Does Passive Income Really Exist?
I am declaring June as passive income month here on Family Money Plan. This month I will be going into the different types of passive income that are out there. Our 5-year plan is starting to turn in to a more-than-likely 10-year plan. 5 years would be better, but given what I want to accomplish, I think this is more realistic. It’s all good. It has me thinking of what our future is going to look like and has me doing a lot of thinking about how we will finance it.
Our sights are firmly set on Financial Freedom and we are getting ready to kick it into overdrive.
For us, it’s a simple calculation Financial Freedom = Passive income > Expenses
Replacing our incomes with passive sources has me thinking about Passive Income A LOT.
Like I mean a friggin’ ton of thinking!
Boat loads upon boat loads of thinking.
In fact, if thinking were people… I’d be China right about now!
What is Passive Income?
Passive Income is getting your income from sources that you do not have to work for.
Sounds amazing right
?
Except… the one thing that no one seems to mention when they talk about it, is the absolutely crazy amount of work that needs to happen before you can actually get to earn some of that passive income.
They don’t mention the pitfalls. They just float the thought of “How would you like to make money by not doing anything?”
We in turn say “I’d like that” because…well.. really who wouldn’t want that… 🙂
Then we follow someone down a path thinking that they have the answers, only to find out that their main income source is selling other people the idea of financial freedom while they charge us as a fee as we go along with them.
Here’s the Real Deal On Passive Income
There is only one source of true passive income that I can think of that requires little set up, no real upkeep, and by it’s nature it is completely passive…
And I’ll tell you for the low, low price of $999.
Just kidding.
Keep reading, and you’ll get it for free 😉
The Only True Passive Income … Interest
Interest is the only thing I can think of that is completely passive from the beginning onwards. It’s got it’s risks (inflation, banks defaulting), and the fact that rates are so ridiculously low that it doesn’t make sense… but it’s completely passive.
I’ve been studying different sources of passive income sources for the past 6 years while we’ve been paying off our house , only to realize that every other source of “passive income” isn’t passive at all.
Especially in the beginning.
Everything else is going to require work on your part upfront.
To be fair, interest takes work too. You have to go and earn that money to put it into a savings account and let it grow. You are still working hard to get the money to invest. Most likely though you are going to have to work for the initially money anyways, no matter what passive income you choose.
I just figure I should mention that.
Some more brutal honesty
Look, I could get you really really excited about passive income and tell you how easy it is, and how so many others before you have done it. Then I could sell you a system that you can use to achieve the same results.
But it’s not my style. I hope you can respect that.
I just want to be up front with you on this, there’s work involved. I just thought we should get that out of the way before we get going.
So “Yes!” passive income exists. Hooray. Now let’s get to work on learning and making it. D’oh!
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Next Post: Passive Income 101: Real Estate Rentals
Can’t say I disagree with you, once you get a large enough sum of money working for you, you are set for life. Long journey to get there though so better start young!
I agree with you. Though if you didn’t start young the next best time is today!
Really if you think about it, even bank interest isn’t passive by that definition because you have to work a bunch ahead of time to make the money to earn the interest on. I do think there are many forms of passive income, but they take a lot of up front work to build them to the point you don’t have to work a bunch to sustain it. It definitely isn’t an easy thing and sometimes bloggers make it seem like it is. As you said, it is important to remember it takes a lot of create successful passive income streams!
When people say passive income, they mean passive after you worked hard and lived below your means while selecting DGI stock and following them up. Or with dealing with rentals.
So, it is only passive after a lot of activity. And that is the state I go for!
I agree Amber. Residual Income is a better description than passive that’s for sure.