Thursday, June 19, 2014

RE: Multiple Income Streams: How They Can Work For You

Let's talk about something interesting...
multiple source of income

Yes all of us want more and more income, I mean - who doesn't right? In fact, the more, the better!

And we spend most of our time thinking about it, especially when we are seemingly stuck at a "crappy" job or even when things are not going our way.

This article gives us good insight on the topic of: why multiple sources of income?

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For most people, the only income they earn comes from their job. Get up, go to work, come home, and collect their paycheck – and they're perfectly comfortable and believe it is good enough for them.

But then once children come along, when they have to start taking care of ageing parents, medical bills start rolling in with age, they come to one realisation (perhaps a bit too late). Having a job is like putting all their eggs in one basket. All their income is reliant on one job, and if that job goes away, they and their family would be hurting.

The only solution is to create more sources of revenue – streams of income. Even if they weren't as much as a full time job, having income from multiple sources ensures that if something happened to any one (including their job) it would not be nearly as disastrous.

This begs the question: But how can you create more sources of revenue while burdened with debt, holding a full time job, and the needs of a family?

Here's some ideas to help you get started:

1. Start a business on the side.
You could do some freelance work, sell merchandise on eBay, teach classes on a skill you're proficient at, fix computers; it doesn't take much time at all and earns a bit of regular money.

2. Start writing about something you're passionate about.
Start a blog. It could be about cooking or parenting, somewhere to collect your thoughts and experiences. List the "lifehacks" you've discovered, share the knowledge you've accumulated; anything's possible. You won't believe the number of people that will be interested in what you have to say. Once you get it going, you can start earning income from the advertisements. The writing can be done whenever, filling in gaps in your time.

3. Build up a consistent savings fund.
Whatever income you earn, use the income to build up a large long-term emergency fund. While the income stream here is rather small (2-4% interest on several months' salary), the fact that the income is based on your own capital and you don't have to do any additional work for it.

4. Eliminate debt.

5. Look for investments that will earn a better return.

Obviously, these sources all require work, with the exception of the savings fund. These are usually called active income streams. The savings fund, which requires no active work, is a passive income stream. Obviously, passive income streams are better over the long haul because they provide income without additional work contribution. Active income streams generally involve a trade of work for money, which means that your time is consumed. However, passive income streams almost always require some significant money to start with, something many people don't have.

What's the real benefit here?

Why put out a lot of effort for multiple active streams? The reason is the same one you'll find for why you should have a diversified investment portfolio – if one of those streams dries up you're still doing all right because the other ones keep going. And when they're all going, you make significantly more than you spend, so you can pay off debts and eventually build up more sources of passive income.

It all comes back to spending less than you earn; multiple active income streams just ensure that the earnings are pretty stable and that there's a big gap between earnings and spending. Then, when you're debt free, you can start taking those earnings and look for ways to build up passive income through investments.

The first step is to make a serious commitment to spend less than you earn. Without that commitment, none of this will work. Focus on paying down debts with the difference between your earning and your spending.

The next step is to figure out something you're good at. Perhaps you have a knack for cleaning your windows or maybe you know how to arrange furniture so it looks great. Maybe you can write very quickly. Almost any strong trait you have leads directly to some sort of profit-making venture that you can do in your spare time. Spend some time figuring out your talent, then think about how that could make money.

Once you've got something figured out, commit some regular time to it. Give up an hour of television each day to bake bread or matte finish photographs, then find places to sell them. Once you get the kinks of whatever your little business is worked out, it'll become a steady small source of income for you – another income stream.

Then, use that income stream for something financially positive. Don't spend it immediately. Instead, contribute that money to debt repayment or use it to invest in something – stocks or otherwise.

The real goal here is financial independence. By making yourself less dependent on a specific revenue stream (i.e., your primary job), you're giving yourself independence and the flexibility to make choices that you never had before.

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