How to make more money?

[BTRIND]

Hello everyone! hope all of us are having a happy weekend.

I went through this board but did not find a thread on this topic. So I am wondering if it is not a question that would come to people in this forum? What am I missing? is it a wrong question to ask? Or if there is a thread, can someone point me to it please.

I am 45, awaiting divorce from my second marriage. Financially, am at a stage where I am in a decent job that pays decent money, but 60% of that goes to the EMIs that I need to pay until 2028 on the personal loans I have taken. I really need to make more money as a side income.

I am back to this forum after 7 or 8 years. A lot had happened during that time in my life. I need some direction, or at least a plan so I don't feel like I am just drifting in the winds of other people's plans or just life in general.

Thanks and have a great weekend you all!

[loutfard]

I've read lots of individual examples here of people generating side income. Not always front and center, but still.

I've read here about selling things second hand, growing mushrooms, running an organic farm, painting and drawing and lessons around it, formatting academic documents, building, writing code, playing music in the street, pet sitting, you name it.

The question is what would be suitable for your situation. You're the specialist. Given some background, someone might be able to help.

[jacob]

It's the wrong question to ask. This forum is not about how much you make or even how much you spend. It's more about how much you keep. Getting hotter, it's about how much you keep relative to how much you make, so the key focus is on not wasting. Not just money but also other resources, like time, life, and energy. ERE is about realizing that there's more to it than $$$.

Nothing wrong with trying to make an extra few bucks ... but overall, for most people, it's far easier and a way more effective approach towards financial independence to figure out how not to spend $50 or $500 per month than to make an extra $50 or $500/month. In the end, the result is the same. It's not a matter of how much you make or spend but rather on how you make it and how you spend it.

[BTRIND]

It's the wrong question to ask. This forum is not about how much you make or even how much you spend. It's more about how much you keep. Getting hotter, it's about how much you keep relative to how much you make, so the key focus is on not wasting. Not just money but also other resources, like time, life, and energy. ERE is about realizing that there's more to it than $$$.

Nothing wrong with trying to make an extra few bucks ... but overall, for most people, it's far easier and a way more effective approach towards financial independence to figure out how not to spend $50 or $500 per month than to make an extra $50 or $500/month. In the end, the result is the same. It's not a matter of how much you make or spend but rather on how you make it and how you spend it.

Thank you, Jacob! I realise Its hard work thinking about each of my expense and trying to not spend so I can retain as much as I can. May be that's why I have this question to optimise the income variable. Need to be not so lazy to think about these things and be more aware of what I do with money.

Does how you make it matter as long its ethical and legal?!

[Sclass]

A lot of examples in the threads. I think you’re using the wrong search keywords. We have all kinds of hustlers in here. I recall a thread on vending machines. Laundry mats. Tutoring math to rich kids. Growing stuff and selling it. Dumpster diving. Adult media sales (what ever happened to Riparian?).

[grundomatic]

Does how you make it matter as long its ethical and legal?!

In the sense that money is fungible, you are correct, for FIRE it doesn't matter where the money comes from.

In the sense that you have to actually do things to earn the money, then it very much matters. I'd prefer to earn it in a job I like, for example. Examples from the book include not getting crushed by overspecialization, and a whole chapter on economic degrees of freedom.

[Veronica]

Hello everyone! hope all of us are having a happy weekend.

I went through this board but did not find a thread on this topic. So I am wondering if it is not a question that would come to people in this forum? What am I missing? is it a wrong question to ask? Or if there is a thread, can someone point me to it please.

I am 45, awaiting divorce from my second marriage. Financially, am at a stage where I am in a decent job that pays decent money, but 60% of that goes to the EMIs that I need to pay until 2028 on the personal loans I have taken. I really need to make more money as a side income.

I am back to this forum after 7 or 8 years. A lot had happened during that time in my life. I need some direction, or at least a plan so I don't feel like I am just drifting in the winds of other people's plans or just life in general.

Thanks and have a great weekend you all!

I don't know your full situation, but I am willing to bet the simplest solution is a radical re-evaluation of your lifestyle.
If 60% of your income is going just to paying down personal loans, I think its safe to say that you were living far above your means for a long time.
The bill for that is now due.

To me the answer of "how to make more money" seems fairly obvious; try to avoid having 60% of all your income vanish each pay period.
Anything that you can do to reduce this paydown period or total amount will probably outweigh any kind of raise you might get from a raise, new side hustle, etc.

Think of it this way; interest and debt are like holes in your financial bucket. Your income is like a spigot filling the bucket.
You see the bucket getting low and ask "how can i put more water in faster" instead of "how do i plug the holes that are keeping it low"

[Jin+Guice]

I agree with what others have said.

One benchmark for success on this forum is spending ~$10,000/ year, which you can earn from a minimum wage job (assuming you live in the U.S.). I think this forum is about decentralizing money. In the fist world, money and economic resources are so abundant that they should never be the constraining factor. This can be hard to see in a culture that obsesses over and fetishizes money. The point is not to feel shame about money problems, it's to realize that our culture has normalized beliefs about money that are out of alignment with material reality. If at any point a lack of money appears to be your defining problem, it's paradoxically likely that money isn't actually the problem.

As far as actionable steps, as others have said, cutting expenses and dealing with debt are far more powerful than increasing income. If your personal finances are underwater, that is an emergency that must be dealt with. If you have more going in than out, you are free to work on designing your life around a system that better suits your needs. Under current cultural conditions, it's very rare for the money not to come to you after this is done* (and you will also have an understanding of whether or not particular dollars are worth chasing).

*Requisite warning: The going recommendation is that you do this is in small steps, prototyping ideas, not trashing your reliable income sources for pie in the sky dreams with no proof of concept.

[Scott 2]

Earning more comes down to specialization and leverage. If you're trying to work harder/longer or add hustles, you're probably taking a weak mediumn to long term strategy.

I like how Naval breaks it down:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TZqOsVCNM

https://www.navalmanack.com/?origin=serp_auto


If you don't want to change as a person, yeah you can hustle. Pick up overtime, churn some credit cards, flip merchandise, etc. Return on investment absolutely sucks in comparison though. You're doing that stuff because it feels productive.


Leverage > Reducing Expenses > Hustling

[RogueCipher]

Earning more comes down to specialization and leverage. If you're trying to work harder/longer or add hustles, you're probably taking a weak mediumn to long term strategy.

I like how Naval breaks it down:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TZqOsVCNM

https://www.navalmanack.com/?origin=serp_auto


If you don't want to change as a person, yeah you can hustle. Pick up overtime, churn some credit cards, flip merchandise, etc. Return on investment absolutely sucks in comparison though. You're doing that stuff because it feels productive.


Leverage > Reducing Expenses > Hustling

Thanks for the links. Looking forward to listening it.

[plow_2]

Budgets are sexy has alot of great side job ideas

https://budgetsaresexy.com/ways-to-make-money/

[jesmine]

Budgets are sexy has alot of great side job ideas

https://budgetsaresexy.com/ways-to-make-money/

Making more money (cash flow) is the topic at hand. Here's the rain on the parade: ERE is all about learning how to build capital of all kinds (capital appreciation). Applied to real estate but applicable to the rest of life, cash flow(making more money) won't make you as wealthy. Cash flow positive is concrete foundationally. But for God's sake it's only the first step to building a house, much less making a home.

[BTRIND]

I don't know your full situation, but I am willing to bet the simplest solution is a radical re-evaluation of your lifestyle.
If 60% of your income is going just to paying down personal loans, I think its safe to say that you were living far above your means for a long time.
The bill for that is now due.

I see the need to be conscious about how I spend, as a first step. As for my situation, I quit my job to start a business just before COVID and took a full 18 months before landing another job, since I couldn't make my business work. I funded my family expenses during that period through personal loans. I tend to spend almost all I have but generally don't live above my means. Need to work on reducing the paydown period so I can get out of all debt and invest that money.

[BTRIND]

I'd prefer to earn it in a job I like, for example. Examples from the book include not getting crushed by overspecialization, and a whole chapter on economic degrees of freedom.

Ha, I see. I no longer think in terms of doing what I like, but more of liking what I get to do. I do like the idea of being able to do a multitude of tasks than being a super specialist in one area. As for my job, the irony is that I work for a bank and pay 60% of my salary to banks as EMI on personal loan

[BTRIND]

The going recommendation is that you do this is in small steps, prototyping ideas, not trashing your reliable income sources for pie in the sky dreams with no proof of concept.

Its funny you should say that. That is exactly what I did by quitting a reliable income source for a "scalable" business that will make me more money than what I was earning

[BTRIND]

Leverage > Reducing Expenses > Hustling

thank you for the links. Looks like 3 1/2 hours of good advice. Will listen to it.