Building great habits and behaviors can be difficult, especially if we are trying something completely new. To create passive income, we will need to form daily routines that make ourselves and our lives more productive.
Today, I am going to break down how to get rich slowly. And by slowly, I mean in a few years. I define being wealthy as having excess income vs. expenses. This definition tells us that if we can increase income and lower expenses, we can live extraordinary, low-stress lives.
Indeed, these habits I talk about work. My wife and I crossed $200,000 in our investment portfolio yesterday. We started our journey with zero dollars in the bank 28 months ago. Now we have $700/month coming in passively, plus $2,000/month in rental income.
Do I Need Lots of Money to Start Investing?
I love the title of this article because I have been talking about rewarding ourselves a lot recently. One of my favorite articles on the topic is “A $1,000 Dividend Shopping Spree,” where I talk about collecting $1,000 in dividends and going shopping for Black Friday.
Forming good habits. It takes anywhere from 21-60 days to form a habit, and it may take even longer to break a bad habit. Unfortunately, most of us grew up with horrible money habits. First, we don’t know the difference between earned income and passive income.
Second, we don’t understand the main reason that we have a job. We believe that our job is supposed to fund our lifestyles indefinitely. Then, when we retire, we don’t know how to acquire more income, and we are stuck on a fixed income.
The most important habit we are going to form today is paying ourselves first. We need to pay ourselves first with our time and our money.
Paying ourselves first with time. How do you use your free time? What do you do during the magic hours? If you are not building an income stream, you are not using your time effectively.
“But Josh, I spend all my free time with my family.” Bullshit. Let me say something very clearly. Becoming rich takes priority over spending time with family. Yep, I said it. There is a simple reason for this outrageous claim.
No Freakin’ Way I Am Working Another 25 Years
You can get your finances on track and start becoming rich in 2-5 years of hard work, education, and dedication. After the process is complete, you’ll be able to relax and settle into your new comfortable lifestyle.
When you are debt-free and have a nice chunk of passive income coming in monthly, your quality time with family will actually be quality—no more worries about bills, maintenance, emergencies, or future education costs.
So the options are: grind for 2-5 years, create passive income, become debt-free OR hang out with family and be poor and uneducated. Don’t use your family as an excuse not to challenge yourself.
We need to spend our time learning about passive income and building income streams. Trust me; once you get going, it moves fast. You can turn almost anything into an income stream. Do you love to collect Pokemon cards? Then start a blog and YouTube Channel. How about gardening? Start a blog, YouTube channel, and on-site courses to teach would-be gardeners.
I am telling you from a person who is relatively new to blogging, content creation, cryptocurrencies, rental income, and dividends; life is better on this side. Being debt-free, having a high-paying job, investing all of my money, and receiving over $700/month in passive income is a dream come true. And I’m only 40 years old; there is so much more to come.
Happy Financial Independence Day!
Paying ourselves first with our money. How do you decide what money you will save every month? Do you pay all your bills and expenses first? After that, whatever is leftover at the end of the month you save? Do you invest in stocks or cryptocurrencies?
If your only source of income is your job, and you are living a comfortable lifestyle, something is wrong. Having a job as your only source of income is extremely risky. If I lost my paycheck today, I would have $3,000/month in passive income to sustain a meager lifestyle. But, at least I wouldn’t have to sell everything or risk becoming homeless.
Every dollar that enters your home needs a purpose. They should pay expenses and then go directly into investments. Your vacations, boats, cars, luxury items are not expenses. Expenses are rent (mortgage), utilities, internet, phones, and basic entertainment (Netflix, Hulu, etc.).
You have a few choices for how you choose to invest your cash. You can start a dividend growth investing portfolio, an income portfolio, a Roth IRA, or invest for interest from cryptocurrencies. You should invest money into these accounts weekly and monthly—this is called dollar-cost-averaging.
The Magic of Passive Income
I use all of these accounts because it is fun to see them produce more and more cash flow. Even if you are only investing $100/month into your portfolio, it is the habit that is vital to your success.
Rewarding ourselves. Letting our guard down and patting ourselves on the back is the hardest part of building a passive income stream. Everyone tells us to put our heads down, grind indefinitely, and reach $1 million before breathing. Nah, don’t do that.
Your first goals may be tiny. If you are starting a dividend growth portfolio, you should celebrate when your account reaches $1,000. You should celebrate when you receive $20 in dividend income if you are building an income portfolio.
I am starting a content-rich portfolio of book and blog assets. It is hard to build an online business from scratch. Nobody owes you anything. Every pageview, book download, pdf download, or affiliate marketing sale counts. I earned $60 from book royalties last month, ten months into my journey.
21 Passive Income Ideas
I am here for the long run, but I can’t wait until I get $1,000 in royalties before rewarding myself. Nope, my wife and I will celebrate my $60 by going to dinner courtesy of passive income. That’s how I can continue to grind harder and better—I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Honestly, that is what rewarding ourselves is all about—giving us a preview of the future. There will come a day when we can live entirely from passive income sources. We have unlimited freedom of time and money. We can spend as much time with family as we choose.
Rewarding ourselves with a dinner or candy bar from passive income is a taste of the future. Eventually, we will fund entire vacations with passive income. We can get there with the proper mindset and work ethic.
Financial Security vs. Financial Freedom
Conclusion. We can only control things we do ourselves. Forming great money and time habits is something that we can control. If you don’t know where to start, that’s okay; I got you!
I have all sorts of materials on investing, dividends, financial mindset, real estate, cryptocurrencies, and business. In fact, I have a huge free 696-page pdf called “Don’t Gamble with Retirement 3 + 4.” If you can read that, you will be a different person afterward.
Building passive income should be on the top of your mind each day. Why do you think I write about it every morning? And, surprisingly, building income streams brings your family closer together. Instead of finding random stuff you do, you can work on a project, count dividends, and plan the future together. Who doesn’t enjoy becoming rich?
I hope I gave you a little insight on becoming wealthy and remembering to reward yourself. I am living proof that this stuff works if you submit it to the process. We went from -$77,000 to +$150,000 in 22 months. You can do it too if you want it bad enough.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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