Making Money in 2018 & Beyond - Multiple Income Streams? New Opportunities?

I wanted to share this with the ATS community because we seem to have a great variety of individuals on here, some who own their own businesses or who have in the past, many of us who work for others as a source or income, retired individuals, people who are otherwise out of the workforce, and then a mixed batch of members who do not fit neatly into one of those categories.

I've been diligently researching ways to earn extra income so that I can prepare to be a homeowner sometime in the next few years. I've been a renter for over a decade, and in that time I could have been building equity in a home, but there are of course barriers to entering the real estate market (I was mobile for a few years and lived in more than 5 different states in as many years).

Now it seems I may be "settling down" in one place, and I don't want to keep paying more than half of my income on rent (it is absurdly expensive where I live, and getting more costly as time goes on).

To cut to the chase, I've recently been looking into a number of new(er) opportunities that some people have found success in. My goal is to create at least one additional source of income, and in the future have a sort of "passive" income stream that can supplement my primary source of income.

I'm not a financial advisor and am not seeking professional advice on ATS. I am, however hoping to ignite a conversation for anyone else who is interested in this subject, or has personal insights they could share with the rest of us.

The 3 topics I'm opening up the conversation with are: 1) REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), 2) Peer-to-peer Lending, and 3) Dropshipping. Keep in mind, any of these options will take money to make money. However, for me personally, I'm hoping to establish something that will pay future dividends and allow me to leverage my money. To me, that is more valuable (even if it is taking on a moderate level of risk) than sitting in cash.

If you have other ideas for creating passive/supplementary income streams, please also share your thoughts or experience with those since it could add value to the discussion.

Let's begin.

What's a REIT?

REITs allow anyone to invest in portfolios of real estate assets the same way they invest in other industries – through the purchase of individual company stock or through a mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF). The stockholders of a REIT earn a share of the income produced through real estate investment – without actually having to go out and buy, manage or finance property.

REITs sound like a financial product, much like a lot of other crap in the equity markets. However the idea behind what REITs are and how they work seem to be a fitting topic for the purposes of this conversation. Does anyone have any experience with these or know anyone who has? It's a long shot, but I thought it worth including.

Fundrise

Institutional investors have consistently outperformed public markets over the last 20 years by investing in alternative assets like private market real estate. Fundrise democratizes access to this once-unattainable asset class, making it possible for anyone to become a real estate investor regardless of income or net worth.

Fundrise sounds like a similar idea to REITs, but perhaps there's something I'm not understanding. There is a minimum investment of $500 for Fundrise. Honestly I need to spend more time looking into this one since I don't fully understand the A-Z yet. A simple youtube video or 2 would probably suffice though. If anyone has heard of Fundrise I'd love to hear your thoughts. Moving on to...

LendingClub (Peer-to-Peer Lending)

Investors: In exchange for competitive returns, investors purchase Notes, which correspond to fractions of loans.

LendingClub: LendingClub screens borrowers, facilitates the transaction, and services the loans.

Borrowers: Borrowers use loans to consolidate debt, improve their homes, finance major purchases, and more.

Again, it will take money to make money if you are going to get into P2P lending, and there is risk that the borrower could default (I'm not sure what protections, if any there are in case that happens). I am certain there are other options than just LendingClub but this was one of the first ones that popped up when I was researching P2P. A fitting option to include in our discussion. Lastly, let's look at dropshipping:

Shopify (Dropshipping)

Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn't keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product.

The biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model is that the selling merchant doesn't stock or own inventory. Instead, the merchant purchases inventory as needed from a third party – usually a wholesaler or manufacturer – to fulfill orders.

For this one, you would need some sort of a marketplace so that you are acting like the "store". For me, dropshipping sounds like the least likely option for me, just beginning on this journey to identify additional income streams. But down the road, who knows?


I look forward to hearing from folks, even if they have absolutely no experience in these types of investments/income streams. Perhaps you have your own innovative service that provides you with income. Have you bought residential buildings and rented them out to others? What was your experience, biggest challenges, learning moments? I'd love to learn more!

Are also interested in looking into building passive income. Whatever the case, I hope we can get an informative conversation started and find some benefit in this discussion.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to hearing what folks have to say.

FamCore

a reply to: FamCore


I would include consulting (which I do in addition to my main gig) and turning a hobby into a side job.

a reply to: FamCore

The one about REITs sound pretty risky compared to the others, but I don't know much about these types of things. Fundrise sounds like a good place to start with a pretty minimal investing requirement to get started, but that doesn't mean it will be the best performer either. I hope to hear from some others and will read more about some of these other options like dropshipping in the meantime. Thanks for putting this thread together - definitely an interesting topic!

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: FamCore


I would include consulting (which I do in addition to my main gig) and turning a hobby into a side job.

That is the route I am taking..

Full time job is paying for the bills of life while keeping the family comfortable.
Consulting is fun money allowing me to buy things or go places i want without taking from full time salary.

If you have a skill set in a career where it's needed then you can really make out this way.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Thanks Augie for chiming in. I have looked into consulting - to me, one of the biggest barriers would be identifying clients that would benefit from my consulting services, and just getting started in general.

I would think the first few steps would be to create a website, describe areas of expertise and how I can help other organizations, etc. But from there, how to find folks who are ready to come to the table. Any insights you can think of would be great to hear. Thanks for your response!

a reply to: opethPA


I do it mostly for the fun factor but the extra money is nice.

originally posted by: FamCore
Thanks Augie for chiming in. I have looked into consulting - to me, one of the biggest barriers would be identifying clients that would benefit from my consulting services, and just getting started in general.

I would think the first few steps would be to create a website, describe areas of expertise and how I can help other organizations, etc. But from there, how to find folks who are ready to come to the table. Any insights you can think of would be great to hear. Thanks for your response!

What is the skill? I do mine mostly from word of mouth, I don't want to have an official site since I have a rather high profile job now and don't need people seeing me do this on the weekends when I do take a consulting gig.

a reply to: FamCore

The one bit of advice I will give you on investing is that you should never invest money that you cant afford to lose.
I can emphasize that enough.

And honestly I would stay away from real estate.
People obviously didn't learn from the last bubble and housing is way to high.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

What is the skill?

The skill would be training in workforce development, government relations (private sector working with the government - grants, partnerships, etc.), and insurance (property & casualty insurance).

a reply to: FamCore


That's a good one, I think you should explore that avenue and try to make some extra cash.

Drop-shipping sounds viable depending on the products.

I think anything in real estate could be dangerous.

Consulting works for me....especially grant acquisitions.

With the new "green wave" processing into products looks promising for investing.

a reply to: olaru12

Real estate in the US is definitely in a bubble right now (it's even worse in places like Toronto), however it might be good to keep on your radar for when prices come back down to earth a bit

The number one thing you want to make sure of is to COMPLETELY understand what you are doing before touting yourself as an expert or professional for a number of reasons. One is that there is nothing more frustrating than listening to a "professional" tell you wrong information and you end up wasting or losing your money, or possibly getting someone hurt, all b/c someone wants some extra $$. This also gives the industry a bad name, which is why most things worth while require a degree from an accredited school/univ or certificates from a respectable teaching course.

Second is that you take on A LOT of responsibility and open yourself up to lawsuits for just about anything related to your business and with people today, expect at minimum, threats of lawsuits if not getting sued (malicious at times) for lots of $$, which costs you A LOT to defend, and if you can't keep up with the defense costs, you have to settle or loose, so some people will sue b/c they know they will win b/c you can't keep up the attorney fees (which ends up being for both sides if you loose!).

Nothing is as easy as it originally sounds. Want to sell a small heater, you gotta pay $10-40,000 to an UL certification and you may have to sell 40,000 units to pay for the testing alone! It's all a self protection racket so new people can't enter the game, and any that do, have to do it on a MLM sheme, pyramid scheme, or "win the lottery" with finding an investor and have a good idea at the same time.

Been looking at this for many years, and I have yet to find something worthwhile doing (enjoyable and not detrimental to anyone) that wasn't regulated to death, market saturated, or just prohibitively expensive b/c insurance and such.

This is why so many businesses are inherited and much of what you see as successful companies, you will see on American Greed 10-20yrs down the road.

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
This also gives the industry a bad name, which is why most things worth while require a degree from an accredited school/univ or certificates from a respectable teaching course.

Universities or accredited schools don't give degrees in life or business experience, being successful in life and business experiences does. What I consult on cannot be learned wholly in class.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Great explanation of the exposures and other hoops you need to jump through in order to legitimize your own services. The "insiders" can cook the books, sidestep regulations and dodge financial obstacles in ways the common man could never even dream of.

Your post was a valuable addition to this thread -thanks my man.