“Passive income is not just about money. It’s about freedom”
— Robert Kiyosaki
On my last day of work, I felt amazing!
After 10 years, I left knowing that I had replaced my living expenses with passive income.
At the time, I only needed about $6,000 a month to do that.
That wasn’t exactly my $200,000 income, but it was enough to get started.
Today, we’re going to answer a few questions:
What is passive investing?
Why is it important to start right now?
How do you actually get started?
Let’s get into it!
1. What is Passive Investing?
Passive investing has become a trendy phrase.
But a lot of times people will say something is passive and it’s not really passive.
Passive income is when you invest in something and then take your hands off.
After that, the money starts to come back.
You’re getting mailbox money.
That also happens to be the name of my podcast!
We talk about these topics on the Mailbox Money Show with a bunch of awesome guests.
We’ve discussed accessing amazing deals, the positives of passive income, and why it’s more important than active income.
Passive income is when your money works for you.
Warren Buffett famously said: “Unless you learn how to make money while you sleep, you’ll work until you die.”
Now, I’m not opposed to working hard.
Buffet himself is 94 and still working.
He’s also talked about tap dancing to work (and even wrote a book about it!).
He enjoys what he does, and that makes a huge difference.
According to a recent study by The Conference Board, only between 60% to 65% of American workers are satisfied with their jobs.1
The rest, it’s safe to say, are not engaged and would love to do something different.
Doing something you enjoy can feel incredible!
Passive income includes other benefits as well.
If you have a family emergency, you can take time off whenever you need to.
You could travel at any time and have location freedom.
In short, with passive income, you have more choices.
2. Why is Passive Income More Important than Active Income?
Let’s talk about the current economic climate and why it’s important to have passive income.
And by “talk” I mean go over some stats.
I think they say a lot.
In a 2019 survey, 48% of employed Americans consider themselves workaholics.2
As Americans, we work more than just about any other country in the world, with few exceptions.
Most of us take 13 days off a year, including sick time.
In Italy, the average person takes 42 work days off a year.
That’s about 4x more.
This might be why, according to an MHR poll, 70% of Americans have experienced burnout.3
Burnout can come from many sources, such as being overworked and undervalued.
In this same regard, 50% of Americans work in their free time to meet their work demands, according to this study by RAND.4
A survey by Staffing Industry Analysts found that 34% of workers want to leave their current job.5
If you can relate to any of that, passive investing might be for you.
Active income can work for some people, but there are clear downsides.
Passive income takes the stress out of a traditional workplace and provides many additional benefits.
3. Benefits of Passive Income
Like I said before, when you invest in passive income, your money works for you.
If you want to work for all of the money you earn, that’s great!
But what happens if you can’t work or don’t want to work?
I have a friend who wanted to leave her job because she was being treated pretty terribly.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to go through with it.
She only had around two months-worth of savings.
That wasn’t nearly enough to get her through job hunting or even finding investments.
Her story isn’t uncommon.
She’s stuck in a job she hates until she has the resources to quit.
Building up your passive portfolio could help in a situation like this.
Sure, it gives you more time freedom and flexibility, but it also gives you the freedom to leave crappy jobs.
You can leave that situation and be okay.
When you have resources available, you can also give to causes you believe in.
There are people who use money to get money.
I like to use money to help people.
There’s a book called The Go-Giver by Bob Berg.
It’s an amazing book that talks about the principle of using wealth to help others grow.
You do this by helping with tangible needs they have.
I love being able to do that.
When it comes to past investing, the best time to start is now
There’s a Chinese proverb that says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
I hope you take that to heart and are ready to start your passive investing journey!
When you do it, you’re truly investing in yourself.
Now I want to hear from you!
How are you going to start investing in passive deals?
Let us know in the comments.
Before you leave, make sure to check out our special report about inflation investing. It shares the best choices to invest during an inflationary environment.
If you are interested in investing with us, we are happy to answer any questions that you may have. Join our investment club today and we will be in touch.
Check out my bestselling book on Amazon!
Disclaimer: I am not your investment advisor. This is for educational purposes only. I am not giving specific advice on what you can do. I am simply giving my opinions.
Works Cited
1. “Workers Who Jumped Ship during COVID Are Now Regretting It.” The Conference Board, May 6, 2024. https://www.conference-board.org/press/job-satisfaction-2024.
2. Metcalf, Joy. “Are You a Workaholic?” ATD Home, January 31, 2020. https://www.td.org/content/td-magazine/are-you-a-workaholic.
3. Pallera, Sean. “Burnout Statistics in the Workplace.” Hubstaff Blog, July 26, 2024. https://hubstaff.com/blog/burnout-statistics-workplace/.
4. “American Working Conditions Survey | Rand.” RAND. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/american-working-conditions.html.
5. “More than a Quarter of Workers May Quit Their Jobs This Year.” Staffing Industry Analysts, July 26, 2024. https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/global-daily-news/more-than-a-quarter-of-workers-may-quit-their-jobs-this-year.
