Quick recap - I am a physician and get to do various online medical surveys. These are not the kind available to the general public. They can be fairly detailed, really quite tedious at times, but pay very well. I used to skip a lot of them just because I didn't feel like doing them or wasn't in the mood or whatever. I decided a few months ago to see how much I could earn if I did every single one I could.

So far, I got $293 in June, $370 in July and $271.25 in August.

Anyway, September was a banner month. I just added everything up and for the month, I earned $580!! I can't believe I used to let these things go. That's a total of $1,514.25 in 4 months. I certainly won't ever ignore those e-mails again.

I posted awhile ago about how I do surveys for one company that pays me in Amazon.com gift certificates. I get $30 each time I do one, and I've done as many as 5 in a month, so the money adds up pretty quickly. At first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it all, but the more I browse, the more I've discovered that Amazon sells pretty much everything. And they have pretty good prices, too. My most recent order, a few days ago, was a scientific calculator DD needs for school, vacuum cleaner bags and an ink cartridge for my printer. After that order, I checked to see if they sell the filters for my aquarium, and sure enough they sell those too. So rather than ordering from the pet supply company I've always used, I'll start getting them from Amazon with my free credits.

The great thing about this particular survey company is I can do their surveys pretty much whenever I want. I don't have to wait to be invited. I log in to my account and there is a list of available programs. I can even do a program more than once, as long as it is still on my list. The only negative is I can only do them until 6pm Monday-Friday and, I think, until 4pm on Saturday. Of course, most of my free time is in the evening. I'd do one every night if I could.

My wife started her new job back in July. We signed her up for the 401K and requested 50% of her salary go to the plan. The first couple of paychecks, only 3% was deducted, which they do automatically, so we just figured they hadn't processed the request yet. Then we went away for 2 weeks followed by her surgery, so she didn't work for about a month all together.

On Friday, she got her paycheck and they are still only deducting 3%. I went online tonight and downloaded the salary reduction form and we filled it out again and will mail it in the morning. Hopefully, this will solve the problem and she'll start getting the 50% deducted and the full company match.

I got an e-mail today from one of the online companies for which I do medical surveys. It said that I have accumulated $165 in my account for surveys done dating back to April but I need to log-in to my account and confirm my mailing address before they can send out a check.

I didn't start closely tracking the surveys I do until June or July, so I didn't realize I had never been paid for these surveys.

So that was a nice surprise. I should be getting that $165 soon now that I've confirmed my address for them. Apparently they've changed their system so checks will now be sent automatically and not have to be requested (which I didn't even realize was the existing system). Why would anyone not want the check sent out? Kind of a dumb system.

Happy September. Time to look back at the past month. I collected a total of $271.25 from online surveys for the month. That's actually lower than I expected because I did one survey for $125 at the end of July but haven't received the check yet. Certainly not complaining, though.

I also earned points at mysurvey and a medical site that has a rewards catalog rather than cash payments.

There is a thread asking if people are saving for a reason. I just posted something there that I thought would be a good blog entry.

As I've said, we love to travel. We left home Saturday for a 14-day adventure in New Hampshire. This morning, we headed southwest from Manchester heading toward Keene with no particular itinerary in mind. Partway there, we passed a sign for a state park with an auto road. We pulled in and found there was a road up to the summit at 2,290 feet. We drove up the steep, narrow, hairpin-turn road. At the top, we decided to hike one of the trails that went around the summit. We got some beatiful views, saw some wonderful rock formations, saw a big swarm of dragonflies and DD discovered a snake in the grass.

Being able to get away and have experiences like that together as a family is why we work and why we save.

The check from those missing funds I tried to transfer from my checking account to my home equity loan finally arrived today. Now I just need to run the check over to the bank on Thursday and get it properly applied to the loan account. The only downside, besides the hassle it has been, is that the payment was originally supposed to be made on July 23, so I've been paying interest for and extra 2-1/2 weeks on that $1,015, not that it amounts to a whole lot, but it's something.

In a previous post, I said that two payments from my checking account to my HEL account had gotten lost somehow. I called customer service twice and couldn't seem to get them to understand exactly what the problem was. I thought it was simple enough. I made a payment and it didn't get applied to my account, but they just didn't get it.

So today I went to the bank in person. The bank person called the loan department and it turned out that after my last call, they though I was saying that the payment had gone to the wrong account, so they cut a check and mailed the money back to me. The check supposedly was mailed yesterday so I should have it tomorrow or the next day. The person at the bank just said to bring the check in and she'll apply it to the loan principal.

Quick recap. I'm a doctor and often get invited to do medical surveys, mostly online. I also do some non-medical ones like AOL Opinion Place. I used to pass up lots of invitations because the surveys are often long and boring, but it was like throwing away free money. A couple of months ago I decided to get serious and do every survey that I could. In June, I earned $363.

July is over now and my survey earnings for the month were $370!! I also earned a few non-monetary gifts including a couple of USB flash drives, a wireless computer mouse, a blood pressure cuff and a couple of other things.

I've also started to record each survey I do so I can match them up when the payments come in. According to my log, I've already earned $340 that I haven't collected yet, so August looks like it will be as good or better than June and July.

It's been a few months since I had any "extra" money build up in my checking account. This was largely because I had laid out money for numerous things that I would ultimately get reimbursed for. Well, I finally got all the reimbursements and the checking account balance plumped up nicely. So last night, I transferred $2,603 from my non-interest bearing checking account to my 5.03% money market account. I figured out that just that transfer alone will earn me an extra $131.00 in interest in the next year. After we get back from vacation in a few weeks, I'll sit down and see if buying a CD might be better to lock in a higher rate for the next year to earn even more.

I posted before how I'm putting a certain amount from each paycheck toward the principal of our HEL. Last week, I made 2 transfers that totaled $1,015. I checked my account activity today and the 2 transfers did come out of my checking account. BUT they did not appear as payments to the loan account.

I called the bank and the 3rd time I got transferred, I think I got a guy who understood the problem and put in a requisition to properly allocate those funds. Right now, apparently, the money is just kind of sitting in limbo. It isn't in my checking account but isn't in my loan account either. It is floating around in cyberspace somewhere, so if you happen to see it, send it back my way.

They're just paper losses, but I decided to see how today's stock market sell-off impacted our portfolio. We lost about $4,300, or about 1.07%.

I don't plan to make any changes or sell anything. I just plan to keep everything on autopilot and continue our automatic investing plans same as always. I'm 20 years from retirement so in the grand scheme of things, today is just a little blip in a very long line.

While I'm usually not a proponent of prepaying one's mortgage, prepaying a HEL or HELOC is often a better idea because of the higher interest rate. That's the situation I find myself in. We're meeting all of our savings goals and have additional money available for something. Our Roths are fully funded for 2007 so I'm sending extra principal payments to the HEL. So far, I've been able to send in $1,015 this month. The balance started at $17,300, so this will bring in to about $16,300.

If I can keep paying $1,000/month through the end of the year, that would take it down to about $11,000.

I'll stop extra payments in January because I'll have to start Roth contributions again, which increase to $5,000 next year. Hopefully, by July, those will be done and I'll start chipping away at the HEL again. I'd love to have it paid off by end of 2008 or early 2009.

There is nothing better (ok, maybe there are some things better) than getting reimbursed for money I've spent and pretty much forgotten about.

Yesterday, my boss gave me a check for $580 to reimburse me for my state license renewal. I paid it a couple of months ago and submitted the receipt. So my finances all reflected that money already spent. Getting it back is like a little bonus. Plus, I had charged it to my rewards card so it amounts to free points.

Same thing happened with our NYC trip last weekend. The theater tickets were a gift from my mother, but I had paid for them a few months ago also with my rewards card. She gave us a check on Sunday to reimburse for that, so another little bonus. She also has traditionally given us some money each summer toward DD's camp tuition. We never expect it or count on it, but we certainly appreciate it when she does so. The check she gave us Sunday included some money toward camp also.

So it's been a good week for "extra" money.

I pulled my Experian credit report last night. I actually hadn't checked my report for a year so I was overdue. Everything was in order on my report except for my one credit card. The report gave my current balance, which was correct, but said the credit limit on the card was $0. Of course, that makes it look like I've overdrawn the account.

My FICO score was 794 which is very good. In the comment field, though, it says the amount owed on my credit cards is too high.

Not that it really matters with a score that high, but I did send in a dispute form for them to correct the credit limit on that card which is actually $32,500, not $0.

I posted my survey total for June and committed to doing all the surveys that come my way. I know it is only the 11th of the month but I can't wait to see my total this month. Assuming payments come in promptly, I should earn more than last month.

I don't record surveys when I do them - only when the payment comes, but I'm sure I must have done at least a dozen so far. I've already received $60 but I'm sure I've earned over $200, probably closer to $300.

I wouldn't be surprised if by month's end I hit $400 which would be great. Heck, even $200 is great. If I could do that every month it would be enough to cover our annual Disney World trip.

I'll post my total at the end of the month. I just felt like sharing midway.

DW got her first paycheck from the new job today. It only covered the orientation day she did last week due to when the pay period ended. Also, it was issued before the 401K enrollment got processed so a minimal amount went to the 401K but not as much as it will be in the future. Still, it is the first time either of us have had a job where the employer kicked in matching funds toward retirement so that was pretty exciting. Even though it was less than $2.00, it was $2.00 we didn't have before.

She is starting to feel a little more comfortable on the job. She actually was doing the data entry herself today which is really the only way to learn that kind of stuff. Watching someone else do it isn't the same as actually doing it.

Technically, last Monday was her first day as she went for a general orientation with about 40 other new hires, but today she actually reported for her actual job. She will be doing surgical scheduling for a multi-campus hospital system.

She was hired on a per diem basis. Today, since she had training to do, she worked 10-4 but will typically do 10-2 a few days a week, at least for the summer (due to DD's schedule). That may change once school is in session.

She said today went well. The other women in the office all seem nice. And the work doesn't seem terribly difficult. She just needs to get fully trained on the computer system and other office procedures.

So far, so good. She works 10-2 tomorrow. They're closed Wednesday for the 4th. Since she still has training to do, she offered to do 10-4 again on Thursday as I'm off early enough to pick up DD from camp. We initially thought this would be 2 days/week but at least for now, it looks like it may be 3-4 days. DW isn't thrilled about that part as she doesn't really want to work 4 days/week. We'll see how it goes. The fact that the boss (a friend of ours) is willing to pretty much let DW set her own hours is a huge plus. Not too many jobs around with that kind of flexibility.

I get invited regularly to do online medical surveys (I'm a physician). These pay well, though sometimes they are incredibly boring and tedious to do. I always go through phases where I just don't bother doing them, but then I regret it as it is basically throwing away free money.

I've been back on track lately, doing all that come my way.

For June, I received payment for 6 surveys (one or two might have actually been done in May). The total for the 6 payments was $363.00!

Why I ever pass these up I don't know. I've already done a couple of others that I haven't gotten paid for yet, including a $75 survey a few minutes ago. I just have to keep on doing them, no matter how boring they get.

I just wrote the check for the final contribution to my Roth for 2007! I finished funding DW's Roth a few weeks ago. So both now have the full $4,000 for the year. Looking forward to 2008 when the limit goes up to $5,000, meaning between us we get to put away an extra $2,000.

I posted on the boards yesterday that our escrow statement came and our monthly payment is being increased by $142.

I'm taking that as a new challenge. I want to analyze everything in our financial lives and figure out how we can make up that amount from other places. I'm rounding it off to $150/month that I want to save.

Ideas so far:
Get new auto insurance quotes.
Get new life insurance quotes.
More our brokerage account to ScotTrade (our current broker charges a quarterly account fee).
Work on trimming the grocery bill.
Bake more/buy less desserts.

In addition to saving money, increasing earnings is a tool too. I know we have a couple of small accounts scattered around that I could consolidate to our high-yield money market to boost interest earnings.

I'll update as I find savings in our budget.

Yesterday was a great survey day. I got a check in the mail for a survey I did a couple of weeks ago. The original invite said it was for $40. When I reached the end of the survey, I was asked if I wanted to continue with additional questions for an extra $30. Duh. So yesterday, I got my check for $70.

Last night, while DW and DD watched TV, I checked my mail and had 2 new survey invites. I did them both - one for $75 and one for $150. So $225 earned rather than staring at the TV.

For those who don't follow my posts, these are medical surveys sent to doctors only, sorry.

ETA: I got another check today for $60, so even better.

You may recall that my wife left her job of 2 years back in February. For 10 years before that, she was a SAHM raising our daughter. Although I hated to see the income go, she was no longer happy at the job and that was far more important than the money.

Anyway, she was not looking for a new job. In fact, she hadn't been looking for that one. A couple of weeks ago, she happened to be speaking to a friend at our synagogue who hadn't realized she wasn't working there anymore. My wife explained that what she really needed was a job that was part-time with hours that were flexible enough to let her be around to get our daughter to and from school, take off when there were important functions she wanted to attend and have as much vacation time as me (4 weeks) so we didn't have a problem planning our travels.

Much to my wife's surprise, the woman said, "I may have a job for you." This woman runs the surgical scheduling office for a local hospital system. She was in need of someone on a per diem basis. The schedule is flexible and could be worked around my wife's specific needs. Basically, they maintain a pool of workers who they call as needed. If you are able to work, great. If not, you can pass and they'll call someone else. Or, you can also have set hours.

My wife had to interview with the HR person, but the final decision was up to our friend. Last week, she was officially offered the job. She has to go for a physical, drug test, etc. which is scheduled for next week.

She will probably get some fixed hours, maybe 2 days/week, 4 hours/day, like 10am-2pm. Then she would also be in the pool for additional shifts, like if someone is out sick or on vacation.

I'm hoping it works out as this would be perfect for her schedule-wise. It wouldn't be much money, maybe $5,000/year, and we'd probably put all of that into a 401K, but every little bit helps.

Since Jan. 1, 2006, I have designated 17% of my gross income for savings. Every 2 weeks when I get paid, I calculate 17% of the gross, round it up to the nearest $5.00, and direct that much toward savings (split between taxable mutual funds, our IRAs, DD's 529 and extra home equity loan payments).

As of July 1st, I am increasing to 18%. I've realized in recent months that after the 17%, we still had money left over after paying all the bills and spending whatever we spent on stuff. In reality, I could probably up it to 20% and still be okay. I figure I'll do 18% for the 2nd half of 2007 and see where we end up. If we're still fine in December, I may increase it to 19% starting next January. We'll see how it goes.

I've referred to this article in a couple of posts and several people asked if they could read it. I was hesitant to post a direct link because of the personal info, full name, town, etc. So instead, I've copied it here and edited out my last name and exact location. I've also removed the source, but it was a national financial magazine geared toward those in the medical field.

Keep in mind that this article was published over 3 years ago and was written about 6 months before that, so it is nearly 4 years old. Our numbers are even better now as my student loans are gone, DD's 529 is over 21K, we are still driving the same 2 cars mentioned, our investments have nearly doubled to 390K and we now save 18-20% of income, not 13% like in the article.

--------------------
How this young doctor keeps debt at bay

Mar 5, 2004

This 39-year-old physician has school debt, a house, and a family—yet he's squirreled away more than $200,000.

Family physician Steven G. is a happy camper.
He's 39, he's paid off most of his medical school debt, and his savings are growing. He's on track to have college funds and retirement savings ready when he needs them—and that's on a salary of about $105,000.
No, you won't find the G.s shopping at Neiman Marcus. "Some doctors drive fancier cars or live in bigger houses," says G.. "We live below our means. But we don't feel deprived. We enjoy today, but we prepare for tomorrow."
G. has come a long way. He graduated medical school in 1990 with about $102,000 in medical school debt. When he married two years later, the newlyweds' joint assets totaled about $6,000. Now they're up to about $200,000, not including their house, cars, or collectibles.
G., who started practicing in 1993, is an employee in a two-doctor urban office. He and wife, Marci, 40, a homemaker, and daughter, Jennifer, 8, live in a three-bedroom colonial in New Jersey.
Other than a $10,000 gift from G.'s mother toward their down payment, Steve and Marci have built their own stash. And G. predicts he'll be set for a comfortable retirement around age 62, after paying his daughter's college education.
Determined to wipe out med school debt
G. vowed to wipe out his debts early on. In 1994, after he'd been in practice for a year, his Health Education Assistance Loans totaled about $62,000. That year, he started making extra principal payments (an additional $450 a month on top of the $225 due). Then, in 1999, he took out a home equity loan of $28,000 to pay off his car and part of his student loans. Those HEAL loans are down to about $11,000 now. The home equity loan has a $25,700 balance and 15 years left. "Once the HEAL loans are paid off, I'll have a chunk of money to put toward the home equity loan," he says. "I'll pay off all my debt way ahead of schedule."
G. also began saving early. "We started putting $50 a month via automatic deposit into our first mutual fund in 1992, and increased that amount as my income rose," he says. The account is now worth about $22,000. The G.s have since added other funds and investment accounts, IRAs, and a 529 plan. Currently, 13 percent of G.'s gross pay goes toward savings and investments. Some large financial goals are looming, and the G.s aim to be prepared. "Our daughter will have a Bat Mitzvah in about five years, which we expect will cost about $20,000," says G.. "Five years later, she'll head for college."
Rather than take a loan or charge the expenses, G. plans to save for both the Bat Mitzvah and college. "The 529 plan we started last July now has about $3,000," he says. "Once my HEAL loans are paid off, I'll redirect some of that money into the 529. I expect to have about $75,000 by the time Jennifer starts college."
The G.s do use charge cards, but refuse to carry a balance. That keeps them from spending beyond their means, and from throwing away money on interest charges. "Credit cards can be the bane of existence for many people," he says. "We can't see spending first and then paying off; we save first, and then pay for what we want."
Despite their frugality, the G.s don't neglect charitable giving. "We donate money and volunteer our time and services to our synagogue, and support our local public television station and my undergraduate college," he says. They also donate old clothes, toys, books, and household items to Purple Heart Veterans, Goodwill, and other causes.
Taking frugality as a way of life
What's G.'s secret? Attitude.
"We are not into status items, and we're not upgrade happy; once we buy something we stay with it," he says. "But we don't feel like we're sacrificing. Marci and I enjoy our lifestyle."
The G.s will buy top quality items that are important to them. "We both love to cook, so we have Calphalon pots and pans, and KitchenAid appliances," he says. "We also have an extensive collection of Walt Disney memorabilia, and have spent thousands of dollars on it over the years. They're obviously not necessities. For things we don't consider a big deal, we buy something functional," he adds.
Take cars, for instance. The G.s own two that they bought used: a 1998 Toyota Camry LE and a 2000 Toyota Sienna LE minivan. "The Camry was a dealer demo, and had 11,000 miles on it when we bought it," he said. "I plan to keep it for another five to seven years." The minivan was two years old when they bought it last year.
"Our living room has had the same old furniture and IKEA bookshelves for the past 10 years, interspersed with some new pieces," he says. "Our house is nice, but it's not a mansion." The G.s intend to stay in their current home, although they may remodel or add on to create more space.
Finding bargains and getting the best prices also help the G.s' saving campaign. "We shop carefully," he says. "We buy some food items at Target because they're cheaper than at the supermarket. We'll pick up things at yard sales or thrift shops. Especially when my daughter was young. Why pay full price for overalls that she'll wear for three months, when you can get them for $1 at a thrift shop?"
The G.s take out novels from the library rather than buy them at bookstores, although they purchase reference books new. The family usually eats at home. "We prepare most meals from scratch. It's healthier and cheaper than dining out." And the G.s don't pay for any household help.
Vacations also reflect the G.s' stretch-your-dollar philosophy. They spend at least one week a year in Disney World, "but we stay at a $39-a-night motel two miles from the park, rather than on-site, where it could cost several times as much," he says. This year, they spent another week in Massachusetts. "We stayed at a Marriott using Rewards Points earned on our charge card."
But they also splurged. "One weekend last year, for our anniversary, we stayed at a luxury hotel in New York, ate at fancy restaurants, and went to a Broadway show," says G..
Steve and Marci have a crucial advantage: They have similar attitudes toward saving. "There's no way we could have accomplished what we did if one of us was a spender and the other a saver," he says. "We can't think of a single instance where either one of us wanted to blow money on something ridiculous and had to be talked out of it."
No financial advisers need apply
The G.s don't use a financial adviser. "We got a financial analysis done twice—in 1996 and in 2001—by our insurance broker," says G.. "The most recent one showed a very small projected shortfall for our anticipated retirement needs. But we identified the factors that will correct that gap in the near future. It mainly involved repaying my student loans and having that money for additional investing.
"I'm proud to say that our broker was quite impressed," adds G.. "In fact, he ended up telling me that I was overinsured, and he actually reduced my life insurance coverage by $250,000. It's not often you hear an insurance salesman telling you to buy less insurance!"
While the market slump of the past few years zapped G., he's not sweating. "The market correction had a big impact on paper, since we keep about 80 percent of our portfolio in equities," says G.. "But that decline came after a huge run-up, so we're still way ahead of where we started, and the recent recovery has erased much of the paper losses."
Thanks to the G.s' philosophy, they're certain they'll be comfortable later in life. "We figure that it will be much easier to live a modest lifestyle after retirement because we're not living extravagantly today," says Steve. "We hope to live at least as well, if not better—more travel, theater, fine dining. We want to enjoy retirement, not spend it struggling to get by on a tiny nest egg."
 

Where their money goes

2002 Total income $105,000
Adjustments
Income taxes $27,100
Property taxes 4,600
Pre-tax contributions to savings and investments 0

Total adjustments $31,700

Total spendable income: $73,300
Expenditures
Housing (including mortgage payments utilities, and maintenance) $16,000
Loan and debt repayment 7,000
After-tax contributions to savings and investments 14,400
Food and dining out 5,000
Insurance (Life and disability) 5,900
Autos (gas, repairs, insurance) 5,500
Vacations 6,000
Hobbies and entertainment 2,000
Medical and dental expenses 3,500
Clothing 1,800
Charitable contributions and gifts 3,500
Miscellaneous 2,700

Total expenditures $73,300
 

Nothing beats using ebay to sell stuff that you've gotten for free. No complaints about fees and commissions when anything you earn is pure profit.

I recently had 2 auctions close for a total of $28.02. And I've got 2 active auctions for identical items that are up to $14.21 so far. That's at least $42.23 (minus fees) just for keeping my eyes open to opportunity and taking advantage of the situation.

The best part is that what I'm selling is something that I have ongoing access to, though in lesser quantities. Even so, I can accumulate enough items every month or so to put up another auction. Even $30/month is $360/year for doing basically nothing. That sounds good to me.

My last auctions of the month just ended. We didn't quite make our goal of $200 in sales for the month. Our total was $188.23 for 8 items. April was a bit off because of Passover, Spring Break and the fact that I was out of town for 3 days last week so I didn't list auctions to end during those times.

That makes the grand total $296.71 for March and April since I started selling again. I'm going to shoot for $200 again in May.

I'm back home from AC. I ended up pretty much breaking even on my blackjack time, which was fine with me.

One thing that did me in (as is true of most gamblers) was not quitting when I was ahead. Most people go to the casino with a set amount they are willing to lose, but they don't set a limit on how much they can win. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive to put a cap on your winnings, but if you are going to gamble, you need to set an end point. Otherwise, you just keep playing and playing and odds are you will eventually give back your winnings.

So how do you pick a stopping point? With our investments, we're all pretty satisfied if we earn 10% in a year. But somehow sitting at the blackjack table, earning 10% in 10 minutes doesn't seem satisfactory at all. I mean, if I sit down with $100, I'm just not going to get up and leave when I am up to $110.

My general rule (which I didn't always stick to this week) is to quit when I've doubled my money. After my losing sessions on Wednesday, though, I stuck to it on Thursday and Friday and that's how I got back to even for the trip. There is just some brain defect that makes you want to keep playing when you are doing well rather than taking your winnings and walking away. Oh well, hopefully next time I won't let greed get the better of me.

I got a nice surprise today. I got an envelope from Charles Schwab, where I have one of my IRA accounts. I could see through the window that it said "Pilgrim & Baxter" which I thought was a little odd because I sold my Pilgrim fund shares a couple of years ago.

I opened the envelope to find a check for $95.70 for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Fair Fund Distribution. Apparently, this is a fund established by the SEC to compensate investors whose accounts were affected by some trading irregularities (market timing) that went on in the '98-'01 period and my account qualified.

I just need to look into any tax implications from this payment, but I'm sure my accountant will be able to figure that out. All I know is I've got $95.70 I didn't have when I woke up this morning.

I have the opportunity pretty regularly to do medical surveys for which I receive cash honoraria. Honestly, I don't do most of the ones I get invited for, but once again I'm making a conscious effort to do them all because it is stupid to pass them up as it is pretty easy money.

Anyway, yesterday I got a check for $50 for one I did recently. Sunday, I did one for which I'll get $60 and today I did one for $55.

On top of that, I was recently invited to speak on behalf of one of the pharmaceutical companies. I didn't ask how much I'd make when agreeing to speak. I was guessing about $250 because I seem to recall that's what I got a couple of years ago for something similar. I got my contract the other day and it is for $625. I was very happy about that.

So all in all, a good week for side income.