Passive Income: An Additional Income Source

I’ve had patients ask me about finding alternative ways to increase their income when they are on Social Security Disability Insurance (SDDI). The problem lies in maintaining the SSDI income and not being thrown off of SSDI.

What is passive income? It is income that requires little to no daily effort on your part to maintain, which means, you will not be going into the office or actually working at generating the income. This could be a win-win for patients who cannot continue to work a traditional job or for people who need to pad their retirement income. If you are the recipient of SSDI or Social Security, you need to be very careful in making sure the passive income is not counted towards your gainful employment so as to keep you in good standing. Remember, when you are on SSDI you will need to prove you continue to qualify. Passive income is also money that you can assess at any time without penalties or additional tax ramifications such as IRA’s.

How Passive income can help you:

• It can provide you with the ability to retire early
• Can help protect you from complete income loss if you lose your job from termination, retirement or disability
• It can provide you with an additional source of income if you cannot continue to work full-time or at all or if you anticipate outliving your retirement funds
• It can be an additional family wealth-building plan

Here are a few options for Passive Income:

Real Estate

While considered one of the most popular options, real estate also has a lot of moving parts. If you can afford to purchase real estate and rent it out, this could be a great opportunity. However, you will need to consider the upfront out-of-pocket costs as well as ongoing financial cost and personal time. It is also important to consider time and cost to maintain the property, as well as costs associated with insurance and taxes. A property management company could help with a lot of the servicing /maintenance requirements but this can eat into your income up to 10% or more. You will also need to make sure you have good tenants that will pay on time and not cause damage to your property. Keeping it rented could also be a challenge. Over time your property may increase in value, which is a great long-term benefit. 

eBook

Do you have a passion for writing or knowledge base that is sharable? You can create a downloadable eBook. After the work is done, watch it generate income from your chosen social media audience.

Online Courses

Do you have a skill base that can easily be transferred into an online learning class? Set it up and have people pay you for the lessons.

Investments

Other ways to earn income while you sleep: Consider investments with decent yields such as Index Funds, High Dividend Stocks, Real Estate Investment Stocks. There are many ways to participate, some risky and others considered more conservative or less risky. Generate passive income from dividends, interest, or increase in value.     

Paying off debt

This may sound odd, but paying off debt with high interest rates can actually put more money in your pocket by reducing the amount of interest paid over term of loan. Additionally, taking care of debt can help you build credit and free up your budget. While this tactic doesn’t technically earn you money, you are saving money over time.

Be creative and research other ways to earn income. But always keep in mind the limitations to income and the type of income so that you don’t find yourself losing the other benefits you need.

And as always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Diahanna Vallentine, BCPA  myfinancialcoach@healthtree.org                                                                                                                                                                                                         

You can find and connect with Diahanna and other Myeloma Coaches at: www.myelomacoach.org

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