Multiple Streams of Income: Live Your Best Life

I always heard that you're typically going to do what it is that you're surrounded by. If the people you surround yourself with have good habits, you're likely going to have good habits as well and vice versa.

In school, we are taught that the economic system is an unforgiving structure, and we should be fearful of making any mistakes. We weren't taught how to conquer the financial system. Immediately after graduating, we hit the ground running, looking to secure a job that will provide us with the income we need. We work our hardest and try to master the skills needed for this job in the hopes of getting a raise, and while we're working and paying our bills, life is going on. This cycle continues through our 20s, 30s, 40s, and into our 50s. The cycle of working, getting a paycheck, and paying our bills is fine, but there's another option.

With a deficit outlook, our sole focus is to find a job that we can financially survive on.

The goal with our finances should always be to thrive!

This conversation is framed around just that, how to thrive financially! Multiple streams of income can supplement the base income that we earn from our employers and should be something every family aspires to have. Just like in investments, we discuss diversification, not putting all your eggs in one basket. The same rule applies to our revenue. Think about if you've ever lost a job for any time-- without a backup-- because you've invested all of your knowledge into one job, the way your household functions has been disrupted, not only financially but in other ways as well.

How do you develop multiple streams of income?

Position yourself around individuals who have multiple streams of income. This is important because those who don't have multiple streams of income can't show you how to create them; it's practically impossible.

Develop the mindset for building multiple streams. When approaching this task, you must pivot your thinking from employee to entrepreneurship. Being an employee, you have a skill set and benefits that come along with it. When you turn off the employee cap and turn on the entrepreneur cap, it will allow you to think and plan out how to create multiple income streams.

Learn to build multiple streams of income while your main stream income is still coming in. When you create multiple streams of income, it helps relieve stress because you are not relying on only one stream of income.

Not having to participate in producing your income is financial freedom.

Let's talk about dividends! Dividend income is one way to create another stream of income. A dividend is no more than being a shareholder in either a private or public company. If you are a shareholder, then you will profit from the growth of that company. Once your dividends come in, they need to be reinvested. To reinvest your dividends you use the ones you are receiving to purchase more company shares, and doing so allows you to accumulate shares. To earn dividends, you must become a shareholder.

Another way of expanding your income is through interest. You can receive interest from lending money to someone. You have the option of lending money to the government or a public/private company; as you do this, you will start to collect interest on those loans. When this action has taken place, you become a "bond holder."

Of course, these strategies are not "get rich quick schemes." They're all about patience.

Rental income is when you receive money in exchange for the use or occupation of your property, and it can be gained actively or passively. Active income requires work on your end, so you would have to maintain property upkeep, taxes, and insurance as a landlord or property owner. On the passive end, you could trade your real estate in a 1031 Exchange for a real estate investment trust, which you would collect wages from monthly without putting any work into it.

The final form of income we will discuss today is subscription income. With subscription income or recurring revenue, you can charge a monthly or yearly recurring fee for access to a product or service.

Having multiple streams of income can easily be done with strategizing, so remember salary, dividend, interest, rental, and subscription income are various forms of income that you can create. Being financially stable comes with learning how to receive different forms of income. Multiple streams of income, financial freedom, and the knowledge it takes to acquire them can be passed down for generations. You cannot be so afraid of making a money mistake that you do nothing at all.

You don't have to start with all five listed above; you can just start with one additional stream other than your salary. The sooner, the better!