Experiments with other income streams

Given the fact the US markets were at all time high only recently, I have not been actively investing in stocks in recent times. Still reading and occasionally research on potential stocks.

My passive income stream is still intact – mainly coming from Stock dividends and interests from P2P loans & Invoice financing.

However, I must say my year to date experiment with P2P loans have been bittersweet and not at all smooth sailing. I do not consider it a success (as with most of my initial endeavors). A single (or couple of) defaults would eliminate all the profits/interests which I have earned so far.

Nevertheless, I have been thinking of ways of finding other income streams. Although with not much success.

Put it this way, if you have some passive income every month, be it a few dollars or a few hundred or maybe more…. you have a couple of options:

Invest the income (to generate more passive income)… well, I still feel that now is not a good time to actively purchase stocks…
Spend it.
Donate it.
Save it.
Or use some of the income to try something new, a new endeavor to generate more income and for self-development (What have you got to lose?).

Sure, it is a good feeling to achieve financial independence. Eg. Having enough income to pay your living expenses for the rest of your life without having to work full time. However, it is also dangerous to be too complacent about it.

To be frank, at the moment I find that in terms of income (be it active or passive), I am quite comfortable. Typically the monthly passive income I obtained (I divide the annual amount by the no. of months per year) is sufficient to cover most of my monthly expenses.

“If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” Henry Ford

Typically as a full-time employee, my main source of income is my monthly salary. If we are to relate income to water/streams — my primary income which is my monthly salary is like a great river (at the moment). However, I am trying to find ways to create multiple mini tributaries via other ways to generate income. One day, ultimately the river will dry up (when we stop working). Hopefully, by then these mini tributaries can generate enough cash to make up some or if not most of what was originally from the main river (monthly salary).

Well, I have tried online paid surveys (click here and here). After 1 or 2 weeks of trying (typically during my spare time eg. waiting for bus / MRT, stuck in boring meetings, etc), I made a grand total of SGD 22 (Consisting of an SGD 20 NTUC voucher and SGD 2 cash). This method is definitely not scalable and is extremely time consuming. I do not really consider it as passive income. Well, I only do it when I am really bored (and normally when there is free WIFI if I am using my smartphone).
Online selling. So I have been spending time researching this. I personally think that it is a lot of time and effort and have read a lot of bad reviews stating that this online selling business is a waste of time/money. However, if you take it as a long term investment (and take things slow) to learn something, it might turn out to be a worthwhile passive income stream. No harm reading and trying something new (when you are free). Well, I have yet to successfully sell anything. Nevertheless, it was interesting getting a few samples and testing out … who knows.
Creating and Selling Ebooks. Well, there are a couple of websites that allow you to create ebooks to sell. If you have a flair for writing – it is worth a try.

Personally speaking, I don’t assume “passive income” as something that is totally without effort. I think you have to put in effort upfront, often a lot of it (and on many occasions, things don’t work out the way you want it to be).

Well, if you have hope that this blog post is about success stories in achieving lots of passive income — sorry to disappoint you.

Even when it comes to stock investing or investing in loans… you need to do a certain amount of research before clicking the buy button. You really need to convince yourself first (that it is a great company and the price is right). There is a saying:”You make money when you buy not when you sell”.

Having said that, whatever I do, I still made sure I give my best to my full-time job. After all, it is still the biggest income stream for me.