Most financial blogs tell you you must budget and save money to invest more. However, I’m here to tell you that you can only save so much, even if you cut back on your cable, grocery bill, cell phone bill, etc. While that does work to an extent, there’s only so much you can cut back on. So instead, your focus will be better spent on increasing your income. Next, we’ll discuss why increasing your income works better than saving money, plus how to get started.
According to the statistics, 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. So, while cutting back on your savings won’t hurt, the truth is that you need to increase your income. Increasing your income makes it easier to put more money into your retirement and increase your wealth.
You can’t nickel and dime your way to retirement, especially if you’re trying to catch up. Instead, you must find ways to earn more money to contribute the max to your accounts.
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Plus, you can use the extra income to pay off debt or save for a vacation.
When you increase your income, you open up more options for things you can do. I know what you’re thinking: I can’t make more money or know how to increase my income.
I’ll discuss some of the things I’ve done to increase my income and what I’m currently doing to increase my income.
But first, let’s discuss some of the benefits of increasing your income.
The Benefits of Increasing Your Income
Several people will tell you that money won’t make you happy. I disagree. Having money opens the door to all kinds of possibilities. It opens the door to travel and experiences and gives you a sense of security.
When you increase your income and explore ways to become financially free. It allows you to have more control over where your money is allocated.
You can use the extra money towards your debt or invest in real estate, dividend stocks, etc.
As Bob Proctor says in his books, the only people who constantly think about money are those who don’t have any.
Instead, they constantly worry about how to pay their bills, but when you make more money, you don’t have to worry about it. You sleep better at night knowing you have enough money to cover your expenses.
You’ll become more confident in yourself and your decisions.
Increasing your income is a better plan than just cutting back on expenses.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t cut back on expenses where you can. However, I’m always looking for ways to save on my budget.
Unfortunately, you can only cut so many corners, but you can always make more money.
So let’s look at ways you can increase your income and make more money today.
Ways To Increase Your Income
So many people choose to work from home or start their own businesses. Growing up in the 90s, I was told to go to school and get a job.
While I didn’t go to school till I was older, I did get a JOB.
In fact, I got several jobs throughout my life. My longest JOB was working at the post office for eight years.
During those years, I realized there had to be more to life than waking up to an alarm and rushing to work for a paycheck.
Regardless of your age, there are several ways that you can increase your income. Below are just a few of the different things you can start today. The best part is that it doesn’t cost that much.
However, don’t expect overnight success. It takes time to increase your income.
Start A Blog
This is my go-to and first on my list because this is how I went from earning $0 five years ago to earning a net income of over $63,470 in 2022.
Now that may not sound like a lot, especially when you figure it has taken me over five years to get here.
If you include all my failures, it has taken me more than 10 years to see any success.
Below is a snapshot of the money I’ve earned from my blogs from 2019 – 2021.
Unfortunately, Before those dates, I still had difficulty earning anything from my blogs, or I earned too little to make a huge difference.
- 2019: $9,622 (during this time, I was still learning about blogging and wasn’t doing too good 🙂
- 2020: $20,752.36 (Gross) with a net profit of $14,673.17
- 2021: $70,793.24 (Gross) with a net profit of $47,674.24
- 2022: $104,427.02 (Gross) with a net profit of $63,470
As you can see, you can increase your income just by starting a blog. All you need is a domain name (what you’ll call your blog) and hosting (a company that enables you to publish your website online.)
Once you set up your blog, you need to work on it every chance you get. You won’t see any money for the first year. If you do, it’ll be pennies.
But if you keep working on it as much as possible, eventually, you’ll create a semi-passive income stream that you can use to build wealth.
Freelancing
Becoming a freelancer is one of the quickest ways to earn extra income. Before I started blogging, I worked as a freelancer for a company in town. I offered my services to maintain their WordPress sites and do other tasks related to the business.
Unlike other freelancing gigs where you get paid for the job, I had a set hourly wage.
It was great because I had a steady stream of income every month, and I didn’t have to worry about finding new clients since the company had already taken care of it.
Many business owners are willing to hire freelancers to help them accomplish their business goals. It’s a great way to supplement your income, and it gives you some extra free time in the process.
You can also find freelance opportunities online through sites like Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr.
If you’re good at web design, writing, photography, or any creative work, you can offer your services and get paid. To get started, I’d recommend joining some Facebook groups. This is a great one for you to get started with.
It’ll allow you to network with other freelancers and find potential clients.
Affiliate Marketing
This is another excellent way to increase your income. Affiliate marketing is when you promote other people’s products and services, and they compensate you for them.
You can create a website or blog focused on the niche that interests you the most. Then build content around that topic, and include affiliate links.
Every time someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you get a small commission.
The great thing about this is that you don’t have to worry about customer service or product delivery since it’s all taken care of by the companies whose products you’re promoting.
That said, you never want to promote a product or service you don’t have experience with.
If you promote something and it doesn’t meet the expectations of your audience, then it could damage your reputation. So make sure to do your research before getting into affiliate marketing.
Side Hustles
Don’t want to start a blog because of all the hard work it takes. You could always find a side hustle to bring in some extra income.
You can do many types of side hustles, such as selling products on eBay or Amazon, taking surveys, driving for Uber or Lyft, doing odd jobs around town, or even teaching English online.
The sky is the limit when it comes to side hustles. You can work a side hustle while you’re still working at a full-time job.
Investing
I love investing and believe in utilizing it to build wealth. However, you need to earn more money to start investing.
Investing is the key to accruing more wealth over time, whether you’re looking to make money from stocks, bonds, or real estate.
The great thing about investing is that once you do your research and implement your plan, it takes minimal effort, and the money will start to build up over time.
I still consider myself a novice investor. I only opened my M1 Finance account two years ago. In this account, I invest in dividend stocks. They say you shouldn’t invest in individual stocks because it’s too risky.
However, I am comfortable investing in blue-chip stocks.
Whenever I make some extra income (after my tax advantage accounts are maxed out), I’ll throw some money into M1. It’s been a huge learning curve, and I’ll share some of my M1 mistakes with you later.
The key is investing as much as possible while taking calculated risks. For example, you don’t want to put your entire savings into one stock or company because that could be risky.
Instead, diversify your portfolio, so you’re not too exposed in any one area.
If you’re not interested in investing, you can always follow the Simple Path to Wealth and only invest in VTSAX. Here’s the link to the book if you haven’t read it yet.
Part-Time Jobs
I’m not a huge component of working a part-time job if you’re already working a 9-5 or full-time job. This is because you’ll NEVER get rich working for someone else.
However, if you’re a side hustler or behind on retirement, there’s nothing wrong with working a part-time job.
After 17 years of walking away from the post office, I’m going back to work for someone. I’ll be working part-time at Lowe’s Hardware.
You’re probably wondering why I’m going back to work?
I’m doing it to keep more of my business income for myself. If I’m getting a paycheck from Lowe’s Hardware, I can use that income to pay my bills.
So instead of paying myself $3,000 monthly from my blog business, I’ll only have to pay myself $500 or less. This, in turn, allows me to save more money. That way, at the end of the year, I can hopefully max out my solo 401k.
A part-time job can help you save money and reach your financial goals faster. Of course, it’s not the most exciting way to make money, but sometimes you need a little extra income boost.
What To Do With The Extra Income
Once you’ve found a way to increase your income, don’t spend it. Instead, use your extra income to pay off debt and save for retirement. You don’t have to make a lot of extra income, you just need to be smarter with the money you have.
It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.
– Robert Kiyosaki
First, pay down any high-interest debt you have.
This is important because the interest on these types of loans can quickly add up. Once your debt has been paid down, put the money towards retirement accounts like an IRA or 401k. This will help you to build a retirement nest egg.
If you’re already maxing out your 401k and IRA, save money in a high-yield savings account or open a brokerage account. Here’s a link to M1, which is what I use. When you sign up via my affiliate link, we both get $100. (depending on when you sign up, the promotion may be different)
The key is to use any extra income to pay off debt and build more wealth for the future.
If you’re new to investing like I was, research, research, and do more research.
Read as many books and blogs as possible, listen to podcasts, and watch YouTube videos to educate yourself on personal finance and investing. No one is going to do it for you.
That said, no matter how much you educate yourself, you won’t get anywhere until you start investing.
There’s nothing wrong with being a novice investor. The important thing is that you start somewhere.
Most of us are afraid of making mistakes, so we don’t take any action.
I used to be scared of the stock market and still am to some degree.
However, I’ve learned to avoid risky investments, day trading, options, etc. I have no clue what those are, and I don’t care to learn.
Instead, I’m focusing on index funds and ETFs, which tend to be more stable investments.
No matter what type of additional income you have, make sure to use it wisely and save for retirement.
This will help ensure that you stay financially secure in the future.
The money will build up over time if you’re consistent and patient with your investments. This can lead to financial freedom and a more secure future for you and your family.
Final Thoughts
If you’re late saving for retirement, your best bet is to focus on increasing your income. It’s better to focus on the money you can make instead of the money you can save.
You can only cut back so much without sacrificing your lifestyle too much.
Increasing your income doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need a college degree or a high-paying job to do it. All that is required of you is to think outside the box and put your plans into action.
Investing, side hustles, and part-time jobs can all help you to increase your income and reach your financial goals faster. So take the time to learn about investing and use it to reach financial freedom.
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