What is Passive Income and How To Develop Your Strategy

So you didn’t strike it rich with Bitcoin, or even with Elon Musk’s favorite alt-coin, Dogecoin? Well, that’s okay, developing a passive income strategy can still help you achieve financial independence!

It’s something most must fight for in their lifetime. Even though there are multiple ways of achieving financial independence, the struggle is very real.

Whenever you decide to tackle this issue, it is not easy. Whichever path you choose to take will require you to make sacrifices, invest hours upon hours of your time, and, of course, work very hard.

No path to financial independence has you simply sitting on your couch, drinking coffee, and watching daytime television while money pours into your accounts unless you bought Bitcoin a few years back, and then, well you pretty much only had to hold it! Regardless, the point is, that you’ll need to develop a strategy that meets your needs, but first, let’s look at what passive income refers to.

What Is Passive Income?

Passive income is defined as any type of income received periodically which requires little to no maintenance or effort to perpetuate. While the term’s meaning has changed somewhat through colloquial use, the notion nevertheless behind the idea remains the same. The goal is to work and be engaged as little as possible while still making money on a regular basis. Now that sounds like fantasy, right?

You can establish passive income in numerous ways, although the best-known variations include real estate rental properties, dividend-paying stocks, and even peer-to-peer lending. Some approaches require more effort beyond the initial financial investments, such as creating intellectual property (e.g. ebooks, photos, videos, courses) you can collect royalties in the future. As the years go by, the market continues to open and generate new opportunities and new ways of acquiring passive income.

The Top 3 Benefits of Passive Income

Even though the word “passive” sounds unappealing in other contexts, in terms of income, there are many reasons you should feel excited about it. The three main benefits of establishing sources of passive income include:

1.    Freeing Up Your Time

This is definitely one of the greatest benefits to be gained from having a source of passive income because it improves your quality of life in more ways than one.

Having more free time throughout your day is a valuable contribution to establishing a work-life balance. Your schedule will feel less constrained and more flexible which will take out a huge chunk of the unnecessary stress from your daily life. You’ll also have more time in the day to relax, pursue new hobbies and interests or spend quality time with your friends and family.

Another way of approaching this gift of free time is to consider it an opportunity to further increase your financial gains. Once you have set up one source of passive income, why not work on creating a second or a third? Or maybe there is a passion project you have always wanted to try but never had the time or financial security to really give a go.

2.    Improved Financial Security

The market is ever-changing due to technological advancements to a point where certain professions we all thought were safe are now dying out. Workers nowadays have to be more flexible about their careers. However, going all-in on active income is becoming a riskier and more unpredictable strategy. That is why diversification of your income sources is one of the best approaches to earning money because it minimizes your risks while generating returns.

Passive income fits great with the overall goal of achieving financial security through diversification since it provides you with an alternative stream of income while also giving you something to fall back on in case your career takes a hit for whatever reason. It can also be a step in the right direction if you are considering new ways to increase your retirement savings.

3.    More Control Over Your Work-Life

Once you have gone through the setup phase, your passive income stream should by definition require little-to-no additional effort or maintenance. Furthermore, you are free to organize these engagements to fit your schedule and deal with them whenever it suits you best.

Aside from being able to march to the beat of your own drum, you can also do the drumming from anywhere in the world! With passive income, you are no longer bound to one geographic space. Additionally, if all your engagements can be handled online, why not travel and explore new places and cultures?

Lastly, passive income does not have to be all that passive. If at any point in time you wish to improve or add to your strategy, you can do so! Make sure you have an exit plan, though, for when you are ready to go back to a hands-off approach.

How to Choose the Right Strategy

The key principle you should follow with regard to passive income is sticking to what you know. Take a good, hard look at your skillset and determine the resources you have at your disposal. After that, work on figuring out the best way to utilize what you already have in order to create a valid passive income strategy.

It is not impossible to enter a field you know nothing about and come out successful. However, the approach would demand a lot more effort and come with additional risks, losing some of the key benefits of passive income.

Once you have managed to successfully set up a source of passive income, you can continue along those lines and create multiple streams of it. It is important to add new streams gradually while making sure you are not accumulating more responsibilities than you are able or willing to handle.

Final Word

Even though we have discussed some of the benefits and advantages of passive income, we have to underline the fact that it does not come easy. It is not a life hack or a get-rich-quick scheme. It requires investment, effort, strategic planning, and quality decision-making. You cannot make lemonade without actually giving up a couple of lemons.

However, if you have the means and the skills to establish a source of passive income, you should give it a shot. After all, getting lemonade for life from a one-time investment of lemons still sounds like a pretty good gig, right?

About the Author

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NOTE: This sheet is to inform new or returning clients about our services, records, fees, and limitations that may affect you as a consumer of our services. This form also discloses how we might release your information to other agencies and/or regulators. If you do not understand a statement, please ask a Debt Reduction Services (DRS) counselor for assistance.

Debt Reduction Services, Inc. (DRS) has put into place policies and procedures to protect the security and confidentiality of your nonpublic personal information. This notice explains our online information practices and how we use and maintain your information to conduct our financial education and credit counseling sessions and to fulfill information and question requests. This privacy policy complies with federal laws and regulations.

To provide our financial education and credit counseling services, we collect nonpublic personal information about you as follows: 1) Information we receive from you, 2) Information about your transactions with us or others, and 3) Information we receive from your creditors or a consumer reporting agency. We do not share this information with outside parties.

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You hereby authorize DRS, when necessary, to share your nonpublic personal, financial, credit, and any information that you provided (including any computations and assessments produced) with the following entities in order to help DRS provide you with appropriate counseling or guide you to appropriate services: third parties such as government agencies, your lender(s), your creditor(s), and nonprofit housing-related and other financial agencies as permitted by law, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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Debt Reduction Services, Inc. complies with the privacy requirements set forth in the HUD housing counseling agency handbook 7610.1 (05/2010), including the sections 2-2 Mc, 3-1 H(2), 3-3, 5-3 F, and Attachment A.5. At all times, we will comply with all additional laws and regulations to which we are subject regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of individually identifiable information.

  1. Services: DRS provides the following housing-related services: counseling that includes Homeless Assistance, Rental Topics, Pre-purchase/Homebuying, and Home Maintenance and Financial Management for Homeowners (Non-Delinquency Post-Purchase); Education courses that include Financial literacy (including home affordability, budgeting, and understanding use of credit), Predatory lending, loan scam or other fraud prevention, Fair housing, Rental topics, Pre-purchase homebuyer education, Non-delinquency post-purchase workshop (including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners), and other workshops not listed above.

Please refer to DebtReductionServices.org for details of our services.

  1. Limits: Our services are limited to our normal weekday business hours. We do not provide individual counseling or education services after hours or on weekends, although our education courses are available 24/7.
  2. Fees: We do not charge fees for our financial management counseling and education. However, if you use them, you may have to pay for our Debt Management Program, Student Loan Counseling, Bankruptcy Certificate Services or certain financial education courses (homebuyer education, rental topics, fair housing, predatory lending, and post-purchase-non-delinquency including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners).
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Program Disclosure Form

Disclosure to Client for HUD Housing Counseling Services

Debt Reduction Services, Inc. and its financial education arm, Money Fit by DRS, offer the following housing counseling and educational services related to housing, personal finance, and bankruptcy certificates to consumers:
  • Housing Education Courses: DRS offers many online self-guided education programs classified as Financial, Budgeting, and Credit Workshops (FBC), Fair Housing Pre-Purchase Education Workshops (FHW), Homelessness Prevention Workshops (HMW), Non-Delinquency Post Purchase Workshops (NDW), Predatory Lending Education Workshops (PLW), Pre-purchase Homebuyer Education Workshops (PPW), and Rental Housing Workshops (RHW). These courses help participants increase their knowledge of and skills in personal finance, including home affordability, budgeting, and understanding the use of credit, as well as predatory lending, loan scams, and other fraud prevention topics, fair housing, rental topics, pre-purchase homebuyer education, non-delinquency post-purchase topics including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners, homeless prevention workshop, and other workshops not listed above relating to personal finance and housing. Course details are found below under “Housing Workshops.”
  • Home Equity Conversation Mortgage (HECM) Counseling (RMC): Via telephone and virtual platforms, we offer the required HECM counseling nationwide in addition to in-person counseling in Boise, Idaho. We also offer in-home counseling options in thirty counties across southern Idaho for an additional fee to cover our travel and additional staff time costs.
  • Home Maintenance and Financial Management for Homeowners (Non-Delinquency Post-Purchase) (FBC): Clients receive counseling and materials on the proper maintenance of their home and mortgage refinancing. Clients can find help and resources by phone, in our Boise office, or virtually on all topics related to stabilizing their long-term homeownership.
  • Services for Homeless Counseling (HMC): Clients receive phone, virtual, or in-person (Boise) counseling to evaluate their current housing needs, identify barriers to and goals for housing stability, establish a path to self-sufficiency, and connect with emergency shelters, income-appropriate housing, and/or other community resources (e.g. mental healthcare, job training, transportation, etc.).
  • Pre-Purchase Counseling (PPC): Clients receive counseling through the entire homebuying process. Assistance may involve creating a sustainable household budget, understanding mortgage options, building their credit rating, and putting together a realistic action plan to set and achieve homeownership goals.  Additionally, clients will receive materials and resources about home inspections and other homeownership topics relevant to successfully maintaining a home.
  • Rental Housing Counseling (RHC): Via phone, in-person appointments (Boise, ID), or virtual platforms, clients receive housing counseling relevant to renting, including rent subsidies from HUD or other government and assistance programs. Topics can also address issues and concerns having to do with fair housing, landlord and tenant laws, lease terms, rent delinquency, household budgeting, and finding alternate housing.
DRS also offers the following services:
  • A Debt Management Program (DMP) for consumers struggling to pay their credit cards, collections, medical debts, personal loans, old utility bills, and past-due cell phone accounts;
  • The Budget Briefing and Debtor Education Certificates that are required during the Bankruptcy filing process;
  • A Student Loan Repayment Plan Counseling and application service.

Relationships with Industry Partners

Through such services, DRS has established financial relationships with hundreds of banks, credit unions, and creditors such as American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Credit One, Discover, Synchrony, US Bank, USAA, Wells Fargo, and others.

No Client Obligation

The client is not obligated to receive, purchase or utilize any other services offered by DRS or its exclusive partners to receive financial education or housing counseling services. Alternatives: As a condition of our counseling services, in alignment with meeting our client services goals, and in compliance with HUD’s Housing Counseling Program requirements, we may provide information on alternative services, programs, and products available to you, if applicable and known by our staff. Alternative DMP services include negotiating better repayment terms directly with your individual creditors, paying your debts as agreed, or, in extreme cases, filing for personal bankruptcy. Alternative credit and education services can be found through MyMoney.gov or the Jump$tart Clearinghouse of online financial education resources. Housing counseling alternatives can be found through HUD at www.hud.gov/findacounselor.
Finally, you understand that you may revoke consent to these disclosures by notifying DRS in writing.

Housing Counseling and Education Fee Schedule

 

Online Education Program Fees*

Homebuyer Education Course: $59 per participant

  • Self-paced course available here, our online housing counseling and education center. Certificates will be automatically generated upon completion of the course (approximately 6-8 hours)

RentalFair HousingPredatory Lending / HOEPAPost-Purchase (Non-delinquency post-purchase workshop, including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners) Online Workshops: $49 per participant

  • Approximately 1 hour each

Other Self-Guided Financial Literacy Webinars (e.g. creditbudgetinghomeless preventiondebt prevention): $0

One-on-one Counseling Fees*

Pre-purchase Homebuying Counseling, Rental Counseling, Post-purchase Ownership Maintenance and Financial Management: $75

  • Session by the hour

Reverse Mortgage/HECM Counseling with Required Certificate:

  • $200†

Credit Report Fee: Paid Directly by Client

*Fees for all but our online education courses and workshops can be paid online by debit card, credit card, or PayPal or in person by cash, check or money order to: “Debt Reduction Services, Inc.” Registration fees are non-refundable 24 hours or less before the start of an in-person course or workshop. Certificates are non-transferable

*Fees may be waived for households with income of 150% or less of that identified on the US Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines Page

†Home visit counseling is available in 30 southern Idaho counties for potential HECM borrowers at additional costs to cover our travel (IRS reimbursement rates apply) and staff time ($50 per hour or fraction there).

Housing Counseling and Education Fee Schedule

 

Online Education Program Fees*

Homebuyer Education Course: $59 per participant

  • Self-paced course available here, our online housing counseling and education center. Certificates will be automatically generated upon completion of the course (approximately 6-8 hours)

RentalFair HousingPredatory Lending / HOEPAPost-Purchase (Non-delinquency post-purchase workshop, including home maintenance and/or financial management for homeowners) Online Workshops: $49 per participant

  • Approximately 1 hour each

Other Self-Guided Financial Literacy Webinars (e.g. creditbudgetinghomeless preventiondebt prevention): $0

One-on-one Counseling Fees*

Pre-purchase Homebuying Counseling, Rental Counseling, Post-purchase Ownership Maintenance and Financial Management: $75

  • Session by the hour

Reverse Mortgage/HECM Counseling with Required Certificate:

  • $200†

Credit Report Fee: Paid Directly by Client

*Fees for all but our online education courses and workshops can be paid online by debit card, credit card, or PayPal or in person by cash, check or money order to: “Debt Reduction Services, Inc.” Registration fees are non-refundable 24 hours or less before the start of an in-person course or workshop. Certificates are non-transferable

*Fees may be waived for households with income of 150% or less of that identified on the US Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines Page

†Home visit counseling is available in 30 southern Idaho counties for potential HECM borrowers at additional costs to cover our travel (IRS reimbursement rates apply) and staff time ($50 per hour or fraction there).