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Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

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Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#511
post #89

I make $1,400/mo from Google AdSense. I made a Wordpress website for people who want to find information about other people. I don't do anything on the site anymore besides perform Wordpress updates. It's basically changed my whole life and I am very fortunate/lucky. Throwaway account.

Congratulations - that is great to hear. Is the traffic mainly from google?

85% Google

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#512

I make $1,400/mo from Google AdSense. I made a Wordpress website for people who want to find information about other people. I don't do anything on the site anymore besides perform Wordpress updates. It's basically changed my whole life and I am very fortunate/lucky. Throwaway account.

what kind of traffic and CPMs you getting? i assume most of the traffic from organic search?

About 10k visits/mo

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#513
post #13

Young hackers who have a surplus of income and have funds to spare that aren't being channeled toward debt / family / donations, heed me: save as much of your salary as you can, and put it in boring investments (index funds / etc), probably through vanguard.com (no affiliation, I just use them and have heard nothing but good things from people I trust). You can pretty easily set up your job's direct-deposit system so…

Oh, I invest the automated way too and figured that's the best way given I know this is important for nest egg and such and I want to spend as little time as reasonably possible managing investments .

For my Indian friends here (or people interested in investing in the Indian market), I'd suggest http://scripbox.com (no affiliation, just a happy customer).

I started a year ago when I was 25, and am glad I started this early(-ish).

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#514
post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Just wondering, are you using the Ireland based Vanguard ETFs (i.e. VWRL, VEUR, etc.) or the US-based ones (VTI, VGT, etc.)?

Neither :) I'm using an Amsterdam based one: https://www.euronext.com/en/products/etfs/IE00B3XXRP09-XAMS

While traded on the Amsterdam stock exchange, the domicile of the fund is still Ireland.[1]

Anyway, since you're in Europe, curious why you chose this fund (S&P 500) over something with more exposure outside the US?

[1]: https://www.vanguard.nl/portal/instl/nl/en/product.html#/fun...

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#515
post #294

i own a decent amount of tesla stock and 2016 was a great year for lending it out. since tesla is such a controversial company, lots of people want to own the stock (expecting it to go up) and lots of people want to short sell it (expecting it go down). if you're a stock holder, certain places (like interactive brokers) will let you lend your stock holdings to people that want to sell it short. you earn a premium on…

How do you set this up in IB? I have a decent amount of long positions that this seems really useful on (especially since they will be selling float regardless)

There's a FAQ here: http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/node/1838/

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> about 10 minutes of work per week on my end. ... and on the guide. > Sandpaper and a file are likely optional. They are only necessary if the 3D printed impeller isn't a perfect fit. Do you get any "support" queries from people who buy the impeller and then try to fit it, and it's tight (by your own admission a deliberate design choice) and they try to email you or return the impeller? Not trolling, genuinely curio…

About once per month. I purposely set expectations low by saying it may take a little sanding. That lets me over-deliver since it's usually a perfect fit. Also, ShapeWays has a decent refund policy and customer service for stuff under their responsibility. Also, anything that comes up that takes significant back and forth with a customer, I immediately add to the iFixit writeup. All the troubleshooting steps at the b…

> I purposely set expectations low by saying it may take a little sanding. That lets me over-deliver since it's usually a perfect fit.

Wow. This is genius. You should write a click-baity blog post titled "This Weird Trick will always get your products 5-star ratings"

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#518
post #13

Young hackers who have a surplus of income and have funds to spare that aren't being channeled toward debt / family / donations, heed me: save as much of your salary as you can, and put it in boring investments (index funds / etc), probably through vanguard.com (no affiliation, I just use them and have heard nothing but good things from people I trust). You can pretty easily set up your job's direct-deposit system so…

Earlier this year, at my last boring corporate job, I was trading stock trading stories with our head accountant. (Like the time my brother and I were trading stock tips about 10 years ago, when he turned me on to some up-and-coming German solar energy firm and I mentioned to him some small biotech company I had just read about. I invested a couple thousand dollars in the company my brother suggested and it was bankr…

> (Standard disclaimer: max out your 401(k)/IRA contributions, first.)

Minor quibble. Your 401k plan almost always has more fees than index funds at someplace like Vanguard.

1. Contribute to your 401k to get your entire company match.

2. Then max out an IRA, a Roth IRA, or a combination of the two based on your income level.

3. Only then continue to max out your 401k.

https://i.imgur.com/1rPEkGQ.png

Re: Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

#519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open an investment account in the USA - it's fairly straightforward. I don't know your tax system in france, but you can invest in the US as an individual or an entity, probably worth talking w/ a tax attorney about how to do it - it's certainly done by others.

Don't think it's that straightforward. Probably need a SSN and there will be tax withholding of earnings

Process here. Not trivial but not insurmountable.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/form-w-8ben-certificate-of-foreign-s...

https://us.etrade.com/e/t/estation/contexthelp?id=1202010000

Open an ETRADE Securities account if I'm neither a legal resident of the U.S. nor a U.S. citizen You won't be able to open a brokerage account online if you are not a legal resident or citizen of the United States because we will need some additional documentation from you. If you're not sure if you're a legal resident, see the Help topic Determine my residency status. Request a brokerage account application by mail, or download it from our Forms & Applications page. Download a Form W-8BEN. Complete sections 1 through 6 of the application (the section on options trading isn't required). Send your completed application and Form W-8BEN, along with your initial deposit and any supporting documentation, to us at: By regular U.S. mail ETRADE Securities LLC PO Box 484 Jersey City, NJ 07303 - 0484

By overnight mail E*TRADE Securities LLC Harborside Financial Center 501 Plaza 2 34 Exchange Place Jersey City, NJ 07311 1-800-ETRADE-1

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