Passive income opportunities

This post is a bit of dummy spit from me. Not a nice start, I apologise for that. I get very annoyed by the main stream financial advice available in personal finances magazine or even on TV. The main advice you get from the experts is to cur your expenses,save your money, put it into your superannuation, or 401K if you are in the USA and have an emergency fund.

Whilst they are not wrong I believe they are missing the point. Think about the following scenario:

A family of 4 with two children children and both working parents. They earn the average family income of about $80 000. They are trying to save as much as possible to go on holidays, to build an emergency fund or to save for the children's college fund. Nevertheless with the increase in the cost of living they are finding hard to find ways to save more.

As the interest rates keep on going up, in Australia anyway, they continually struggle to pay for all the bills on time and afford the mortgage payment and they are doing all that they can to keep their house.

As mentioned above thy have already cur their expenses as much as possible. So what now?

Their income barely meets their expenses and they have already cut as many expenses as they can. So the advice they get from the main stream media is not achievable. One of the parents can find a weekend job but the pay will not make much difference.

In this case they need to make more money, Not through extra employment or short term solutions. they need a long term solution to increase their income so they can achieve their financial dreams.

The answer is in passive income. Passive income is income earned without someone having to work for it. Once the passive income stream is setup all you need to do is sit back and watch the money come in.

It is not very easy to acquire passive income, that is why not many people have passive income sources. Nevertheless with the right education, time and persistence, anyone can have a few sources of passive income that bring in a few hundred dollars, or even thousands every month.

The first step towards having passive income is learning about it. The following articles will give you an introduction of what passive income is and how to setup different streams of passive income:

• Basic Accounting Principles - The start to financial 
  
• Generating Passive Income
  
• How to turn income into wealth.
  
• Top ten money tips to become debt free

• How to get rich. How do you generate passive income?

• First step towards financial freedom – create your personal financial statement

Technorati Tags: personal finances,passive income,financial independence

Top 20 Personal Finance Tips

If you are like me, you have never had any formal training on managing personal finances. You may have read books and researched the topic on the internet, however you probably don’t have any formal training on the subject.
It amazes ma that personal finances is not included in our school curriculum. It is such an important part of our lives however, our education system does not address.
It is time that we all take control of our personal finances, learn about the topic and take control of our personal finances. Following are 20 tips to give you a head start on the topic.

1 – Pay yourself first. Try to save a fixed percentage of your income every time you get paid. Don’t leave the cash in your day-to-day savings account because you will probably end up spending it. Transfer the money to a different account in order to increase the chances of actually saving it.

2 – Spend less than you earn. This is basic in personal finances. You need to take control of your cash flow and ensure that you spend less than what you earn. Make sure you don’t use your credit card to improve your cash flow, this is a common mistake.

Financial Independence Compilation

Welcome to the July 11, 2010 edition of financial independence. This week, Your Financial Independence is highlighting 2 recent posts. Please do take the time to review them and post your feedback. Thank you to all contributors. Your financial independence articles Some good advice on money matters. This article offers a few important advices to help you on your financial journey. Managing your cash flow to pay off debt. Debt is one of the biggest problems in our modern society. Young generations are growing up accustomed to debt, as if it is a normal part of life. Bad debt can affect individuals and families to the point of bankruptcy. This article offers a few advices on how to manage your cash flow to pay off bad debt. Weekly compilation Valery Zelixon presents Logistics is key for international business success posted at Supply Chain Notebook, saying, "great overview from a purchasing pro about selecting overseas suppliers." Valery Zelixon presents Supplier selection process part 1 - - how to select global supplier for your business posted at Supply Chain Notebook, saying, "great overview from a purchasing pro about selecting overseas suppliers." Silicon Valley Blogger presents Want To Day Trade? Try Paper Trading First posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Lots of new investors jump into stock trading without enough experience and training. They lose their shirts in the process. But before you try this out, why not do virtual trading with play money and find out if this is right for you? You may find that you aren't cut out to trade and can save yourself a bundle!" Ryan @ MFN presents Improve Your Credit Score Quickly posted at The Military Wallet, saying, "These tips will show you how your credit score is determined and give you methods for improving your credit score quickly." Tim Chen presents 5 Reasons To Avoid Amex Blue Cash posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "The Amex Blue Cash is a card that everyone loves to love, with it's enticing promise of 5% cash back. But there is a catch! So make sure you understand the fine print before you sign on the dotted line." Hussein Sumar presents Three Reasons Why You Should Sell a Dividend Stock posted at Dividend Stocks, saying, "If investors buy high yielding dividend stocks in an effort to generate income in the form of streams of dividend payments, but the company one day decides to reduce or cut its dividend altogether, then for those investors, there will be no point of holding that stock. This will put selling pressure on the stock and downward price movement. Here's an example of a dividend cut by General Electric." Corinne Reidy presents 52 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers posted at OnlineUniversities.com. MoneySecretRecipe presents Your 2 Top Options For Success If You Want To Make Money Online posted at MoneySecretRecipe. Jessica Bosari presents A look at the Big Four…Where Can You Get the Cheapest Cell Phone Plan? | billeater.com posted at Billeater, saying, "Who has the cheapest cell phone plan?" OmarAdams presents 12 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Serious Bargain Shoppers posted at Online Accounting Degree, saying, "These apps also allow you to save your time while getting the best price, so now you do not have to trade in your time to save cash. Get great deals on a tight schedule with the following iPhone apps for bargain shoppers." MoneySecretRecipe presents Do something that you have passion ... money and success will follow .. posted at MoneySecretRecipe. Carlos Sera presents A Competitive Tale; Financial Tales posted at Financial Tales, saying, "In every new client relationship the conversation always turns to how will the advisor be compensated? Periodically I am asked why I or others don’t charge clients based on the profits that we generate. When they ask me this question I always ask them to choose between two colors. I ask them which is their favorite black or red. When they look at me quizzically" CreditShout presents Beware of Joint Credit Card Accounts posted at CreditShout. Joel Ohman presents How to Find Cheap Car Insurance posted at Car Insurance Comparison, saying, "You don't have to be a Scrooge but there are still some quick tips to finding cheap car insurance!" Sam presents New !! Your IRA Retirement Savings Plan. Details for Tax-Free Savings posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, "Thanks for including my article. Here's an excerpt... Almost anyone can set up an IRA and start saving for retirement. Retirement can be the best time of your life if you have enough money to enjoy it. Plan ahead. Avoid coming up short when you retire. 1. What is an Individual Retirement Account, IRA? 2. How Much Money Will You Need to Retire? 3. Three Steps to Set Up Your IRA Retirement Plan 4. There are Three Types of Individual Retirement Accounts, IRAs 5. How Much Can You Contribute to an IRA Retirement Plan? 6. How Much of My IRA Contribution Can I Deduct? 7. Making Withdrawals from Your Regular IRA Retirement Plan 8. How to Avoid the Penalty for Early Withdrawal From an IRA Retirement Plan 9. The Regular IRA Retirement Plan Has an Penalty for Under-Withdrawing 10. Use an IRA Retirement Account for Estate Planning" DepositAccounts presents 10 Mistakes People Make with Their Bank Accounts posted at Deposit Accounts. Patty Pedersen presents Sector Funds: Best, Worst, and Mid-Year 2010 Stock Market Outlook posted at AlphaProfit MoneyMatters - Investing Blog, saying, "As we cross the year's midpoint, investor's are focused on flat or worsening employment situation in the U. S., strained fiscal situation in Europe, and slowing growth in emerging markets. Yet, some sectors have been able to provide gains even in this crummy market. This article provides insights on whether momentum plays from the first half can continue to be top performers in the second or whether it is time for laggards to take charge." OmarAdams presents Broke Billionaires: 12 High-Profile Modern Tales of Riches to Rags posted at Online Accounting Degree, saying, "You might assume that being a billionaire equates to an easy life of no money problems, but for many high-profile people, this is certainly not the case. It is tough for most people to lose a job or a home worth thousands, but imagine losing millions or even billions of dollars in the blink of an eye." Roshawn Watson presents The Phony Rich posted at Watson Inc, saying, "The exotic cars, the homes, the private planes, chauffeurs, the celebrity hot spots, and nightly $300-plus per person dinners, etc. all encompass our vision of wealth. If this lifestyle is your aspiration, then there is a secret that you should know" BWL presents How To Avoid Taking Out Student Loans posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "Graduating debt-free is possible, but you’re going to have to rethink everything in order to make that happen..." Linda@NHE presents How To Find A Natural Health Insurance Plan posted at Natural Health Ezine, saying, "Find the best health insurance plan that will suit your needs for natural and alternative treatments." Arjun Rudra presents Correlation of mortgage rates with real housing prices: How increasing inflation could affect housing prices posted at Investing Thesis. The Dough Roller presents How To Get Your Private Pilot’s License (And How Much It Costs) posted at The Dough Roller, saying, "Flying high can cost you a pretty penny." MoneySecretRecipe presents How to Avoid Mistakes Made by 95% of NEWBIES INTERNET MARKETERS posted at MoneySecretRecipe. BIFS presents Maintaining Motivation on a Big Financial Goal «Budgeting In the Fun Stuff posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff, saying, "Great post about ways to keep your eyes on the prize." Dividist presents Investors Love Divided Government - Perception is Reality posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, "No studies unequivocally show a statistically significant correlation between longer term market direction and Republican, Democratic, or divided governments. But in the short term it is less important whether there really is a correlation so much as whether investors believe there is a correlation. Most investors believe the stock market will benefit from Republicans taking control of either the House or Senate in the fall. With that expectation, a rising market could very well be a self-fulfilling prophecy." Alexander presents Dividend Income Strategy posted at Dividend Stocks, saying, "When you invest in dividend-paying stocks or mutual funds, you will receive periodic dividend income." Claudia Gonella presents Is now a good time to buy Panama Apartments? posted at Real estate investing in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belize. MoneySecretRecipe presents Top 4 Ways For Stay-At-Home-Mom Who Want To Make Money Online posted at MoneySecretRecipe. That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of financial independence using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

The path to financial independence

If you are like me, you would like to one day be financially independent. That is a very difficult goal that only very few people are able to achieve.

The following wikipedia page has a very good definition of what it means to be financially independent. Check it out, it is worth the reading (come back here once you are done!): Definition of financial independence

This topic can keep you busy for the rest of your life. The aim of this blog is to give you a very high level summary of the various advices you can find on the web.

It is not meant to be an exhaustive and complete list, it is just a  starting point to the process of achieving financial independence.

Become financially literate

This is an absolute must. You need to have at least a basic understanding of how to manage your money.

Robert Kiosaki is always emphasizing financial education in his books. He says that cash flow is the key, so understanding how much money comes in and how much money goes out is the beggining to understanding your finances and to set yourself up to be financially secure. There is much more to financial education than just understanding cash flow.

I will blog some definitions and practical applications in the near future.

Have a financial goal.

Set yourself a goal and stick to it. Put in your mind that you can achieve anything that you want and work hard towards achieving your goal.

Write down the goal, memorise it, think about it, motivate yourself to always act towards achieving your financial goal.

An important word of warning, don't become a slave of your goal, the goal can change as your circumstances change. Your are the master of the goal, not the other way around. 

Build yourself several different sources of income

The key from this point is not to put all of your eggs in one basket, but to diversify. If one of your sources of income is not doing very well, you have other sources of income that are doing well.

Just off the top of my head I can think of the following streams of income: real estate, shares, online, allifilate marketing, ebay shops, income from online activities, tutoring (if you are tutoring is not passive income but it can help you).

Robert G. Allen has written a very good book about this topic. Refer to Multiple Streams of Income for more information about it.

Keep yourself motivated 

The path is not easy, if it was everybody would be financially independent. The point is that it is achievable with a lot of work and determination. And you should start now. Start small and keep motivated. 

Set yourself a goal and start working towards it. Take action as soon as possible, a small step is all that will take to start the journey to becoming financially independent.