DMD 007: The Greatest Side Hustle of All Time is.....
Numbers don't lie. I help you take the scary out of investing by telling you all you need to know about the U.S. stock market.
Welcome to issue #7
The greatest side hustle of all time is maximizing compound interest. The U.S. stock market has shown it’s the primary engine to produce significant wealth over time for you. Take a listen to my video below as I share some pure numbers and facts so you can now feel like the scary has finally been taken out of investing once and for all.
We have also added some new content sections including: Money Moves, Side Hustle Differently, Did You Know? and Financial Term of the Week to help you build your financial knowledge and confidence.
Market update
The S&P 500 (where most of the stocks in your ETF’s and mutual funds are located) is down 4.1% as of March 10, 2025.
Worries continue over the possible impact from tariffs and the beginnings of a slowing economy is weighing on stocks in the short term.
Many tech stocks like Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Meta and others are down significantly while utilities, healthcare and energy companies are generally performing better.
Bitcoin trades around $80,000 so it’s down about 28% from its ATH of $109,000.
Top alt coins Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Chainlink trade at $1,920, $118, $2.05 and $12.90 respectively with the total crypto market cap at $2.75 trillion - about $1.2 trillion from an ATH.
It’s beginning to look like some great stocks of companies that make products and services we use everyday are on sale. Buying good stocks on sale is investing 101 for the long term.
My portfolio (stocks and crypto)
I share my personal investments of stocks, crypto and my sales or buys (if any) that I make each week with my reasons for those decisions. I automatically invest weekly or monthly into my Roth IRA, SEP-IRA and one of my personal investment accounts.
Stocks
ROTH IRA (held with Robinhood)
I own the following ETF’s: VOO (tracks 500 stocks that make up the S&P 500 index), VTI (total stock market that tracks 4,000 U.S. stocks) and VYM (tracks high dividend paying stocks).
I own the following individual stocks as late February 2025: Marathon Holdings (MARA), Robinhood (HOOD) and Tesla (TSLA)
SEP-IRA (held with the Acorns saving and investing app) - this is my 401(k) because I’m self-employed
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH)
iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR)
iShares Core Total International Stock ETF (IXUS)
iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG)
Personal investment accounts (Acorns, Robinhood, E*Trade)
Moderately aggressive portfolio (mix of stock and bond ETFs) inside my Acorns account along with individual stocks of Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), Stryker (SYK), Adobe (ADBE) and Visa (V). This is another long term investment account and I do not trade in this account because it does not allow you to (which is a good thing).
MARA Holdings, VXX and Money Market (cash) inside my E*Trade account. Another long term investment account and I do not trade very often in this account.
I just purchased IONQ (quantum computing), Tesla (TSLA), Cava Group (CAVA) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD) in my Robinhood personal account on March 7, 2025.
Basic tenet of investing in stocks - when you automatically invest weekly or monthly into solid growth stock ETF’s and mutual funds you don’t have to worry about the ups and downs of the stock market. Time, based on historical evidence of the U.S. stock market, does the heavy lifting of wealth creation for you. Stocks are one of your foundational investments to winning the money game.
Over the last 150+ years the U.S. stock market has given investors nearly 10% annual ROI. Over the last 50 years, the annual ROI has been closer to 12%. Fantastic annual returns that compound into significant wealth.
Young Money University (owner of DMD) has an exciting partnership that gives anyone a $40 bonus just for opening up their first Acorns investment account (as long as you set up at least a $5 weekly or monthly recurring investment). I have two Acorns investment accounts (Acorns Invest -personal and Acorns Later - my SEP-IRA) so I am walking the talk. Here’s the link to get started - $40 Acorns Bonus
Crypto
No new buys or sells this week.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Chainlink (LINK)
Ripple (XRP)
Ondo Finance (ONDO)
Internet Computer Protocol (ICP)
Immutable (IMX)
Render (RNDR)
Parsiq (PRQ)
Basic tenet of investing in crypto. Crypto is a high risk/high reward asymmetric investment which means you can risk a small amount of money ($1000 - $2000) for the potential of higher outpaced gains than traditional investing in stocks. Taking the time to research and investigate new blockchain tech related projects/organizations that are being used for legit long term use cases and value for the world we live in.
Crypto is no different then if you invest into little known publicly traded stocks that are trading below $10 per share that you have conviction in. Knowing ahead of time, however, that you could lose your entire investment.
Money Moves
#1. Open your first investment account
Decide today that you want to join the game of investing in the stock market as it has historical 10-12% annual ROI through good and bad economic times.
Perhaps you choose Acorns to open your first investment account which automatically puts you in one of five investment portfolios (ETF’s) so you don’t have to choose the stocks. You will own a basket over 100 stocks and bonds.
Begin investing with as little as $5 or more per week or month and then increase that over time so you can participate in the greatest side hustle of all time (compound interest).
Through our partnership with Acorns you can get a $40 bonus using this link. It only takes 5 minutes to set up your account and they choose the stocks and bonds fund for you based on your age.
#2. Create or add to your Roth IRA
This is a tax deferred investment account that is all about the long term. You can only contribute up to $7,000 per year in your ROTH if you are under the age of 50.
You invest after tax dollars and all contributions and earnings grow tax free after the age of 59.5.
#3. Share the love about Do Money Differently.
Thank you in advance for sending this issue to others who could benefit from subscribing to DMD so we can help thousands more reach life goals.
Side Hustle Differently
I tell people all the time on my speaking tour - “what if you found a flexible side hustle that can provide you with an extra $250 - $500 per month to invest into the stock market and pay for other expenses. So you can inject more into the Greatest Side Hustle of All Time” - compound interest.
Here’s a couple of flexible side hustles:
1. Amazon Flex
Use your own vehicle to deliver packages via an app for Amazon and earn between $18-25 per hour on your own schedule.
The amount of people who own a pet today has to be at a record high including many who are recently married. Finding a legit pet sitter is a big need and people are willing to pay big bucks to have their furry friends taken care of while on a long weekend or week long vacation.
These websites can help you be seen as an option for those in your local area and making $500/month or more is easily attainable. Or good old word of mouth is always an option too.
3. Personal Chef
Most people would enjoy home cooked meals without doing literally any work. Families with two income earners with kids can provide a profitable niche for you to provide them with a “just heat and serve” meal a few times a week.
Create three “recipes for the week” and email to a growing client list and make large “batches” of healthy and hearty meals.
If you like to cook this is your gig and you can easily surpass $500/month while doing what you enjoy.
This is what a friend of mine did several years ago and it has turned into a very successful catering business today.
Did You Know?
The best performing stock over the last 10 years has been Nvidia (NVDA) with an astounding 21,603% return. (Source: Tradethatswing.com)
If you had invested $1,000 in NVDA in 2015 it would be worth nearly $230,000 today. Wow.
Financial Term of the Week - Dividend
A dividend is a regular payment of profit made to investors who own their stock and usually paid out quarterly. You can receive the dividend in cash or in more company stock (this is highly recommended and most people do this).
For example, Verizon Wireless pays a quarterly dividend to their stockholders and equates to an annual payout of nearly 7%.
Thanks for being a valued subscriber to DMD and choosing the path of financial rebellion to create a better life for you and others.
Todd