This blog makes a little bit of money which helps to fund our quiet and subdued suburban lifestyle.
Every once in awhile somebody expresses interest in exactly how much we make and how.
Read on, curious one.
How Go Curry Cracker Makes Money and How Much
2023 was an interesting year.
Blog profit was $14,437 per our 2023 tax return, the lowest it has ever been since I started monetizing things back in 2015.
But it is more than zero, which is the amount of work I contributed for at least 6 months. (Why? I dunno, I just wasn’t feeling it.)
$$$
Schedule C Profit
The IRS has their method of calculating profit based on Schedule C; Profit = Revenue – Allowed Deductions
Total revenue from all sources was $20,946, primarily from advertising and credit card affiliate links.
Revenue – $20,946
Advertising: $7,857 (context based ads)
Credit cards affiliate links: $10,548 (See: How we paid $45/night for a $3,000/night hotel suite..)
Empower: $1,200 (great cash flow and investment tracking tool. And it is free. Read my review.)
Blog hosting: $125 (Read my post on how to start a blog.)
Traveling Mailbox: $1,050 (our old digital mailbox, read my review)
Amazon.com: $166 (books and stuff)
Consulting: $0 (declined all applicants last year as I was busy with other things)
Allowed deductions includes real expenses for tools and services that make this site function. Those totaled $1,216.
Real expenses – $1,216
Photo licensing: $99
Email distribution: $897
Google biz software: $79
Website hosting and domain registration: $135
Meals: $6 (coffee with a reader)
In addition I am able to deduct expenses related to business use of our home and phone/internet, as I use a portion of each for business purposes. Those expenses are 100% the same as if I had no business whatsoever, but it is nice to have the deductions. I am also able to outsource some tasks to spouse/kids for reasonable compensation (which is then contributed to their Roth IRAs.)
Extra expenses – $5,293
Home office deduction: $3,853 – a percentage of all home expenses (mortgage interest, property taxes, maintenance, etc + depreciation)
Internet (home internet and mobile/phone data): $490
Contract labor: $950 (100% to wife and kids for proofreading, photo editing, and child modeling services.)
Using IRS math, Profit = Revenue – Allowed Deductions
Profit = $20,946 – $1,216 – $5,293 = $14,437 (from Schedule C to Schedule 1 to Form 1040 Line 8.)
Business Metrics
Once upon a time I looked at important business metrics like website page views, social media followers, email list growth, etc…
Now… I don’t? I’ve kinda lost interest in that stuff. I suppose I could try to be all businessy, but maybe things are fine the way they are.
Instead I am focused on the things that interest me, which is writing about stuff that I am personally trying to figure out in order to optimize retirement finances. When I can’t find what I am looking for in a way that is simple / easy to understand, I create it.
Important business metric: Is it fun? Yes / No
Perks of a Home Business
Aside from the obvious bits where more money is nice and work only needs to be done when you feel like it, there are some real financial benefits to a home business in retirement / after financial independence. (Although there is also the downside where profit reduces no tax Roth conversion opportunities.)
On tax forms I had a profit of $14,437. But in actuality I had $17,690 in my pocket.
As follows…
Taxes and NEFSE
Since I made a profit I had to pay some self-employment taxes. These increase my future Social Security income.
SE tax is calculated based on the profit number above.
Knowing both profit and SE tax amount allows us to calculate Net Earnings From Self Employment, which is the amount that we are allowed to contribute to IRAs.
Profit = $14,437
Self-employment taxes: $2,040 (Try our SE Tax Calculator!)
NEFSE = Profit – SE taxes/2 = $13,417
Actual $ into my Pocket
Schedule C profit and Net Earnings are both different from the amount of money I actually get to spend on life and adventures.
Money in my pocket = Revenue – Real Expenses – SE taxes = $20,946 – $1,216 – $2,040 = $17,690
Top of the Line Deductions
It is nice that I get more money than what is considered actual profit…. but wait, there is more.
I also get to deduct other things (some that I would pay for anyway) totaling $6,584
For example:
Health insurance: $2,806
1/2 SE tax: $1,020
QBI: $2,758 (I discovered an error on our 2023 tax return when writing this biz review. It is the result of an user error due to using new tax software, but total tax is ~$0 either way.)
What good are additional deductions? I can make additional tax-free Roth conversions equal to $6,584, just because.
If that Roth conversion would otherwise be in the 10% tax bracket, that is an extra $658.40 for me.
Tax summary
Taxes: $352
Self-employment taxes: $2,040
Additional child tax credit: -$1,688
Income taxes: $0
Tax-free Roth conversion due to business deductions for stuff I pay for anyway: $6,584
Amount contributed to Roth retirement accounts:
Solo Roth 401k: $13,000
His/Her Roth IRAs: $13,000
Summary
This blog makes some money, less than it used to but more than zero.
Most of that income comes from advertising and credit card affiliate links. But if I don’t publish new content, traffic drops and therefore revenue drops.
Based on the way the IRS calculates things, the profit amount on Schedule C is lower than the amount that actually flows into our pockets by several thousands of dollars. I assume that means the IRS prefers people to start businesses (follow the incentives.)
So there you have it – how this blog makes money and how much.
Thanks for showing behind the curtain! Helpful insight for a new starter :)
Great work! do you remember about how long you have been taking the home office deduction?
Since 2016 at least when I wrote Uncle Sam Helps Pay Our Rent
That is a good track record. Do you think a person could take the deduction with only passive income?
Right now, I check investments, pay bills, figure taxes, pet cat and drink coffee in our home office.
No
oh well, at least I still have the cat
In theory you could start an Instagram or Tik-tok account for the cat and attempt to get internet famous with endorsements and advertisers and then you would have a business and related deductions, including home office.
The key word is attempt. You don’t actually have to make any money, at least for a few years. And if that doesn’t work you could kill that business and start another, which will get you another few years, and so on.
Yes theoretically
Health insurance: $2,806 !!
You should do a weekly on that. I was looking for private health for the fam and it was that amount per MONTH.
Unless you are making $400k per year there should be some subsidies in there.
See our ACA calculator
I agree, IRS (well at least the people who tell it what to do) wants people to start businesses and incentivize them to do so, however with many things, lobbyists likely helped those representatives “fine tune” the language and exemptions of those deductions or limits, or at least it trickles down to that effect.
QBI?
Qualified Business Income, basically a 20% off the top deduction
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/qualified-business-income-deduction
Contracted labor $950 to wife and kids—do they have to report this money, especially kids on tax return separately? thanks
Wife, yes, kids, no
Thanks. But what is the maxi. amt for kids that they have to file their tax returns, please?
The kids can earn up to the standard deduction for a single filer before they need to file ($14,600 in 2024.) This is the same for everyone.
If they were self-employed they would need to file as soon as profit exceeds $400, due to self-employment tax requirements. But since they work for a family business they don’t need to pay any social security taxes at all.
The 2024 Secure Act 2.0 allows 529 funds that are unused to be rolled into a Roth IRA after 15 years. Also, you can fund a 529 for yourself and convert to Roth IRA after the same amount of time (up to $35K if I got that correct). I’m not usually a fan of Roth IRAs because Traditional IRAs are more tax efficient, but in this case you don’t have to choose between them. A 529 is not subject to the IRA contribution limits. Definitely think you should do an article on this. Thanks.
I’d like to see the article on this topic as well.
if a beneficiary changed, would it reset the clock to another 15 years?
thanks
I’m sure that if GCC does an article on this their will be a better response. However, on a quick read the conversion has to be for the account holder it was opened for originally. So you would most likely be required to restart the 15 year timeline.
Another thing a possible GCC article could look into would be the “superfunding” option of maxing out the contributions in one year. So self-fund a 529 for yourself with the max $35K and let it ride for 15 years then convert to a Roth.