Your Income Should Increase Every Year

Being an employee has many perks, like not worrying about anyone other than yourself. People become used to life as an employee, often choosing this over starting a business or creating content.

But three things being an employee strips you off: freedom of time, money, and location. Today, I will talk specifically about freedom of money because money is the talk of the town in today’s inflationary environment. 

Freedom of money. Freedom of money doesn’t mean you can’t spend your income as you choose because obviously, you can. Freedom of money means that you cannot control how much money you earn. 

Become CEO of Yourself 2

In the book “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing,” Robert Kiyosaki talks about being “an insider.” No, the term isn’t nefarious or evil; it means you control income and pricing. 

For example, I can control how much I charge my tenants if I rent rooms. The market dictates how much someone will pay, but I am free to test the market. If I am charging $800, I can raise the rent to $830, giving me a 3.75% increase. 

If I write books and charge $3 per book, I can test the market at $3.25, giving me an 8% increase. Being an insider is the goal of life. You don’t have to own everything, but you should have pricing power in many of your daily operations. 

Annual increase. Becoming an insider is vital if you want your income to increase every year. You are responsible for keeping up with inflation. Your boss doesn’t care if your cash flow keeps up with inflation. 

Every year, inflation takes more of your current income. My job in the military gives me annual raises to rental income (basic housing allowance) and base pay (cost of living). The new 2022 military base pay gives us a 2.7% increase, compared to inflation of 6.8%. 

Again, you are responsible for protecting yourself from inflation, investing for retirement, and saving an emergency fund. To complete all of these tasks, you need to become an insider. But, first, we can handle some of this heavy lifting from the outside.

The Balanced Writer

From the outside. You are an outsider when you invest in the stock market or crypto exchanges. You don’t truly have the ability to raise dividends or approve mergers. However, you can build a portfolio of increasing dividend and interest payments. 

My wife’s job doesn’t have an annual cost of living adjustment. She has been making $20/hr for the last couple of years. However, her income has increased over the past couple of years. How? Because of her dividend portfolio. 

In 2020, Kristina (Kris) made roughly $250 in dividend income. In 2021, she is on pace for $1,300. I am optimistic in 2022; she will be close to $2,000. That’s how you increase your income annually, as an outsider. 

For me, in 2020, I made roughly $1,000. In 2021, I am on pace for $3,500, and in 2022, I should be close to $5,500. Again, I am increasing my annual income by being intentional with my investing and cash flow. 

I Live Paycheck to Paycheck 2

From the inside. You have more pricing power and control as an insider—this is where you want to establish yourself. Business is the best way to become an insider, but you also have real estate.

With real estate, your immediate location controls your pricing structure for rents. That’s okay; rents will rise every year. To have more control, you can establish more income streams from your homes, such as parking spaces and advertising. The book “40 Ways to Increase the Net Income of Your Rental Property” is an excellent place to start. 

Starting a business is the best way to control pricing power and multiple revenue streams. If one stream of income becomes price-locked, start another off-spring income stream. Let’s look at writing as an example. 

1. First and foremost, I write a blog. I can use the blog to make advertising income from Google AdSense. The more people visit my blog, the more ad revenue I receive. 
2. I have a Facebook group that brings more people to my blog, increasing my Ad revenue.
3. I produce free pdfs that I giveaway on my blog and Facebook group. This brings more people to my group and blog.
4. I have affiliate links in my books and on my blog that add additional affiliate income from Amazon.
5. I release all my books on Amazon, and some I release only under the Kindle Unlimited banner. These are limited to distribution only on the Kindle platform. However, this gives me access to additional KU revenue streams and page reads.
6. I also release my free pdfs on Direct2Digital that distribute them to six or seven more stores—this also derives more income. 

So, I have five or six income streams from writing and publishing books. I can create hardback books, paperbacks, and audiobooks if I need more income. I can grind these out to increase my income. Luckily, I am doing well for myself so that I can relax on the grind for now. 

The idea is to create so many income streams that you can always increase your income. One income stream may go away, but another may become your star performer.

3 Things I Love About Being a Writer

Get in the game. I am learning throughout my passive income grind and our journey to financial independence that you just need to get into the game. It’s not about making the perfect investments; it is about giving yourself the best chances to profit from the market.

1. For stocks, it’s all about time in the market (not timing the market). If you have your money in the right places, a random catalyst will come through and raise all boats.
2. For real estate, buy and hold is the best technique for the long run. How would you have guessed that the 2020 pandemic would raise housing prices 25% year over year (in many places even more)?
3. For business, it’s all about getting your feet wet and learning the ropes. Most of the sales happen between October and December in the writing world. Having a stable of excellent books ready for this time is the best way to profit from holiday spending.

Conclusion. There are so many ways to start a business—one that fits into your schedule and favorite niche. There truly is no excuse to get started. Here is an article on “21 Passive Income Ideas.”

Don’t forget you can also do things like rent rooms or sell covered calls. If you are the household’s main provider, this is your primary mission. You should always be thinking of increasing the household income. The moment you stop, inflation or an emergency will eat away at your savings. 

If you are going at this alone, you have to work even harder than your married counterparts. Don’t give up; just become more imaginative and automate more tasks. The book “The 4-Hour Work Week” is the perfect place to start. Good Luck to All. 

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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