Why I’m Happy With My $20 Monthly Medium Check

That’s how much I earn from Medium if I don’t publish anything new.

This month, I’m on track to earn somewhere near $40 because I published something new, so I’ll be even happier. I pay $5 to read stories on Medium without running into a paywall; I had my days of running into walls back in middle and high school, so I do my best to stay away from walls these days — that’s a track & field reference, by the way. But that’s not the subject of this article. Today, I want to discuss why my $20 check from Medium each month makes me happy and how I keep it all.

Writing for expression and dissemination of knowledge

I have thousands of thoughts each day. Most of them are things I probably shouldn’t share publicly because I’m quite the contrarian. However, a good amount of my thoughts are about knowledge I’d like to share with my generation. I’ve had many wonderfully unique experiences in my short time on this blue planet. I’ve played varsity sports, published a book, graduated college, sold companies and products, built a publication, had two full-time software engineering jobs, invested in stocks, lost thousands of dollars in a stock due to scandal, and so much more.

Yep, I’ve lost thousands of dollars on a single stock, but that’s fine, because Medium sends me $20 each month to help me recoup it all.

All of those experiences may not seem unique to you, but that’s what makes them unique; the fact that I experienced these things through my own lenses and walked an entirely different path from you and everyone else in this world makes said experiences unique. What matters here is that because I’ve had these experiences and am still here, I have something to share with others. I have stories to tell and knowledge to propagate.

I write to lament on the past. I write to share thoughts on issues that matter to me. I write to educate. I write to tell my story.

Earning a dollar by writing

Sometimes, my writings make it to your screen and that of thousands of other readers around the world. When that happens, Medium sends me a couple dollars for my contributions to the public library. Every once in awhile, I check my stats, see the number of reads, appreciate the number of cents I’ve earned, smile, and carry on about my day. At the end of the month, for the last three months, all those earned cents add up to around 2000 cents and hit a Stripe dashboard somewhere. I haven’t checked that dashboard in a long time, so I can’t confirm that Medium has actually paid me my dues, but I have faith in their integrity. All I know is that I have a few more dollars I can afford to spend each month.

What I do with my dollars

We both know that $20 isn’t much money. If I walk to my local grocery store, that amount would only afford me two boxes of organic fruit, a couple bundles of toilet paper, or enough veggies to cook dinner for half a week. Nonetheless $20 is greater than $0, so I’m happy.

With the knowledge of incoming $20, I do what most people don’t. I invest all of that money into the stock market in young companies in which I believe. Why do I invest my Medium earnings? Well I don’t. I’ve never actually seen my Medium earnings, but I believe they are somewhere I can access them when I so desire. Armed with that knowledge, I do some simple math to figure out how I can make the most of these few dollars I have floating somewhere in space.

We both also know that Uncle Sam will want his share of my earnings coming April 15th next year. He’ll want somewhere around 30%; that’s $6 Sam will be coming for. To most people, that’s sad but unreconcilable. To me, it’s sad but something I can offset. Like most rich uncles, Sam comes baring some gifts and relief. He says that if you invest your money in capital assets, he won’t touch it until you divest. That means I can invest my $20 today to achieve enough returns to offset that $6 income tax before tax season comes around. On top of that, I have a good chance of significantly increasing my earnings if I play my cards right.

The stock market has averaged around 8% returns over the last century. That’s the entire stock market. Though 8% may appear insignificant, 8% of a big number is another big number. However because the entire stock market deals with extremely large numbers, it’s hard to see large percentage increases. For that reason, I invest my small money into smaller numbers as they relate to companies.

I focus on investing in young companies that I understand and believe will grow large over the next few decades. In the first couple of years, using this strategy, I expect to earn an average of about 40% return on my investments; I was trending 70% for this year until the crisis began. That means if I invest my $20 from Medium, I can expect it to grow to $28 in the next year if I achieve that 40% average return. Already, I would have enough to cover my $6 income tax and $2 extra for my troubles. But the fun doesn’t stop there.

If I leave that $20 invested for another year, from $28 after year one, it’d grow to $39 in year two if my 40% of average yearly returns goal is met. Of course, a 40% average is aggressive, but I’m pretty confident I can make it happen. In two years, thanks to compounding interest, I would nearly double my original $20 from Medium. Isn’t that cool?

Furthermore, I wouldn’t pay any taxes on my gins after that original $6 income tax is paid to Uncle Sam because tax laws. I’m not going to get into tax laws here, so be sure to consult your accountant. After 5 years, if I continue to hit 40% returns, my little $20 from Medium would have more than quintupled. That’s nothing to scoff at, so I am happy to publish my thoughts on Medium.

How often I publish

I’m one of those people who do my best writing spontaneously. I don’t follow a schedule. I don’t subscribe to the everyday publishing trend. I write when I feel like it, and that’s how I enjoy it. This article is no different. I had the idea for this article a couple minutes after eating dinner, and I was in the mood to write it. I have many ideas of headlines to write a story around. In fact, I noticed I was having so many good headline ideas each day that I decided to build a platform to easily store and expand on my article ideas; I made it open to other writers.

All of this means I may publish once, three times, or not at all during any given month. Fortunately, Medium doesn’t seem to care. I joined the Medium Partner Program a couple months ago and added my most popular article to the program. If you search “medium guide” on Google, you will find it sitting easy at #1. I could have made thousands of dollars had I added this to the program when I published it two years ago, but I couldn’t for reasons. Today, I earn about $20 a month on Medium from that article and a couple other old articles that contribute a little here and there.

Conclusion

So $20 is my baseline earnings from Medium each month. If I earn more than that, I’m extra happy. If I earn less than that, I’m still happy. Why? Because I know that I can turn whatever Medium pays me into more money before I have to pay taxes on it. That will always make me happy.