You work hard for your money, so it’s only fair to expect your money to work for you. Many people acknowledge this truth without really knowing how to live by it. If you are trying to strengthen your finances, chances are you have considered side jobs. Indeed, taking a second or third job has value. Working more is an obvious way to increase your income. However, an even more valuable way to earn more money is through passive income. Read on, and we will explain why pursuing passive income over side jobs is a smart choice.
What Is Passive Income?
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Passive income is money that you make without investing very much time or effort. Many people dismiss it because it sounds too good to be true. However, there are many legitimate ways to earn passive income. Some examples include renting property, lending money, earning royalties, and owning shares in other people’s businesses.
7 Reasons Passive Income Trumps Side Jobs
1. Your Income is No Longer Correlated With the Time You Spend Working
How many times have you heard the phrase, “time is money.” This is one truism that we need to reconsider. In fact, time is more valuable than money: Here’s why. While you can always make more money, you can never make more time. You have a finite amount of minutes every day that you can invest in working for money, regardless of whether you are hourly or salaried.
Many people limit their earning potential because they think of their income as being tied to the time and effort they spend to make it. When you realize that there are ways to bring in money without spending time, you will see that your ability to increase your assets is unlimited.
2. You Can Continue to Have Income If You Become Unable to Work
Passive income comes to you regardless of your health, your talents, and your schedule. Many things can limit our ability to work for money. You might get sick and require hospitalization for a few months. Maybe your skill set will eventually become outdated in your field. You might suddenly find yourself in the position of having to spend long hours caring for a loved one. While these situations might cause you to have to quit a side job, they won’t affect your passive income.
3. You Don’t Have to Sacrifice the Things in Life That Are Meaningful to You
Chances are, you don’t want to spend all of your time working. Whether you want to travel, go for bike rides with your family, create art, volunteer, or do some other enriching activity, you deserve some extra hours to do the things you love. While side jobs cut into these hours, passive income does not.
4. You Can Live Anywhere in the World
With the exception of remote work, most jobs require you to stay near your place of employment for most of the year. This is because you need to physically show up to do your job. Even if you are a freelancer, you might be at a disadvantage if you move away, you’re your client-base. Beyond the initial investment, passive income does not require your mental or physical input. Therefore, it frees you to go anywhere you like at any time.
5. Passive Income Relieves Stress
Being in debt and/or living paycheck to paycheck puts a huge strain on your mental wellbeing. Even if you are getting by at the moment, you might look into the future and realize you are not making enough money to prepare for major life events. You might worry about whether or not you will have enough money to send your children to college. Perhaps you are concerned about your ability to retire.
While having a side job can bring you more money, it might also increase your daily anxiety by adding responsibilities. Passive income will increase your earnings and relieve your stress without adding more worries than you already have.
6. Passive Income Gives You Resources to Make Further Investments
When you opt for passive income over increasing your active income via side jobs, you save time that can be spent researching new investments, comparing opportunities, and thinking through financial decisions. Passive income also generates more money to invest. While side jobs bring you more money, they can distract you from learning how to use that money wisely.
7. Passive Income Gives You the Satisfaction of Knowing You Made Smart Investments
The value of money goes beyond your sense of financial security and your ability to enjoy a high quality of life. You can take pride in being mindful about how you earn, spend, and invest it. After successfully creating ways to generate passive income, you can look back on your decision-making positively and celebrate your sense of accomplishment.
Overall, Passive Income Offers You Greater Freedom Than Side Jobs
Getting a side job or two is not a bad thing. It is a significant way to make your finances more robust, and everyone can use some extra money. The problem with having a side job is that you have to give up a lot of important things in exchange—time with family, the opportunity to travel, the security of knowing you will be ok if you get hurt, etc. Passive income offers you a way to earn more money without putting in more hours, tying your income to your ability to work, or sacrificing important aspects of your life.
Setting yourself up to earn passive income is an important step towards financial freedom. The value of this source of money is so great that once the amount you bring in through passive channels exceeds your monthly expenses, you will no longer need to depend on working for a living. Moreover, taking advantage of passive income is the best way to maximize the assets you have, even if you are starting small. Don’t miss out! Make the most of your time and money by making passive income one of your key financial goals.
