Passive income, what is it and ways to utilize it.
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*Disclaimer-I am not an expert this is meant to guide you as I understand these concepts*
So if you’re anything like me, you want to enjoy life. Ok, I mean who doesn’t? Passive income is the main goal of doing that. But in my experience, many people want to enjoy life but many lack the skills, knowledge, and sometimes work ethic to actualize it.
Knowledge, skills, and work ethic all go hand in hand though. You can learn a new skill but not if you’re unwilling to learn how. And great, you learned a new skill and you know how to implement it but if you don’t you just have a head full of useless information. In this article, I’ll dive into some of the concepts behind passive income, the knowledge required, the skills required, and how exactly one can make it happen.
So what is passive income anyway?
The idea of passive income is making money without being required to “work” for it. For many people the idea behind this is that if you set up a blog and put ads on it then there you go! But that’s not precisely the right idea.
Yes, you can make money in your sleep that way, but you still have to work for that. A blog requires maintenance, networking, promoting and continual posts and etc. for it to continue to produce money. That means work.
The true meaning of passive income is something like investing. However, the stock market may go up and down, but that truly is an idea where you put money in and never touch it and it has the chance to make money for you without maintenance or further work.
So what does that mean? That means that there are a million ways to make money while you’re sleeping but the only way you can make your money work for you is if you apply it correctly.
Applying passive income correctly can mean many things. Real estate is a popular choice for many but it requires work (at least to start).
Say you buy a house and you’d like to rent it out, sounds passive in theory. Someone rents it out from you but what happens when they don’t mow the lawn? You could make them do it, do it yourself, or hire it out to someone. A truly passive system is if you hired someone to maintain it for you.
The same can be said for investing. It can be work if you make it work. Buying and selling or trading requires paying attention to the trends and staying on top of your investing, unless you hired someone to do that for you.
You might think you could never have passive income then if you have to hire someone for everything! I’m here to tell you that you can, but it takes time, education and the skills to make it happen.
I recommend Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad.
Lately, the trend is direct sales companies. If you’re not very well versed in the concepts behind them, basically you’re able to become your own business owner at a low cost to entry and maintain. The way the business owner makes money is a combination of directly selling items, building a team and earning different prizes or etc. It also incorporates a passive income model.
In this way, a direct sales company (or whatever else you want to call it-I’m not the “expert”) is passive when you build a team, seemingly. Because everyone tends to forget about what to do with team members once you have them.
New team members would require training and guidance and etc. in their own businesses and if you are their “leader” then that job may or may not fall upon you, depending. And then when you’re the leader, you have certain responsibilities.
So then how is there any passive income!?
- Well that is possible if you have an investment portfolio and you hire someone to maintain it for you.
- If you have a team of people but you’re not the “leader”.
- Have investment properties but you hire people to maintain them and/or you are only a shareholder of the properties.
- When you build a business but then hire someone to maintain it.
In this sense is only when you have a source of passive income, as I understand it. Trust me, it isn’t to say that it is impossible to get to this point, but you certainly need to have the financial education, to begin with!
How would you even begin this process?
There are many ways to do this but again first and foremost you need to have a financial education of some sort. What are you reading now and what can you read tomorrow to get that?
Even if you have a regular job, you can still manage to do this too. It is not required to be a business owner, it is required to have a financial education though! Passive income requires a lot of work upfront sometimes, don’t forget!
Think of something that you have that you pay for regularly but can cut out of your monthly outcome? For many, I always hear Starbucks. For you, it could be a monthly subscription or even buying shoes too much. My husband and I always eat at home and every drink/snack/meal is typically packed and brought with us if we go out. It may sound excessive to some but to us, we always had the long game in mind.
The money that we save on making sandwiches at home and bringing them with us is money that we used to invest in stocks.
For instance, a cup of small coffee at Starbucks (where I worked) was $5. A container of coffee that lasts us over a week (or 4 cups a day) only costs $10. So our one cup of coffee, at 7 days a week, by 4 cups a day is 28 cups a week. And if it only cost $10 then each cup is only what 30 cents? Read more of Robert Kiyosaki’s Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
I’m not a mathematician but I do know it’s much cheaper. At $9.70 a day (which could buy you the container of coffee almost) why couldn’t you invest in a stock instead? Or even pay someone to invest in them for you? So, if you save $9.70 a day it’s almost $70 a week if you’re having only two cups a day, which isn’t even counting your spouse! We use an app for investing, ask me what one!
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