Welcome to my income report for Feb 2022

In February, I have earned $574 passively in total. More than in the previous month.

What Happened In February

Full Panic Mode

So by now, you know what major event happened in February. But a month ago, I had no idea what is coming.

Life was was normal back then. I was still training for a half marathon, recording new videos, and watching my portfolio sink every day, for no apparent reason.

Then it hit me like a brick. First Biden says something about the upcoming invasion, which I didn't want to believe. And then a week later the news hit the fan. It was clear the market downturn happened because smart money were exiting their positions way ahead of the news.

Sometimes it makes you think, that world is unfair and there is always someone, who has an advantage over you. But what can you do as a small retail trader?

So as the Russian invasion became real, I went into full panic mode. Ukraine's border is only 300 km far away from Czechia and Putin is an asshole, so there was a huge uncertainty in the air. He even threatened with a nuclear ace a few days after the invasion.

On the first day, people were literally doing a bank run on their CZK deposits and turning their cash into foreign currencies. I did the same and withdrew all my cash from Russian-labeled banks. It was a difficult task, though. It appears that you just cannot withdraw much cash from ATMs, because there are artificial limits set by banks. To protect their liquidity.

To truly pick up larger amounts, you would have to set up an appointment at the branch, which could take a few days or weeks, depending on how many other people have the same brilliant idea.

Then it is not enough to make a digital exchange. It can happen, and it happened to me during the first week, that cards systems fail. I was standing in the grocery store looking at hopeless people realizing they could not pay for their food just because no cash, no love.

So lessons learned here is that leave at least some cash in physical cash.

Next is to have at least some reserve currencies, that you can use when fleeing the country. In the current digital age, almost no one holds the cash and it backfires when foreign troops invade your country.

You just don't have time to increase banking limits, set up an appointment, and then exchange local currency for something more valuable. By that time, banks are closed, suburbs are bombarded and your money is worthless.

All in all, it took me two full days to gather little cash for running out of the country, and one day to exchange it for USD. And in three full days, a lot can happen. Banks can collapse, bombs can drop and inflation can skyrocket to the moon. The same way it did in Russia. Everything got more expensive. Food, electronics, you name it.

The government also can apply martial law and call you into the army. So there will be no way out.

Then I dealt with my exit plan. What do I need to free the country, what to keep and what to leave?

I made a peace with myself to sacrifice all electronics except for my laptop and my camera. Everything else will become useless when shit hit the fan. Thanks to my minimalistic life, it's all I have that is valuable. I don't own a car, expensive furniture, etc. So when I leave, I will leave with no hard feelings.

What I was missing though are tools and gears to survive truly the worst-case scenario - a nuclear bombing. This is what made me reprioritize my value chain and prepare myself for the exit.

So I took all the benefit points I had left and bought out all survival tools and gears, that were available online. Mainly 100l bug out bag, an Eskimo sleeping bag, knife, compass, tools for starting a fire, mini axe, and many more. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to buy 4 people tent, and the online shop didn't have water filters.

In retrospect at the time of posting this blog, war will be almost over with no direct nuclear threat, so I did everything for nothing. I violated my minimalism code and bought a bunch of stuff I might never use. I also hold cash that yields no interest.

But you know what? I feel much safer knowing I will be ready for the next crisis. This was just a drill, a wake-up call, that luckily didn't pan out.

Live projects

Good House Music

At the time of writing this post, it grew to 383 subscribers. A 3.7% increase over the previous month. I have uploaded 4 DJ mixes and 4 new single tracks. The most viewed track recorded 131 views.

Personal Youtube Channel #1

In the previous month, I posted 1 new video on my personal Youtube channel.

I made a video, that was so far the most satisfying and most complex to make at the same time. It involved detailed planning, brainstorming, trying, and failing all of which were repeated multiple times.

I also tried some acting, to portray the narrative. And it was fun as hell, but also difficult.

I am now appreciating actors and their craft more than ever. It is a pretty mentally draining activity, that is hard to nail on the first try. Now imagine you have to repeat one scene 50 times with the same passion, energy, and emotion. Even bad actors deserve credit for their effort.

I will keep uploading till I reach 246 uploads, then we will see if it is going anywhere.

Personal Youtube Channel #2

In the previous month, I posted 3 new videos on my personal Youtube channel.

I tried youtube shorts for the first time and...it didn't work. Apparently, no one uses shorts shelves in my country as all views were coming from classic sources.

Despite the mixed results, I enjoyed short-form content a lot, because I was able to start with an idea in the morning, record the video by lunch and post it by evening.

Also, it was refreshing, not having to spend 20 hours on each video, but being able to post the same day.

Unfortunately, I was not able to produce short videos more frequently. First, one minute is not enough for any explanation content. Second, editing was not that much easier compared to long-form videos. It was just faster due to shorter footage.

And the content I made was irrelevant the moment I posted. So I was not motivated to continue with the experiment.

I will keep uploading till I reach 30 uploads, then we will see if it is going anywhere.

Financia

I made no progress in February, again.

But I won't give up and I will finish this feature no matter what, so I can devote my time to other dev projects I have in mind.

Income Report Breakdown

P2P Lending

I am still keeping a few dollars on my account with an Autotrader turned on.

Savings Accounts

Right now, I still keep a small portion of money in savings accounts to cover my living expenses.

I reconsidered the safety of small banks after the collapse of Sberbank and won't hold any significant amount of money (living expenses x 2) at banks with no instant payments. Being able to quickly withdraw money is now more important than ever. You don't wanna have to wait for insurance payment when you are on the run.

Also, insurance funds are not capable of covering more than one collapse. When that happens, you will be waiting months for your hard-earned money.

Stock Investing

February was again a brutal month with yet another realized losses. The war was a shock no one could anticipate. I now hold some heavy bags with recent positions of FB at 215 and INTC at 45. I don't even mention many speculative meme growth stocks, that might never go above break-even years to come.

Used Stuff Sales

My path to life minimalism went worse in the previous month. I bought a bunch of survival gear I probably won't ever need. The fewer material things I own, the more freedom I get.

Plans, dreams, and wishes

My goals for March are the following. Keep running.

That would be it. Thank you so much for following me on this journey and see you in the next report.

Income Report Feb 2022 - Full Panic Mode