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Grow Your Income

How can I increase my income?

Whether you make thousands or millions annually, one desire for almost everyone is that you would like to grow your income. There are an infinite number of ways that you could start making more money. Some money-making methods do not even require you to do anything or require minimal effort! This article will help you understand what some of those options are and how you can get started right now.

Here a few options right off the bat:

  • Get paid to take online surveys –  Swag BucksSurvey Junkie and Inbox Dollars
  • If you are knowledgeable in a field such as law, taxes, medicine, information technology, or other areas you can make money by answering professional questions –  Just Answer
  • Have you spent any time on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter? It is more than likely that you have spent too much time on them. But you can use all that time to your advantage by doing social media marketing for businesses.
  • Not into social media? What about video games, cooking, exercising, etc.? If you are good enough at something, you can create tutorials so that people can learn from you. Views or ads that are on your channel produce revenue. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are youtubers. – YouTube or Twitch
  • Turn your house into a vacation rental with Airbnb

How can I grow my income in 2020?

According to Jim Wang’s article, “7 income streams of millionaires: an open discussion of passive income,” he provides a simple key to accumulating wealth: Sell your time for money; Spend less than you earn; and Invest your savings so it will grow without your active intervention. With this basic understanding of how to accumulate wealth you can begin implementing this key to find creative ways to increase your income.

For those of you who are not at the “top of the food chain” in your company, there is room to grow. Although it may seem like you are far from that next pay raise, it is closer to your reach than you think. One way to make that happen is to simply ask for a raise. Show the value that you bring to the table to your boss and request that you be compensated for your work. If you do not have the qualifications then go get the extra education needed to increase your value at the company. In the long run, this will be much easier than picking up other secondary jobs.

Do you have an attic or extra room full of stuff that you are dreading to go through? It is very possible that there are boxes of money in there that you are forgetting about. No, not actual money, but stuff that you could sell to make money. Garage or yard sales can be a pain, but with the internet you can use online retailers like Amazon, OfferUp and Craigslist. You would be surprised what people are willing to spend for your “junk.” What better way to clean out the house and make a little money while you are at it?

Can you start a side business?

Another option is to start a small business or side hustle. When I was a teenager, I was fairly involved in my community through church. Many of my neighbors knew me to be trustworthy and responsible. They would ask me to help them with a few things from babysitting their kids to mowing their lawns. I wouldn’t say I was “raking it in” or anything, but the small cash on the side was nice to go towards my spending or savings. Similarly, you can earn extra funds by doing something you are already good at or want to try. Generally, you don’t have to invest a lot of money into these things and they should produce that extra revenue needed to pay the bills, spend as needed, or save for later. If you would like to know more about this you can find additional information at https://molentax.com/starting-a-side-business/.

Eventually you will have that extra revenue to put off to the side for retirement and you will want to start investing it. Not all investments will grow your income immediately rather are more long-term. Some investments will give you that extra income in small payments over time. Real estate investing is one of those types that will produce income consistently over time rather than when you retire. You can either purchase property to receive rent from or you can invest in a crowd-investment or Real Estate Investment Fund (REIT) on the stock market. Another investment to receive income over time is in dividend stocks (https://molentax.com/why-are-reinvested-dividends-taxable/). This income is passive, and once you invest the funds up front, you will get back some extra money each year depending on how many shares of that stock you purchased.

How can I be a millionaire?

Everybody wants to be a millionaire. However, if we don’t let our income grow and we spend it just as fast as we earn it, then it won’t really matter how much money we have. What we really want is to become financially independent. Financial independence is when you have enough income to pay your own living expenses for the rest of your life without having to be employed or dependent on others. Income earned without having to work a job is commonly referred to as passive income. Reaching financial independence leads to becoming a millionaire.

What are the 7 streams of income?

  1. Earned Income – Earned Income is the money that you earn by doing something or by spending your time e.g. the money that you make in your job, the salary you get by working for someone else, or a side job.

The remainder of these streams of income are usually common types of passive income:

  1. Interest Income – from a variety of loans, either to individuals (peer to peer lending or private notes) or companies (bonds, notes)
  2. Dividend Income – from investments, partnerships
  3. Rental Income – from real estate
  4. Capital Gains – from the sale of investments
  5. Royalty Income – from products you sell or license
  6. Business or Profit Income – which may or may not be passive, but the idea is you build something that generates income without active work, like a website or the sale of information products

What is a good income?

In the accounting world your net income is equal to your revenue minus expenses. In layman’s terms: You make more than you spend. This simple, but factual advice can be a game changer for anyone who applies it. The most common pitfall of individuals who cannot seem to get ahead financially, no matter their income, is if they have more money, then their money problems will go away. However, this is only true if you let your income grow. When you live life the same way whether you make 50,000 a year or 200,000 a year you will be able to see how much more income you really have. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that if you make more then you must spend more! By applying this principle you can now focus on how much income you will earn to become a millionaire or “filthy rich.”

How do I become filthy rich?

Looking at a chart below shows us the earned income of the richest people in the world based on 2017 data. Depending on your definition of “filthy rich” you can decide where you need to be at.

GROUP EARNING THRESHOLD % SHARE OF TOTAL WAGES
Top 0.1% of Earners $2,757,000 5.2%
Top 1% of Earners $718,766 13.4%
Top 5% of Earners $299,810 28.0%
Top 10% of Earners $118,400 39.1%

Simply put, if you want to be filthy rich, you need to stop working for your money and let your money work for you. All four of these groups have most of their income coming from passive income sources. Start by setting a goal for where you realistically want to be on this chart and then go for it!

Hunter Lewis

Tax Advisor

References:

https://wallethacks.com/7-income-sources-streams-of-millionaires/

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