For most people the loss of a job is devastating. In today’s economy finding a job paying the same amount of money or close can be very difficult. Many people have multiple streams of income – just in case. I know a few that have second jobs, or side businesses.
Multiple streams of income is something I have been thinking about. My father dies 1 year before retiring. He worked his whole life with anticipation of retiring in New Bern, NC. He wanted to live out his Golden Years on a sailboat with my mother. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died 1 year later never knowing the freedom of retirement or feeling the waves under him on that sailboat.
That was over 20 years ago.
Today as I get older I think about what the future holds and I do not want that same thing to happen to me. Is there a way to “retire” early or take a break from working in order to live life and experience that freedom at a younger age?
I’m thinking of developing a 5 year plan. The goal would be to be in a position to stop my normal job and “work” minimal hours taking care of my secondary sources of income. Of course 5 years from now we might be in the midst of an economic collapse or zombie apocalypse.
Hmmmm…..what could I put in place to make this happen? If it was easy everyone would do it.
JR
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
A New Knife Recommendation – CURRENTLY TESTING
I received the HX Outdoors Survival Knife a couple weeks ago and in the midst of evaluating. I can tell you this is the sharpest knife I have ever had EXCEPT for a Cold Steel Recon Tanto I owned back in the late 80’s. This thing came SHARP.
Here are a few of the features:
D2 coated blade and Kydex sheath, more durable, wear-resistance
G10 material handle
Tail hammer will help you break the window or hammer
Two holes of the handle make it easy to make into the spear
Detachable magnesium rod for firestarting
Built in diamond sharpener on sheath
I hear you ..
At about 40-ish I started hearing the foot steps.. You know them .. the sound of time creeping up …. I too lost my dad to cancer .. after a long battle and he never did anything but work hard and take care of his family, and then gone. He did what a head of house shoudl do.. notice I did not say man.. though that certainly applied in his case. I learned a couple things from it.. and yet am relearning them or refining them as I go.
1.) Like the day you are in. I have never understood the nebulous Golden Years idea.. Have some fun every day, while you are young enough to enjoy it. I hear tell chasing after stuff is better if you are not pushing a walker .. It’s never balanced of course because life happens. If it’s been forever since you can’t remember.. we’re doing it wrong.
2.) If you want to make some “Mo Money”, as a hedge it takes time.. and if you are busy now you will like life less than you do now when you add it. I have run 3-4 businesses in addition to a full time job, coached kids, husband, etc.. since our first son .. and he’s 26 now.
2.1) What do you want ?
2.2.) When do you want it?
2.3.) What are you willing to give up to get it? (cost vs price .. nothing is free)
That answered.. then the ideas.
You have to ask yourself, when thinking about ideas. :
a.) Is it legal? (if it’s a gray area, what’s the actual risk) I never met a rule I like, if I
think it’s an infringement.
b.) Is is moral? (According to who? Not man certainly.)
c.) Does it accomplish what I want to do?
For me, the critical question is “Am I passionate about it?”. Also for me, if I am not, I might as well not start. I have enjoyed this site and prepping in general, mostly because we all got here differently but want to do some of the same things. For me, now, I want whatever I am doing “extra”, to dovetail with this. Enthusiasm and passion are critical, other wise I’m just adding time.
not that I have actually thought about this at all 🙂
Remember Insurance is a fiction, and today is the only day you have. It’s a gift and why it called the “Present”.
Have an awesome weekend gang!
GG58
I lost my Dad to lung cancer as well, well before his time. You have two basic options for making your own money, you can sell something or provide a service, or even better, both. The hard part is determining what people need or want now, as well as in the future, which will probably include some kind of societal breakdown, and a means to cover the start-up costs. You need to stack the deck as much as possible in your favor, be adaptable and have multiple contingency plans, no matter what you end up doing, as very few businesses make it past the first year, and don’t begin to make a decent profit until after ~3 years.
My Mom struggled for many years with her own business, and though she took care of her children’s needs, she didn’t make a lot of extra profit. Even with all the hard work she invested over the years, her retirement consists of a small amount of social security – she can barely afford her assisted-living rent and medicine. Nowadays, the government has made things considerably more difficult to start and succeed with your own business, with all their asinine regulations and requirements. And you can forget about doing anything that involves competition with big business. Free enterprise is far from free…
The only saving grace is the internet, which has made it so easy to reach and communicate with an expansive audience, as well as create stores with very minimal overhead.
Good luck brainstorming.
Thanks MacDaddy. Gave me some things to think about. Good stuff!
Dear JR- good questions.GG58 excellent sharing-thanks. My advice is Make every day count .Live it fully . Take a little time to BE in the moment and to have some joy
amidst the challenges.See the movie THE BUCKET LIST. Ask yourself if I found out tomorrow that I had 6 months to live what would you wish you had done or been or experienced and then go for it.
When I see people older than we are or people who are more disabled etc. I ruminate on
what will happen to me and my spouse within the next few years.(we are retired and my spouse is quite disabled now) and we are living on social security and savings and having to be very careful financially . GG58 I agree passion is essential for whatever one takes on.
Revealing exercise :
On a piece of paper write down on the bottom your birth- on the top your death and passing.Note where you think you are now and then fill it in with what you want to do before you die. God bless…keep calm and prep on… Lightning
Thanks Lightning. Good advice.
multiple income streams both direct and passive will be key, unless you’ve got a $$ supply already IMO, most do not.
i am looking and researching that topic now.