While the linear income is what will get you from day to day with fairly consistent earnings. The passive income has the power to do so much more. Finding a balance between how much time is allotted to both forms of generating an income is important to one's future success.
The Linear Income
A linear income involves doing the work once and being paid for it once. This is what most people do with regards to a casual or full time job. The obvious benefit of a linear income is that it provides a fairly consistent income on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.
It is possible with this kind of income to plan and cover the cost of expenses. As long as work is carried out, the result should be pay that can help to pay bills and possibly even save a little.
The Benefits of a Passive Income
A passive income involves doing the work once and being paid for this work many times over. An example of this may be writing and publishing a book. The book once finished doesn't require any further work and yet each time this book is sold, it generates income. This can continue as long as people want to purchase the book.
Another such example is this website, Suite101.com. One article can be written and continue to generate money. It is possible however to become disillusioned about the idea of a passive income as the resulting income initially can be very minimal and slow to increase.
Once it is effectively established however, it is possible for some passive incomes to overtake that of the value of a linear income, resulting in the earner not needing to work anymore. The passive income needs to be seen as a long term investment that has the potential to generate incredible results.
Consistently Working on Both Forms of Income
Because a linear income shows almost immediate results, people can get caught in the trap of seeing a passive income as being of no value to them. For those who genuinely would like to live off a passive income in the future, the hard work must be put in now.
The linear income is definitely important and each worker should dedicate the necessary hours to carry out their usual job and earn an income. However, as this is done on a consistent basis, so too should work towards the passive income.
It’s worth making it a habit once the normal job has been performed for the day or week to seek out ways to work on the passive income. If this is done in small increments on a daily basis, it is possible over perhaps a 2 – 5 year period to build up a substantial passive income.
The most important factor of this is to consistently be working towards it, little by little on a very frequent basis. Consider how to make use of what is often considered ‘dead time’.
Chris Thomas - C. Thomas has studied and worked with horses since 2001. She teaches horse studies part time and is undertaking an Equine Science ...
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