The importance of having an extra income on the side
Did you know that over 7 million households (25%) in the #UK have less than £1000 in savings? Furthermore, data has also shown that around 33% of UK households have no savings at all…Why is this?
- Is it because of low incomes?
- Is it because we’re spending too much money things like nights out?
- Is it because we love going to expensive dinners?
- Is it because we’re spending too much on clothing and designer goods?
- Is it because we spend too much going on lavish holidays?
Regardless of what the reason may be, it seems that for the majority of the population (even for myself, who, I’d say I am luckier than others to have an above average wage), one source of #income doesn’t seem to be enough to survive and be able to save for a rainy day.
This is why I personally believe that everyone needs to have some sort of extra income on the side of their regular day job to help them on their path to financial freedom. Be it (for example) through real estate and rental income, or by buying and selling any sort of consumer goods for a profit, an income on the side is a necessity in this day and age to increase your standard of living.
To give an example, in my situation, I designed a t-shirt and started selling that on eBay. I had no idea that people would actually buy it, but over the past 18 months I’ve sold over 500 tops and made a profit of around £10,000.
To put this into perspective:
- £10,000 over 18 months equates to roughly about £555.56 per month additional income.
- £555.56 per month additional income equals around an additional £10,000 per year on top of your normal salary.
So effectively, (for arguments sake) my £50,000 salary has turned into £60,000; not bad for something I dedicated around 1 or 2 hours additional per day!
Having said that, it’s not always easy to dedicate a few extra hours per day to do something additional. There are some days where I’ve gotten into the office for about 07:45 and left at about 21:00. The prospect of then getting home, having a shower, dinner etc. and then spending an hour or so on prepping my t-shirts was really not enjoyable, but hey, you’ll never be part of the 1% if you’re never willing to go the extra mile and put the work in.
Moral of the story
Take risks, go outside of your comfort zone and try different things. Sure, not everything you do will pay off, but it's about carefully planning and assessing the risk vs reward of the things you want to do, and importantly, having the courage to take that first step and actually try!
Remember, It doesn't matter if what you've tried hasn't worked or paid off, (insert cliche quote) it's not about the number of times you've fallen, but about the number of times you get up!
I hope this post has helped motivate you to go out there and try something new to help increase your bank balance. In my next posts, I’ll try to put down some of the things I do to try and be a bit more efficient with my #time and #money.
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P.S.
Not financial advise
Try to buy at least 1 Bitcoin - I personally think it is one of the single best investment opportunities in our lifetime, and we are still very early in it's journey!