Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes
I remember when my brother first told me about a new app he’d found called Postmates. He’d just returned home to the US after living overseas for a few years and didn’t have a job. So, in order to make a bit of cash while he was job hunting, he picked up a side gig as a Postmates courier, delivering food for people around the city.
Here was my brother, a college educated, smart, hard working millennial…working as a delivery man. He was really putting that college degree to use…
One of the things I always tell people about debt is that there isn’t any secret to paying it off quickly. There’s no magic method that will make your debt disappear. No secret tricks that will crush your loans any faster. And you probably shouldn’t count on someone else paying your debt off for you.
In the end, paying off debt really just comes down to a single basic principle. Live on less than you earn and use what’s left over to pay off your debt. The more you have left over to pay towards your debt, the faster it’ll be gone. It’s basically that simple…
One of the best things I did coming out of law school was to pay off my student loans as fast as I could. Doing this gave me a ton of flexibility in the type of money I had to earn. With my loans gone, I didn’t need to work in a job earning a certain amount of money, all so that a portion of it could go out the door to some student loan company. And I could rest easy at night knowing that I didn’t have to keep paying for a piece of paper that I had earned years ago!
Interestingly, even though I knew how much in student loans I had paid off, I had never actually looked at what I had paid over those 2.5 years.
I thought it might be an interesting trip down memory lane to see this information. So a few weeks ago, I requested my payment history from my student loan servicing companies and took a look.
One of the interesting things I find when people share their debt free stories with the mainstream media are the comments that result. Some commenters praise these articles and talk about how they’ve been inspired.
But more often, you notice the negative comments. These are the people who say that the story being shared isn’t possible or that what they’re reading isn’t helpful because most people can’t do the same thing…
Today’s post is the first in what I hope will be a series of quarterly net worth reports. I love seeing actual numbers from everyone in the personal finance community, so I thought I’d join the party and share my own numbers as well! It’s my hope that you find this report helpful as you continue on your own financial journey…
A new month means it’s a good time for another side hustle report! For those of you that are new to the blog, each month, I document what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy websites.
My purpose in writing these reports is to show you the type of money that you can make using some of the skills and assets you already own. Even small amounts of side hustle income can add up to a large sum of money given enough time. The beauty of a side hustle, in particular, is the huge impact it can have on your savings rate. This is because every dollar you earn in a side hustle can be saved.
I usually get praise for the fact that I was able to pay off $87,000 in student loans in 2.5 years. It’s definitely one of my proudest money moves and, importantly, it opened up a lot of doors for me. Not being forced to stay in any particular job because I “needed” the income greatly improved my quality of life.
But sometimes when I share my story, rather than praise, I’m met with scoffs.
Of course you were able to pay off your student loans quickly! You’re a big shot lawyer making six figures a year!
But these scoffs got me thinking. The assumption appeared to be that anyone in my position could do what I did.
So, if I was able to pay off my student loans off as fast as I did, why weren’t others in my position doing the same?
It’s pretty easy to become complacent when it comes to our paychecks. We collect them every two weeks and just assume that whatever amount is on that check is the amount we need to survive. It’s funny how your expenses always seem to match up to whatever amount is on your paycheck.
I think of this as paycheck complacency. First, we arbitrarily begin with some number on our paycheck that we often (perhaps unwittingly) choose. Second, we get used to that amount. Third, we assume that’s the amount we need in order to live.
Here’s the thing – you might think you need it all, but the reality is, you probably don’t.
The great thing about technology is the ability to have an entire world full of knowledge and information at your fingertips. And in my opinion, one of the best ways to get information is through the medium of podcasts. There’s almost no other way to turn what might be considered idle or wasted time, into something really productive. Being able to gather information while commuting to work or walking around town is a major game changer. After all, we only have so many hours in the day, so podcasts are a great way to get some of those hours back.
One of the big benefits of side hustling is the ability to bring in extra income that you don’t need to spend. Arguably, you might need every last bit of your day job income in order to survive.
But if you’re already making ends meet with your day job income, that means that every single dollar you make on the side can be saved. It might not seem like that big a deal to make a few extra hundred bucks a month. But the power of being able to save the entirety of that money shouldn’t be underestimated.
