Passive income isn't a luxury any longer

Understanding the concept of passive income is as basic as understanding our need to eat.  I like to eat.  I have always enjoyed eating.  Why would I ever think that I won't want to continue to do that in the future?

The process looks like: I work, bring in money, buy groceries.  My parents bought the groceries when I was a kid  And they worked and brought home money to have that happen.  I really like that they did that for me, even if I didn't appreciate it until I had to buy my own.  

Stay with me here.  My Mom is 77 now.  She does buy her own groceries still, but definitely not with the same process that I go about it.  She doesn't work and bring home money.  She takes her handy dandy SS check and my Dad's pension check that is directly deposited into her account on the 1st of each month and purchases the things she needs.  As a matter of fact, she pays her taxes that way.  She also pays her utility bills, phone bill, home maintenance, clothing, and even her weekly casino slot entertainment she likes to do to pass time...all from money that "just lands in her checking account."

Somewhere along the way most of us will be buying our groceries in a manner very different than how we do it now-assuming you are currently capable of working for money.  We all must find a way to generate income through our entire lives.  I have heard the famous "I will just work until I die" line over and over.  That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, ...(read more)
 and people should stop saying things that they inherited from someone else.  Saying that is just ignorant.  It's not a smart route to pick anyway because you don't have much control over it.  My oldest brother has been permanently disabled and therefore unable to work since he was 34 yrs old.  He buys his groceries a different way (SS disability and workmans comp) and he didn't plan that.  So needless to say he won't be "working until he dies."

I know right now you are thinking this doesn't apply to you AT ALL.  Yes it does.  Unless you have solid results to show in the area of investment balances or passive business income, you are dreaming.  Wishful or positive thinking doesnt amount to reality.  Action is reality.  Are you taking action in these areas...the only 2 areas that will allow you any comfort in the future when you are not actively working for an income?

Back to my Mom who is 76.  She is very arthritic.  She is not going to work until she dies.  She hasn't worked in years and is completely incapable of it.  She didn't plan it that way either. So please please please begin to come up with another plan.

Now I'm being a bit ridiculous with the description of how we are going to eat.  Or am I?  Since I have yet to meet someone between the ages of 20-40 that says that their goal in the future is to live on Social Security (benefits?), I would venture to say this was an accident for most people who are now living on it at 70.  They were once aged 20 and 40 too.  If their goal was not to live on SS- then what was the plan?  

I distinguished ages 20 - 40 year olds specifically that don't typically have SS in mind for their plan because I have met many people in their 50's and up who will tell you they will be depending on it.  This is only by default though.  This is from resignation once they realize their time is too short to recover (which by the way is not even true, but it is for those you who believe that unfortunately).  Oh and yes, we must account for the ones that had a plan, and even the ones that worked their plan, and had an unexpected catastrophe.   Is that what happened to almost everyone? Is that what is happening for you? Statistically it is pretty ugly out there.

The only 2 ways to provide a sufficient income to ourselves later in life when we are unable to work or would like to enjoy ourselves, (and one that is also at all in our control), is an investment income and/or a business income.  And because I believe there to be very little real certainties available to us, my suggestion is to have a few of each as back ups.

I know you don't believe that you will be dependent on an SS income, but let's look at our country as a whole.  That way you can start to distinguish for yourself why you do not or will not be in that majority.

Social Security Income, which in anyone's standard is not sufficient, and will probably not get any better. The other traditional income is a Pension.(for the few "lucky" people of course). These are vanishing quickly.  These (2) sources are the main sources of income for our retirement community at this point. So imagine our retirees, our families, our parents, who are in that age group and picture them without their SS income and/or their pensions. What would it look like if that money were suddenly not direct deposited into their bank accounts? Fast forward just a few months and I say chaos. I say homeless and hungry, and statistics support this.

Many children of that generation-that's my generation- are check to check mostly. So are they the ones that would pick up the slack? OK, maybe some of them will, but the standard of living just went down again. And what about for the elderly that wouldn't have someone step up? What then?  Is India's plight regarding their elderly too out of reach for the US?

So what is the solution? We currently have a generation of 20 somethings that are attempting to repeat what their parents did, namely work for a company that has similar benefits that their parents shad. It doesn't exist anymore.  It is rare enough at this point that we really shouldn't be thinking it is a viable option.

If this is you, please stop searching in hope of being the lucky one, or the better one, or the one that stumbles on to something?  Your life shoudl not be based on a game of chance.  You'r e better than that.

Passive income (residual income) is a necessity. It's a tragedy that our majority doesn't even know what it is. They have never heard the term passive income. It is through learning the definition of passive income that people begin to understand.  It is obviously not difficult to understand that we all need an income forever.  It's just so interesting that most of the public has not given the required thought to their lives past about the age of 60.  Or if they have, they are depending on sources that are not in their control and hoping for the best.

So most of us fall into just two camps.  The I don't know what passive income is camp, or the I know what it is and Im not taking enough action camp.  Neither are fun ones to hang out in too long.  

Get in control.  Start a business part time with the intention of it generating income well into the future.  Start investing.  And if you are already investing...invest more. Time goes fast.  You can do this. Stop thinking I will soon or I will as soon as I ____.  Most of those stories end up ugly.

Let me know what you think about this dilemma!

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