Yesterday, you focused on increasing your income as a step towards financial independence. While you can ask for a raise at work, remember the calculations we looked at on day 3. To have your savings generate $1,000 a month until you’re 95, you would need $750,000 in the bank. Alternatively, you could buy a rental property which would cost less than $750,000 and rent it out for $1,000 a month.
The point I’m making is that your day job alone won’t make you rich. Even if you earn more, it won’t be enough or fast enough while you’re employed.
So, it’s time to explore additional sources of income, and the more, the better. If you need $1,000 a month for financial independence and your blog currently makes $50 a month, then you only need to find another $950 a month.
Income sources can include things like a blog, a website, affiliate sales, renting out a room in your home, investing in property, other investments like stocks and shares, or selling items on eBay.
The more diverse your income sources, the less likely it is that they will all stop at the same time. When I left my day job, I was tutoring five kids and writing for three websites. Then the recession hit, and tutoring became too expensive for many parents. Fortunately, I still had my writing income.
When one of the websites no longer needed me to write due to budget cuts, it wasn’t a catastrophe. I was renting out my property and earning income from that. I even have investments in less conventional areas like live cattle and coconut trees.
Who knows, even this blog might bring in money someday. The key takeaway is to create as many income streams as possible. This will help you reach financial independence faster and make you less vulnerable if one source of income stops.