$100 challenge: An Airbnb for car parks?

Bryce: [00:00:31] Welcome to another episode of Get Started Investing feed, a podcast where we attempt to answer the most common money and investing questions from the community to help us all become better investors. If you are joining us for the very first time, welcome a massive congratulations for starting your investing journey and welcome to the Equity Mates community. Now we do strongly recommend that you scroll up and start at episode one. While we are licensed, we are not aware of your personal circumstances. All information on this show is for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general? But with that said, let's crack on. My name is Bryce and as always, I'm joined by my equity buddy, Ren. How are you?

Alec: [00:01:06] I'm very good, Bryce. Very excited for this episode. This episode will go out the day before we fly out to the US. Yeah. Wow. So, wow, wow. We're pretty pumped. We are going from a golf weekend into the US. And so we were just before we got on the mic, we were talking about how much we had to do.

Bryce: [00:01:28] Yeah, well, that's just how we roll, Ren. Yeah, always got a lot to do.

Alec: [00:01:32] Yeah, but it should be a lot of fun. But I'm particularly excited for this episode because we at the start of the year, we introduced the $100 challenge and the maths behind it was simple $100 invested every month at the market's average return of 8% for 40 years gets you $350,000. Doing those small extra things now while we're young. Finding a way to save a little bit more, finding a way to earn a little bit more can really compound over time. And so we decided to do it publicly. We set ourselves the challenge Every month. We're going to find a way to either earn or save an extra $100. So far, you have tried to sell a drum kit and failed. You have tried to sell clear umbrellas. And how do you know? 

Bryce: [00:02:20] How do you know? We haven't got to that yet. 

Alec: [00:02:21] So emphasis on try to earn or save an extra $100. 

Bryce: [00:02:26] Okay. I firstly want to add I firstly want to say that the drum kit is still very much a work in progress. I will sell it this year, guaranteed. And then I'm going to have a minimum 1500 dollars on the board. So I just want to say that it is not my lack of trying that I have failed on this. There are a lot of key. There are a lot of is it a key logistical hurdle? And I would say I've just come back from Wagga Wagga where I grew up. I was we had a great weekend down there. It was my sister's wedding. Congratulations to Claire and Doug. And before my flight, Ren. This is the dedication that I am still putting to this $100 challenge. Before my flight I printed off some flyers and drove down to the local Wagga Conservatorium of Music and dropped them on the desk of the drum teacher so he can put them in his studio to give to his drum students because the kit is in Wagga. I'm in Sydney. Those that are interested in buying it in Sydney are obviously then put off by the fact that I have to make a five hour journey to Wagga to pick it up.

Alec: [00:03:33] Surely, like I say.

Bryce: [00:03:33] This challenge is still alive. 

Alec: [00:03:35] So a few things to unpack there. First of all, didn't know how to Conservatorium of Music.

Bryce: [00:03:40] Oh hell yeah. One of the biggest one. 

Alec: [00:03:44] One of the Central West Best. 

Bryce: [00:03:46] actually it's yeah it's Massive.

Alec: [00:03:48] Second thing to unpack there. Was it a real homecoming for you like the boy the drummer from Wagga who went off to the big smoke of Canberra to pursue his percussion career coming home?

Bryce: [00:04:00] Well, there were a few teachers still there that I were there when I was there. This was would have been well before uni. So 12 years ago they relocated. So I drove, I firstly drove to the old one and it was gone. But it's, it's amazing. But anyway nonetheless that that part of the challenge it was not a failed, failed. 

Alec: [00:04:24] It's never a fail. 

Bryce: [00:04:26] We will be cheering because when I get 1500 bucks on the board, you're going to be very happy because.

Alec: [00:04:31] We can start talking about, Yeah, I would love to quantify the amount that we've spoken about. The drums calculate what that would cost in terms of advertising if we were selling it to advertisers and then net that off for the whatever you sell it for and you return that money to Equity Mates. 

Bryce: [00:04:49] No way. Anyway, Ren, So for those that have just joined us, welcome and I just want to say Ren did say at the top, we're off to America tomorrow. If you're unsure why, we're going to say Warren Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway annual General meeting, which is going to be awesome. So make sure you're following us on Instagram to keep up to date with everything that's happening live over in Omaha and New York City. But I do want to give a bit of a public apology on these umbrellas because it was a bit of a throw away useless challenge. I said I would go out and buy clear umbrellas from Facebook Marketplace and then sell them at a premium to people who are having weddings on wet weekends. 

Alec: [00:05:32] Specific idea was like, buy them when it's dry and sell them when it's wet. 

Bryce: [00:05:36] Yeah, and I counted I think there were about seven rainy days in April or something. Now, I don't think any weekend in April rained, but I didn't actually buy any. They, they, it was a bit silly. The month really just got away from me. 

Alec: [00:05:51] That's okay. That's okay. 

Bryce: [00:05:53] Specifically for that part of the challenge I did failed. But I do have two updates that did net me some money. Two things I did this month got me very, very close to $100 saving. Firstly, I paid out an investment loan that I had had going on.

Alec: [00:06:13] Oh, the equity build up. Yeah. 

Bryce: [00:06:14] And so that obviously netted me some free cash flow, which was going towards paying off the loan. But that doesn't really count. 

Alec: [00:06:23] I guess. Like you saved the interest payments. 

Bryce: [00:06:25] Interest payment. Yes. So I was paying $56 a month in interest on that, on the loan, on the repayment. I was also paying about 420 bucks a month towards the loan. So discounting that $56 saved, done a month, I was paying six and a half percent interest or whatever it was. 

Alec: [00:06:44] The logic of the equity build the loan gets a lot less logical as interest rates rise. 

Bryce: [00:06:50] It does. When you and I signed up, they were. 

Alec: [00:06:52] I think it was like 3%. 

Bryce: [00:06:54] And when I close it out, it was nudging on seven, six and a half percent. Yeah. So I decided to pay it out. So that netted me a saving of $56 a month in interest. I then had to renew my license. 

Alec: [00:07:09] Your driver's licence? 

Bryce: [00:07:10] Yeah. And I had the option of. 

Alec: [00:07:12] You're off your else.

Bryce: [00:07:13] Yeah. Yeah. No, this is my motorbike license. Now I then had the option of doing a one year or a three year renewal. The one year was, is $62 a year or the three year is $144 for three years. A saving of $42 if you go the three year over one. So if I include the 56 in interest savings with the 42 in savings on my license for going three years over one, I have a net 98 point in savings for this month, Ren. 

Alec: [00:07:45] Can we just pause for a second? What you have said is I spent more money on my driver's license and I spent more money paying off debt. Bank my savings. Yeah. So invest. 

Bryce: [00:07:59] Spend money to make.

Alec: [00:08:00] Money investing valuation 101. Well, not 1 to 1. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar in three years. So if you were going to count that $56 for the driver's license, you should actually discount those dollars. Back to today. 

Bryce: [00:08:18] not now. I've got that in me now. I guess so yeah you should that. Let's for the sake of the Challenge. 

Alec: [00:08:25] And I guess future interest payments we should also discount but anyway look happy to give it to you because I just, I felt a little bit lonely being the only one on the board. So.

Bryce: [00:08:35] But I do want to say that I genuinely took action on this and invested. Now, I actually had to invest $100 through Super Hero because it's a minimum $100. So I've actually taken that $100 and invested it, invested it into what we say is a market return product. So I've just put it into Betashares A200.

Alec: [00:08:58] We should actually this is probably too complicated, but it would be kind of fun to set up a separate brokerage account, you know, something that lets you invest from just $1, so like a shares or a pearl or something. And we actually just only put the money from $100 challenge in that. 

Bryce: [00:09:12] What I've also done, just so everyone is aware, is the 420 in repayments that I was doing on the investment loan has directly now gone straight back into my fortnightly spread of investments. So I'm not trading that any differently. It was paying off for investment products. Now it's just going into my core portfolio. So Ren that's me. We're going to take a very quick break. And on the other side, you've been obviously revving me up about making zero money, so I'm really looking forward to finding out exactly how much you have saved from not having any takeaway lunches in the month of March. Welcome back to Get Started Investing. We're talking about the $100 challenge. I've just spoken about how I saved $98 this month. Well done to me. Massive, biggest saving of the month so far. 

Alec: [00:10:01] Now, Bryce, we've loved the fact that the Equity Mates community is getting on board the $100 challenge, and we're getting voice notes and Instagram DMS and emails of people's ideas to save more or earn more and get that extra hundred dollars to invest. So here's a few of the ideas from the last couple of weeks. 

EM Community: [00:10:28] Hey, Equity Mates. Couple of ideas to save money. I buy my beer in cartons instead of six packs. I stick to a meal plan. I do my groceries and all my spare change goes into a piggy bank. 

EM Community: [00:10:39] Hey, guys. Just an update on my $100 challenge savings. Had a solid month. I managed to sell my old PlayStation, which I hadn't used for a couple of years. Sold out for $100. And I've also been selling a few of my old clothes that I don't really wear on a site called Depop. And sometimes Facebook Marketplace, although it's full of bots. So I saved a couple hundred dollars this month and I'll definitely be using 100 of that for investing. And the rest I might have to put towards my travel plans. 

EM Community: [00:11:11] Hey Equity Mates. So I saved $250 this month by applying for the Energy Saver grant. I'm based in Victoria, so it's only applicable there, but it was super easy and I got it paid within the week. You just upload a recent energy bill and fill in any bank details. It's for big based people, so just Google it and find the link. 

EM Community: [00:11:30] This month I sold my old AirPods on Gumtree, sold them for $100, so that's a hundred additional fuel units I can use for investing. 

Bryce: [00:11:39] But Ren, your turn. 

Alec: [00:11:41] Yes. So I decided to do a simple one here. I wanted to just get some runs on the board after my survey. So my online surveys in the first month netted a whopping $17. So this month, I said I looked at my bank statement and I looked at how much I'd spent on takeaway lunches at work, and I'd spent $150 in March. And so I said, for the month of April, I'm going to bring my own lunch every day. Now you work with me. You've been closely watching me around lunchtime. Do I get a tick for this? 

Bryce: [00:12:18] I think there's only one instance where it was borderline, I mean, you passed it off as I'm going to do grocery shopping and bought rice and tuna. And so that is in my books. That's possible. 

Alec: [00:12:33] And I bought multiple things of tuna and rice and then in future lunches I also. 

Bryce: [00:12:38] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what I mean in my books it's possible but I think you did and I don't think that once I saw you genuinely have a takeaway. Yeah. Lunch. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:12:47] So I'm giving myself a tick for that. And in the spirit of the hundred dollar challenge, I actually upped my well, I put an extra $100 in my brokerage account and bought Very nice. Yeah. I've said, I've added that to my automatic investment plan. Well it's not the point of this. 

Bryce: [00:13:07] No, I mean, like, is it like more broadly or like as part of this challenge. 

Alec: [00:13:13] More. Well, it's just. I know that you are saying why? Because there's overlap with other ETFs that I own. Yeah, there is overlap, but I'm not worried about having more market cap weighted indexes in my core portfolio. 

Bryce: [00:13:28] So what are you going to do this month? 

Alec: [00:13:29] So this month I am going to power move you and you for two months have been trying to sell a drum kit on Facebook Marketplace and haven't been able to do it. Yeah. So I want to show you the light and show you how things can be sold on Facebook Marketplace. Okay. I have a bike that I used to ride to work when I was in Melbourne. Since I've moved back to Sydney, I haven't ridden at once. I've moved house twice since being back in Sydney and it's just sat in the garage or sat in the basement and I haven't ridden it, so I'm going to sell that bike. Great bike. I bought it for 400 bucks. I'll sell it to someone for 200 bucks. Barely ridden. Beautiful condition. Yeah, I'm going to sell it on Facebook Marketplace this month.

Bryce: [00:14:12] Nice. Okay, that reminds me to try and make up for my lack of selling umbrellas. I actually dug up an old iPhone six that I had at home and put that online for a bargain basement. 50 bucks, Nothing. 

Alec: [00:14:27] If Gumtree or eBay aren't sponsoring this segment next month. 

Bryce: [00:14:33] So the saga of the drum kit and the iPhone six continue. Mind you, you're going to now fall into Thing. Unbelievable. But then you mentioned at the top of the show, we're going away now. I wanted to do one that was semi travel focussed, could have done, you know, using your credit card for travel insurance. But I don't have a credit card, so I can't do that Transaction fees for cards. But I already have a card that gives like zero transaction fees online. So I can't do that. Wi fi and data is one. Now, I don't know if this technically is going to count, but Telstra slugs you ten bucks a day for internet usage for anything over a gig. I think it is. 

Alec: [00:15:15] When you're overseas.

Bryce: [00:15:16] When you'reOverseas, which can really add up obviously over a long period of time if we're going to be in the content game. Instagram. Blah, blah, blah. I think they give you a gig for free and then over that. But a gig these days goes like that. So what I'm going to do is commit to only using local wifi and that one gig a day and never paying the $10 while we're overseas. 

Alec: [00:15:39] To be honest, I actually just assumed we would only be doing wi fi. Like, I haven't even thought about data.

Bryce: [00:15:44] We're in a media business. How are we going to be doing. 

Alec: [00:15:47] We are in America? Like. 

Bryce: [00:15:47] How are we gonna be doing Instagram? 

Alec: [00:15:49] The heaps of wi fi, every Starbucks, every café. It doesn't work like Walmart and stuff will have wifi. Like it'll be everywhere. Movie, swimming, all. 

Bryce: [00:15:59] You want, you know? We won't be swimming in it. It's America. 

Alec: [00:16:02] It's America.

Bryce: [00:16:04] You want me to. Japan has amazing wi-fi. I remember. 

Alec: [00:16:06] All right, fine. That's yours. You'll be surprised. 

Bryce: [00:16:09] So you'll be surprised how often I reckon you'll want to use. So I'll turn it and there won't be wi-fi 

Alec: [00:16:14] I'll have to do a daily message audit for you to say. If you ever get that message from Telstra though. 

Bryce: [00:16:19] Fair calls. 

Alec: [00:16:21] Now look. Okay that's it. Lock it in. They are our $100 challenges for the month of May. And just a reminder as to why we're doing this, the small changes that you make, the changes that Bryce and I have been talking about here can compound over time and we're turning $100 into $350,000 and we want everyone to come and join us on the journey. And in that spirit, we've got Simon from the Equity Mates team. Simon, thanks for joining us today.

Simon: [00:16:48] Good morning, gentlemen. 

Alec: [00:16:50] Now, word on the street is that you have a $100 challenge idea that you have done or are thinking about doing. 

Simon: [00:16:57] That's correct. Yep. 

Alec: [00:16:59] Hit us with that. What have you got? 

Simon: [00:17:00] So, Emily, come in not that long ago and talked about a way she was generating revenue through kind of, I guess, utilising assets which you own, which aren't being used by other people may see value in. 

Alec: [00:17:13] And as a reminder, for people who haven't listened to that episode, Emily is renting out her formal dresses and came in and told us she made 600 bucks in a month. 

Simon: [00:17:23] Yep. So something I've been doing for probably getting on for two and a half, four years now, which is a really reoccurring revenue stream, is actually renting out a carpark space. So just to break down how that works, I'm in an apartment. We're fortunate to have two car parking spaces. Not quite. So there's a website called Spacer and another one called Park, and I think they may actually be the same company, but space is the company I use think it's like the Airbnb for car parking spaces. You can also rent out storage space if you have a garage or anything like that. Particularly good if you're on commuter lines or living in the city or maybe at any busy kind of. Yeah, busy areas. So we put it on there and the space, it takes around 20% commission, but we still make about $120 a month on our space. Obviously, depending on where you are, that can vary greatly. But as recurring revenue and actually it's got to the point now where I know the lady rents a space really well and we actually have come off space and just have a deal direct not so yeah, that's fine. And so she rented like she used it every day like drives there and then yes, she owns a shop on the high street and the parking's not great on the high street and she wants somewhere secure, easy to get to. So it's a win win for her. We're happy because we're using this empty space we wouldn't otherwise use. So, yeah, get on it. If you've got a spare space, I'd strongly recommend looking into it. 

Bryce: [00:19:04] Nice. Thanks, Simon. The question is, are you investing that one way? 

Alec: [00:19:07] Good question. Indirectly, I'd say yes, like it doesn't. So come in and go straight into an investing camp, but it kind of a nice account. Need to cover costs and hit my spend saving goals each month. 

Bryce: [00:19:21] nice with Simon's big on the fire movement so that 120 is obviously counting towards that long term number of yours. 

Alec: [00:19:29] And has just had a baby and has already set up her investment account. So we love to say that. 

Bryce: [00:19:37] Awesome. Thanks. Simon. Well, Ren, as you said, we're off to the States, so I'm going to make up my hundred over there not using wifi. You're going to make up your hundred selling a bike while you're in the States. 

Alec: [00:19:48] I mean. I actually try and sell it before I get to the States.

Bryce: [00:19:55] Fair call. But we'll leave it there. If you have an idea on how you would make or save $100 a month, make sure you hit us up at Contact@equitymates.com or you can leave a voice message on our website at equitymates.com/contact and we'll make sure that we play it on the show. Or if you're in Sydney, we'd love to get you in the studio to talk about it, but then we'll leave it there. We will update this on our website as well, where we're tracking our $100 challenge. And you can see all of the past endeavours we've done, which so far have netted in, well, how much we made so far in total net. 

Alec: [00:20:28] Well, I've done well.

Bryce: [00:20:30] You've done 150 and 300.

Alec: [00:20:32] Yeah. We like the spirit of it. We're going in the right direction. 

Bryce: [00:20:35] Exactly. Going the right direction. Anyway, we'll leave it there and I'll pick it up next week.