How to Generate Income and Make a Living Without Working 40 Hours a Week
90How to Get Out of the 40 Hour Per Week Grind
Is it possible to generate enough income to live well without working and suffering through the grind of forty hours per week at a job? Absolutely, but it's not easy. If this is something you want to do, you need to be disciplined and diligent. You also need to be willing to spend time researching and learning about your options.
There are really two sides to this equation. First, there's the 'making a living' side. This involves managing and controlling your living expenses. By keeping your living expenses low, you won't need to generate as much income to support yourself. The second side of the equation is how much income you have. Within this, there are two ways to generate income. First, you can go for passive income from investments. Second, you can set up a business that will generate income without working forty hours per week.
This article will touch on both the income and expense sides of the equation to help you generate a plan to quit your forty hour per week job sooner than you might think.
- What is Financial Planning: A Step-by-Step Guide to ...
What is financial planning? This comprehensive article will not only help you understand what financial planning is but will also help you get your financial life in order.
Managing Your Expenses
For the average person, managing living expenses is the best way to quit your forty hour per week job. Think about it...if your living expenses are low then you don't need to generate as much passive income or work as many hours to pay those expenses.
The first order of business should be to see where you stand financially right now. You can do this by pulling together cash flow and net worth statements. For more detailed information on how to do this, please read the article to the right about financial planning. The basic premise though is to determine whether or not your monthly income is greater than your monthly expenses and to determine how much money you have (your net worth) that you could put to work generating income.
If you find that you have a surplus of money at the end of the month, you should use that money to pay down any debts you have outside of your mortgage payment, if you own a home. This will obviously lower your monthly expenses because you'll no longer be obligated to make that payment every month.
At the same time, you should analyze your spending patterns to see if there are any cuts you can make to further increase your monthly surplus. The expenses where you'll see the most impact to your bottom line are the largest, which are usually your rent or mortgage, your car, and possibly food. Take a hard look at these expenditures and decide how drastically you're willing to change to meet your financial goals. Would you be willing to downsize to a smaller house or move to a less expensive apartment or rental? Would you be willing to take in a renter if you own your own home? Would you sell your current car and buy one that's less expensive? Would you switch to public transportation? Would you cook at home from scratch and eat out much less?
After examining these expenses, look at the smaller ones. There may be opportunities to save money here as well. You might have a habit that eats up a lot of cash like smoking or buying books and magazines. Or maybe you have an expensive hobby that you wouldn't miss or could replace with something less expensive. Can you cut your land phone line and just use your cell phone? Do you need cable television? Can you use the library instead of buying books? Can you quit smoking?
Now that you've taken a hard look at your expenses, have generated a surplus each month, and have paid down your debts, it's time to figure out how much your total living expenses would be after you quit your job. Your expenses will most likely go down since you'll no longer have commuting, clothing, and other work related expenses. Keep this number in mind as you now look at the income side of the equation.
- Investing for Income: How to Buy Treasury Bonds
Treasury bonds are one of the safest investments around yet many people don't understand them or know where to purchase them. This article will provide details on what a Treasury bond is, and how to invest in them. - Investing for Income: How to Buy Municipal Bonds
If you're looking to avoid the volatility of the stock market and reap tax free returns, you should consider investing in municipal bonds. Read on to learn all about these relatively safe investments. - Investing for Income: How to Set Up a Dividend Stock...
In today's interest rate environment, it's difficult to achieve a higher return than about 1%. Rather than relying on low rates, investors can purchase the dividend stocks of large, stable companies and achieve returns of 7-8%.
Generating Passive Income
In order to generate passive income, you need to have money to invest. Now that you've cut your living expenses and debts and have a surplus of funds at the end of the month, you should be in a position to invest that extra money. In addition, you should have completed a net worth statement. If you have a positive net worth, this capital could potentially be put into income producing investments as well.
Starting with your net worth, if you have cash sitting in a savings account earning little or no interest, this is money that can be put to better use generating income. Just be sure to keep 6-12 months of living expenses (which should be really low at this point!) in that savings account for emergencies. If you have home equity that's a large part of your positive net worth, that money can be accessed if you're willing to sell your home. Depending on the amount of equity, you could be in a position to sell the house and either purchase a different, less expensive house for cash or you could sell and decide to rent a place with a small monthly outlay, using the equity to invest. Either way, you'll be putting this home equity to good use.
Now, moving on to your monthly surplus. This money should be used first to build up your 6-12 month emergency fund if you don't already have one. Then, it can be used for investments. The types of investments that generate income are bonds, including Treasuries, Municipal bonds, and corporate bonds, as well as dividend paying stocks and annuities. Each of these can be considered for your investments. In fact, I'd advocate having a little of each to reduce your risk and increase your yield.
When you purchase a bond, you're really just lending someone money. In exchange, you'll receive periodic interest payments. Treasury bonds are the safest of these since they're backed by the United States government. In addition, you can purchase them paying no commissions or fees directly from the government using Treasury Direct. For more information, see the article above. Unfortunately, Treasuries are paying historically low interest rates at the time of this writing so it will be difficult to generate a lot of income from them, although your money would be very safe.
If you're looking to make a higher rate of return, you could consider investing in Municipal or Corporate bonds. If you invest in a municipal bond in your own state, you won't pay state or federal income taxes on it. This is a big plus in that this increases your real return. See the article above for more information on how to invest in municipal bonds.
Dividend paying stocks are another option for generating passive income. This is, however, a riskier option so it should be only a portion of your total income portfolio. The reason why it's riskier is that you could lose principal if the stock price declines. However, there are many stable stocks that pay dividends in the 3-5% range. Try looking at companies like utilities or telecommunications or large blue chips. For more information, see the article above on how to set up a dividend stock portfolio that returns 7%.
Finally, annuities are another option for generating income. An annuity is an insurance instrument that pays out a set amount of money each month, usually for life, when you invest a lump sum. The amount of the payout is determined by the amount you invest, your age, and other factors. There would obviously be great comfort in knowing exactly how much income you'd be getting each month but there are drawbacks to annuities. For one, you lose access to your principal. If you needed that lump sum for any reason, you wouldn't be able to get to it. Also, you're essentially placing a bet that you'll live long enough to collect more than the amount you invest.
- Early Retirement Extreme: Becoming debt-free is the first step to building a better world. Financial
- Millionaire Mommy Next Door — A self-made millionaire shares her recipe for success, happiness and f
A self-made millionaire shares her recipe for success, happiness and financial freedom.
Generating Income With a Small Business
Let's say that you've done everything above and you've managed to produce enough passive income to cover most of your living expenses but you still have a small shortfall each month. What can you do? There are many options for small businesses that will allow you to make some money while still have free time. One of these is writing online. Another is selling on eBay. You could also start a small local services company using skills you have such as tutoring, dog walking and grooming, or consulting/freelancing in your field.
Writing online via Hubpages or your own blog is one way to make extra money. It can, however, take some time to get established. It will also take quite a bit of work but at least you won't be working the forty hour grind.
Ebay sales are another way to make money online. The easiest way to do this is to sell a limited selection of products and automate the selling process. You can do this with selling software available to eBay sellers and even by using a drop shipping arrangement.
If you have a career that you enjoy but you just don't want to work it 40 hours a week, then why not consider becoming a consultant or freelancer? There are many fields that lend themselves to this arrangement including business, healthcare, and even law.
Putting it All Together
As you can see, quitting your nine-to-five job won't be easy. As I mentioned earlier, it will take some work up front but the reward for your planning, learning, and discipline will be huge. For inspiration, read the book, Your Money or Your Life (feel free to get it at the library to save money!) or see how other people did it by reading the Millionnaire Mommy Next Door or the Early Retirement Extreme blogs. It is possible to reach your goal!
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Hi Hound Cat - Thanks for reading and for the positive feedback. I completely agree with you about mutual funds. The fund managers are incented to beat their benchmark, not to achieve positive returns. If their benchmark loses 10% but the fund manager "only" loses 5%, they get their bonus. I don't feel good owning mutual funds because of this.
Fantastic and wonderful hub. Really motivates me to see what can be achieved with what I have and know. A very researched and well documented article. Fantastic and well written !!!!
Hi Laurens Wright - Thank you for the positive feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed this hub!
I own 26 dividend stocks. All have raised their dividends every year for at leaast 25 years. I retired at 58 and live off a small pension & the dividends from these 26 stocks. By-the-way, the dividen payments are more than the pension. These 26 stocks "as a group" raise their dividends between 5 & 9% per year. More when business is better & less when businees is poor, non-the-less, they manage to raise their dividends every year. 9 are DOW stocks, 8 are utiliies, and the rest are from the S&P500.
Hi Joe - That's awesome...I just started investing in Dividend stocks and now own 8. I'm finding I'm getting way better returns than mutual funds.
Great details in the article financial freedom is what each one of us should strive for, in a job your under someone else rules and their time with passive income or your own business you set your rules as well as the time is yours.
nice article post!!!! I feel that this investment has the possibility of being a real winner. thank you for sharing to us
I have been studying in Dentistry,and paying all of my educational and personal expenses. Believe me it is hugely expensive for me as I am not doing any professional work. My only income source is the freelancing thing. The good news is that, i am making it worthy enough to make stable financial condition.
Anyways thanks for your tips :)
Hi Reves-diary - Thanks for reading and good luck in your studies!
Hi SD Dickens, I'm fairly young and new to hubpages and I just want to say you hit on a lot of great ways to earn extra money. I have already started to list on eBay and plan on finding ways to cut cost. Thanks for the great hub!
Hi CookwareBliss - Good luck and thanks for reading!
Very useful one. Only recently I got inspired by another hubber on saving money and now your ideas on introducing passive income to the mainstream income flow would definitely help me in the bad times. I wish i had started earlier. Nice stuff here. Thanks for sharing with us.
Great hub! I quit smoking and it saved us so much money! I loved your ideas and you explained them so easily,for us that know nothing about investing. Thankyou great hub voted up!
Hi Rusti-Thanks for reading and for the positive feedback! Congrats on quitting smoking!
Interesting hub. We cut our expenses down to what we could, and have tried to live self sufficiently for a couple years. Both myself,and my husband are self employed, and we work when we want to. Thanks for all the great info.
A very interesting hub, very useful information. Thank you for sharing.
It definitely takes a little while for these things to get comfortably built up to a good and liveable wage that can keep up with some of the rising costs.
Hi Mikeydcarroll - Agree...this is not a get rich quick scheme. Building wealth and passive income takes time and patience.
What is tough is to be discipline with our expenses. Without this, we may have less to invest and hence may not realise any additional income.
This article is great food for thought. Do I have the patience and discipline to do it? Time will tell.
Seafood Gumbo
It has been my goal to have my own business and quit a 40 hour job. I just needed some information on how to get started. Now I have stumbled on this hub of yours, read it from the beginning 'till end, it really helped me and answer some of my questions. I think all I have to do now is take action.
Thanks a lot!
SD Dickens,
Wow! Great infor. I love how you explain money issues without reading like a dry, financial book. I would rather practice bleeding that deal with numbers--- just not the side of my brain that works so well. Your writing appealed to the portion of my cranium made for simplistic input. I am new to hubpages and am so looking forward to reading more of your work.
When I make it big buying stocks with dividends and sailing to an exotic island, I will credit your writing. (Of course, I probably won't send you money... though I might!)
All the best,
Johnny
Thanks Johnny - Glad to appeal to the right portion of your cranium! Good luck with the stock buying and sailing!
Hi Dickens,
Very useful advice indeed; But one has to be very serious about doing this then only he would succeed. In fact one has to be very serious about any aim in life in order to succeed. Well written.
These are great ideas for reducing expenses. It is amazing how much can be saved in net income by reducing overhead. We took out a 15 year mortgage (23 years ago) and paying that small bit extra in the payment took 15 years off our debt. I was able to retire early from a stressful corporate job. It also saved us from going under when he was laid off and out of work for 2 years.
I love the focus on investing for income! There are so many people who get growth tunnel vision and don't even consider other options. Great article!
I agree Vegas Elias - thanks for reading!
Hi PegCole17 - I love hearing stories like yours. Planning ahead can really make a difference! Congrats on your early retirement.
So true AboutInvesting! I used to be the same way until I realized how difficult it is to predict which stocks will grow. Then I started focusing on replacing my wages with investment income and reducing expenses. When the two meet, I'll be able to retire. It really changed my mind set.
Very thought provoking hub. I have been considering starting my own business soon. Your hub reinvigorated that drive. Very informative and interesting.
Great hub with great advice for those who don't want to work 40 hours a week. I have recently been considering starting my own business, and some of the information presented in this hub is very useful advice indeed.
I like reading articles like yours. You have covered most of what I have though about when considering making a passive income online.
A lot of people will push you to make a living online without having the backup of making yourself viable to other people who may hire you. I personally use web design as my freelance income stream.
Very well done!
Good article. But as already said, it takes more time, more commitment and more discipline to do to this type of goal than most people are willing to do. You did make me think about a few things i've ignored though.
Hi RetailRich - I guess that's why most of us are still working :) It can be done though...
Thank you for sharing this Hub. You've made me reconsider what I'm doing with my savings, and added to my motivation to one day work part time and spend that other time making money by doing something I really love.
Hi Ladeda - Thanks for reading! I wish you luck in your goals and am happy that I was able to give you new motivation.
This is a kind of article which attracts attention of any kind of person searching some funny stuff also.
Generating passive income is not an easy and once you do it ,you are on the top of world and do what you willing to do
Enjoyed reading this hub. Most of us really need advice on generating additional income.
Generating additional income is smart. Your suggestions were helpful. I'm planning my goals for the next 4-6 years and have decided to build a variety of income producing plans to help when I am ready to retire. I haven't yet begun selling on eBay, but I have had that on my list, as well. Work smarter-not harder...that's my goal.
I did my very first HUB today! 04/10/2012 And many to come.
You are 100% right, you must first get your expenses where you can manage them!
I started working on the "Make Money Online" and taking in some money with it is nice. It does work, if YOU put time and effort into it. "They" say you can make thousands of dollars in a week, well I am not doing that. I make a few hundred a MONTH. I look at as a side job, and not just for fun. I have 6 web sites online and working on #7 now. After you learn a few tricks, you can have a site up and running in just a few hours.
I am not good looking but I do have funny facial expressions!
Later Dave
http://www.makingonlinecommissions.com
Great hub and very motivating too! Generating income online is a great way to make money doing something you enjoy and while being creative too, especially in this economy, many people don't even have full time jobs. Voted up.
This is an excellent post. I have a debt reduction blog where I share similar content.
I also wanted to share about creating passive income using free sites like HubPages or even free blogs. It is a great way to start creating an source for passive income without a cost using your spare time. I taught myself how to do it, so I know anyone can achieve it.
Now, leaving to read your next hub.
;)
Great ideas here. I'm sure many people make a lot off their hubpages and squidoo accounts. I'm not one of them ;) but it's sure fun to write anyways. Loved your post here. Thanks for sharing!
Some good tips here. Solid grounding and all the great tips that are necessary to move ahead. Wonderful writing!
Please follow me when you get a chance - I have yet to publish as much as I would like, but check out my Live RobinCam - mother Robin & eggs: http://robincam.zapto.org
Thanks for sharing! Very inspiring!!
Well written article. Hoping to make passive income here at hubpages. Thanks for this hub. Very motivating.
Really good advice. Voted up!
good hub.I am an avrg person, so trying to manage my living expense.and also writting hubs.
interesting thoughts. As an entrepreneur myself, I like to go back every now and then and rehash some of this stuff just to stay motivated. Thanks for the awesome write up!
Great article. I recently lost my 9 to 5 stressful job and am working part-time, mostly from home. I love it! I have also lived frugally and plan to do anything I can to continue as I am! Thanks for the inspiration.
Very well done! Practical and realistic approaches I may say. Voted up!
That's awesome Victoria! I love to hear stories from people who are making it work.
Alisamc - Thanks for reading and for the positive feedback!
This has got me thinking. We all dream about not having a full-time job, but making it a reality is difficult. Thanks for all the great ideas that can make it possible!
Hey.. Modern Lady.. heck I work so much on 7 Domains, HubPages and alike I have a full time job, and I never leave the house. Well I do but you know what I mean. I can no longer work, the SSD is OK, but more is always better!!
www.alanmartstore.com here I come... work work! LOL and loving it!
Nice hub. Your plan is simple and follows the right steps to getting out of the normal J.O.B.. We all need to work on this plan anyways because during our retirement years we need to be prepared with a steady flow of income. It may come from building up residual income or from living off stock dividends. Any way you look at it, this plan is for everyone. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent hub , Lots of ideas , practical too !
great hub,its very useful to a starter
Superb hub! I'm presently in the process of transitioning from my 40 hour a week job to working independently from home. It does take a while, but it is all worth it. I'm always evaluating our expenses to see where we can cut cost to generate more income at the end of the month. Writing online is a wonderful way to generate a passive income. This too takes a lot of work, time and patience. But like you said, it is possible by being disciplined and diligent. Thank you!
Congratulation creativelycc on your transition to working at home! Thanks for reading and for the kind comments.
I've pretty much been thinking along the lines of what this hub is about except I don't have a job to quit. I have my business idea, but the thing I think I will take from this hub is some of your investment ideas.
A nice all-around article, gets a well-deserved Up vote.
Great insight! Thanks
Thank you for such an insightful and informative hub. I have both an online store as well as my ebay store and have done quite well. Although I do not have a 9-5 job, I work 8 hours every day maintaining my store as well as the ebaying. I'm working on my writing as well now and loving it. However, it is essential to keep my finances in check so I can eventually do a little investing soon. Thanks for the motivation SD! Voted up and shared :)
A lot of great advice. Most people are concerned about how and how much money can I make. You started correctly dealing with expenses (getting them down) and having a reserve fund. Those 2 issues are the hardest to get control of.
After you have control of expenses and a reserve fund you can think about income streams. Unlike a job where you have 1 pay check, the income may come a little here and a little there.
This is exactly how I am starting to view planning for retirement.
Thanks again for the great hub.
Very useful and interesting, the best of all very motivating. Great hub, voted up.
Interesting hub, thank you very much. I usually do lesser shopping as much as possible and try to save but still I need to work on cutting my expenses.
A great hub that should be essential reading for everyone! Have voted up!
Hi Bankscottage - I'm also viewing retirement planning this way. In the past I was only concerned with my savings but now I realize I'll need to save a lot less if I cut my expenses way back. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the positive comments Vellur!
Hi Talullah - Thanks for reading and for your comments!
I do think that cutting expenses is the most difficult part. Thanks for commenting Deeach!
Great piece of information. Glad you've shared this with us.
Thanks ;)
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. cheers!
SD, There were some very good ideas in here on generating passive income. I liked the idea on starting a small service business. Also, the cuts in spending were inspired. Thanks for being so thorougn. Solid information.
Lisa
I studied biochemistry but decided I didn´t wanted to be locked up in a lab all day long, the problem is that I find it really hard to make a living out of it now that I am not working full time in something related to it. Still, I am thinking of writing about interesting science related articles that could help in my hubbing career.
Awesome hub.informations & methods provided by u is really very beneficial & effective.Voted u up.thanks
My advice for people who think that having rentals is a piece of cake and always great income. NOT so true. I just lost a rental in a quick sale and because I had two rentals and the other one had two partys in a row that would not pay the rent or take care of the place. I had to have them evicted and that cost me, I cleaned the up and that cost me, alot of time and energy. The people that lived in them now walked out oweing us $10,000 and yes I had a property manager. It does not always work out like people say it should. Especially people who have never been a landlord! Yes, and we did a search on their background and their credit. Oh yes, another thing, I have realized that the Law is more on the renters side than the Landlords and that needs to be changed. People seem to legally live in the house without paying the rent at least 3-6 months before you can get them out of there and you have to pay the court and sheriff to serve them. Another thing that comes out of the Landlords pocket. Then if they owe you, you have to pay out of your pocket to take them to court. Then when there is a judgement, and they refuse to pay it, they can get away with not paying! We know it has happened to us. A few years ago we bought a nice house in the country, the septic tank had to be replaced as it was leaking a dye from the test that was run on it when they did their inspection. We went to court to make the peole pay for it that sold it to us that way. The judge ruled in our behalf that they pay us the money for a new septic. The man to this day has never paid a cent! So much for paying to go to court!
Great hub really looking at lowering our living expenses voted up!
As others have said, you have a way of sharing this information in a very engaging way. This is very much what myself and my husband are doing, except investments - its good to learn more about that side of things as another avenue to explore. Voted up and useful.
Hi Jasmith1,
Thanks for the postitive feedback and good luck to you and your husband!
SD Dickens
A friend of mine has used an investment in a gold mine to put a child through college and now it's providing him returns during a period of unemployment. He told me to look into it. I also have two property rentals. Both tenants are good but had trouble paying last year. Working at a temp agency is also a way to make extra $$$ to cover expenses and save up.
You're right, it does take discipline.
Hi Don - I never would have thought of investing in a gold mine...thanks for sharing!
It is a good hub for making extra income. If we could stick on these things, we could have earn more and more
Very useful and interesting! I am trying to find ways to make money without spending lots of time online being a sahm.
This article is worth to read. Very educational and informative. I am definately going to try these steps and I am guilty of spending money when it comes to eating out. Much love and respect
Wow, this is an awesome article :)
Hound Cat Level 2 Commenter 3 months ago
Your hub really got me thinking about some very important things. You mentioned a biggie when you stated that for many revenue producing vehicles, it pays to put in plenty of time for research. Getting established is another item that will take some legwork to getting you established on your money producing idea.
I really liked your idea of making direct investment in corporate and municipal bonds. I dread those popular investment vehicles known as "Mutual Funds." I feel that you are really not making investment with funds but are really just fooling yourself into a gambling scheme. The fund managers take a 1 to 2% cut right off the top of your "investment" every year even when your losses are massive. And these investments have no guarantee, so lots of your cash can be lost.
You mentioned real estate rental. I feel that this investment has the possibility of being a real winner. You don't even need to be a landlord because you can work with a property management company. Research again is needed to find yourself an excellent PM company. I am very pleased with the property managers working with me. Well written hub. Voted up.