This post was one I originally wrote for I Will Teach You to Be Rich.

I’ve faced a money making question a few times in my life and I’d like to get your thoughts on it. Here’s the question:

As we all try to grow our incomes, which is better, doing more of what we’re currently doing or trying something totally new?

Let me give you an example.

A few years ago, I had developed my writing hobby into a fairly nice income. I was writing for top-notch magazines and getting paid anywhere from 40 cents to $1.25 per word (just to note, they give you a word-count for each assignment — you can’t simply rattle on for 30 pages to make $100,000.) I was making a few thousand dollars a year for what really wasn’t much work, maybe 3-4 hours per article. Not to me

After writing earlier this week about how a blogger was stuck in her current job because of poor financial choices, I ran into this piece (though it's not really new.) It tells the story of a lady who hates her career and would like to make a change, but, you guessed it, she's trapped because of finances. The quick summary:

My younger sister Melissa is struggling with a common problem: She hates her career. She'd like to go back to college to train for something different, but money stands in her way.

Melissa has managed payroll and human-resources departments for many different types of companies. She's between jobs right now, but her experience makes her much in demand, and all but ensures she'll command a good salary and benefits from any number of employers.

Sh

Here's a question I recently thought about and would like your feedback: should I include known liabilities in my net worth? Stick with me for a minute and I'll explain what I mean.

Currently, my net worth is a simple calculation of assets minus liabilities. However, in this calculation I have the following assets included:

Here's the rub: the assets for each of these are included in our net worth, but the future liabilities (the cost of college as well as the wedding costs) are NOT included. This effectively overstates my net worth.

So, I have a few options:

I was reading The Simple Dollar the other day when a reader had this question for Trent:

Do you think financial bloggers post their honest and unbiased opinion on personal finance? Are they following the same advice that they post for readers?

I've addressed this issue a bit in the past, but I thought you all would be interested in a more forward reply, so here goes:

1. I write absolutely what I think on this blog. If I like something, I say so. If I don't like something, I say so. If I say I'm doing this or that, I'm doing it. In other words, I'm not making this up as I go along. I'm honestly writing what I think (I know that sometimes gets me in trouble) and do. I think it's more interesting that way, it's more meaningful that way, and, quite honestly, it's easier