Back when I was in the corporate world, I’ve always been fascinated with people bumming on the beach on a Monday morning (sans the employment Vacation Leaves), and the Richie-rich playing golf on a weekday in a social atmosphere without committing to any long-term schedule.
And that really got me thinking: Do these people have an implicit income-generating stream that I don’t know? Or maybe they have a scheme that any cubicle-dweller fantasizes as a way of earning a livelihood?
Nowadays, people trade lots of their time for money, they barely have time to split their energy between work and the important aspects of their lives.
This is the norm and a large number of workers fall in this spectrum. You wake up, rush to your workplace, toil for hours, go home, eat, sleep and do it all over again. It’s a cycle, like something in your life has been on autopilot for years.
This is one reason why I promised myself that one day, I will find a way to achieve a healthy work-life balance. After all, one of the core values I abide by is forming STRONG FAMILY TIES. But how can I achieve this if my 9-to-5 demands ridiculous overtime while burning the midnight oil?
Living comfortably and Attaining goals
Do you think you are living comfortably?
Give yourself a few seconds and assess your current situation.
“Living comfortably” is subjective.
It holds a different meaning for different people. But one thing we all have in common is that, well, unless we were born with silver spoons in our mouths, we try to find the equilibrium between time spent working and time spent doing the things we like for ourselves.
Now think about your goals.
Do you dream of having your own humble abode?
Breathing life into that business plan perhaps?
Or how about pursuing that travel dream of yours?
With your current income, how fast are you going towards reaching your goals?
So the question is, are there other ways to generate more income so I can achieve a work-life balance and lessen the years in reaching my goal?
I am going to share some of the streams that millionaires use, along with the merits and demerits of each. You may want to know other ways and work towards new Income streams to achieve that work-life balance and to reach your goals faster.
How many of these 7 INCOME STREAMS do you have?
1. Earned Income
This is the money you make in your job or the salary you earn for working for your boss.
This is the easiest type of income to achieve, the very reason why a large population fall in this spectrum.
You get paid in exchange for your time and services.
The reason why most people are not able to think beyond earningthrough a job is because a job will provide you with a relatively comfortable zone.
But this “comfort zone” is actually what hinders us from thinking out of the box and doing extraordinary things that may lead to a better work-life balance.
2. Profit Income
This is money you earn from selling something for more than it costs to buy or make.
This is the realm of entrepreneurs.
Building profit income can be very rewarding BUT doing so is not just a walk in a park. This type is a difficult one and takes a different kind of mindset and risk-taking capability.
Though most people who are in jobs and are used to generating Earned Income want to move to this category at some point of their career or lives, they find it difficult to make the transitionprimarily because of lack of guts to take additional risks or lack of courage because of family constraints and needs.
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For many people, Earned Income and Profit Income are the most viable means to earn good money. But they tend to forget that there are 5 other streams that are equally as viable when it comes to income generation.
3. Interest Income
This is the result of lending your money to someone else, let’s say the bank through Time deposits or the government through investing in Bonds.
If you’ve invested a big amount here, this is a great way to earn passive income since active involvement is not much needed especially when combined with the power of compound interest.
This can beat any of the first two income-generating streams mentioned earlier, hands down!
4. Dividend Income
This income gets even better than Interest Income. It is equally passive and not only that, it also makes you a shareholder of a company.
How does it work?
When you buy shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange, receiving dividends is one way to earn from your investment.
You buy shares from a company and when business thrives and performs well, they will reward you for investing in them.
It may be in the form of cash or shares.
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Tip: You can start earning Interest Income and Dividend Income for investing as low as P5,000 (for some, much lower) but don’t expect to get superb returns. See to it that you save and invest regularly. The bigger the amount you invested, the better the returns.
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5. Capital Gains
Capital gains happen when the value of an asset you own increases in value.
So aside from the stock market, you can also make this income from real estate jewelry, collectibles, art among others.
6. Rental income
The most popular examples of this are condominiums and apartments but you can also look into commercial spaces and dormitories.
Capital gains from real estate may take a long time. So if you want to immediately make money then rental income is the way to go.
Rental income is not just for real estate. A mommy who rents out her baby gears earns this, so does your neighbor who leases his office equipment.
7. Royalty income
This is the result of letting someone use your products, ideas, or processes. They make all the sales and marketing, and you get a small percentage of whatever they earn.
If you are a writer, you get paid for every copy of the book sold.
If you franchised a Turks Shawarma , the royalty you send to Turks for using their processes, logo, and marketing, etc. is royalty income for them.
Songwriters and inventors benefit also from this type. So if you have the talent and skills, nurture it and see if it leads you to this type of income.
Final Thoughts
Of course, we need a call for action.
The richest people we know to date didn’t actually have all 7 income streams. They just had 1 or 2 – though they had to really be good in what they were doing by honing their skills.
Warren Buffet became a millionaire through Capital Gains and Dividend Income. He specialized in Capital gains through the stock market.
Bill Gates earned through Profit Income and Royalty income. He created a company and created an asset called Windows.
Focus on what you can do right now from one of these income streams. Then become the best you can be in that small aspect to generate income.
Let’s try this out. Who knows? It could be life changing for you, me, and our upcoming generations.
