps like Airbnb, DogVacay, and Postmates! That’s a pretty surprising number to me, especially considering the fact that I spent essentially no money in startup costs and that I made this money by doing things that I was already doing anyway.

My Student Loan Refinancing Experience

Last Updated on 7 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

These days, student loans are pretty much a given for most young professionals. When I graduated law school back in 2013, I had a hugely negative net worth thanks to $87,000 worth of student loans that I had taken out. That doesn’t seem like all that much when you consider that the average law student today graduates with almost double that amount of debt. I think it’s a testament to just how normalized student loans have become when $87,000 can seem like nothing.

The thing that really stinks about student loans isn’t just the monthly payment. It’s the huge amount that you’re paying out each year towards interest. If you look at my own student loan history, you can see that I paid over $15,000 in interest over the life of the loan. And that’s with me paying off the loan in just two years!

One of the reasons we’re paying so much in interest is because of the high interest rates we’re given. Since anyone can get a student loan, the interest rates are higher than they should be for folks who are going into fields where they should hopefully make a decent income. Regular grad school loans clock in at a 6.8% interest rate these days. Grad plus loans come in at a whopping 7.9% interest rate. Those kind of interest rates are no joke…

Where Should You Put Your Emergency Fund?

Last Updated on 57 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

Every personal finance expert probably agrees that you should set aside some money as an emergency fund. The amount you should have in your emergency fund is a subject of debate, but the typical rule of thumb is to keep somewhere around 3-6 months worth of expenses. You never know what the future might hold, so it makes sense to at least have some buffer to keep yourself afloat in case something happens.

Since we can all agree that we should at least have some money in an emergency fund, the next important question is where should we put that money?

Paying Off Debt Is Never “Easy”

Last Updated on 23 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

One thing that I absolutely HATE is when someone tells me that paying off debt is easy if you’re making a good salary. Maybe I take it too personally, but it feels like a knock on my accomplishment. After all, I paid off $87,000 worth of student loans, but I also had a good salary that allowed me to do it. Was it easier to do than if I had been making less? Of course. But it definitely wasn’t easy.

A recent headline I saw reminded me that a lot of people think paying off debt is just a walk in the park so long as you make a high enough income. Take a look:

Earn Tax-Free Airbnb Income With The Masters Rule

Last Updated on 16 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.

Most people that I talk to about Airbnb agree that it’s a cool concept. Now that Airbnb has become pretty mainstream, my guess is that most of you have used it before or at least know someone who has. At this point, I think it’s probably more surprising to find someone who doesn’t know what Airbnb is.

Even though there are a ton of people using Airbnb on the guest side, the majority of people I talk to are understandably hesitant about actually hosting guests on Airbnb. I definitely understand the concerns – they’re ones I still think about as an Airbnb host. My biggest fears are having someone steal from me or otherwise mess up my house. Luckily, nothing like that has happened to me yet.

Even though I know that most people won’t sign up to be an Airbnb host, I still always try to convince people to at least give Airbnb hosting a shot. My rationale is that you don’t need to do it all that time. Instead, you can just try it out a few times and see what it’s like. If it’s too weird for you, you can just deactivate your listing. At most, you lose a bit of your time. But I think even people who are weirded out by having a stranger in their house can handle hosting someone in their home for just a few days per year. Why not challenge yourself and see?

Financial Panther © 2025 All rights reserved.