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Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

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81–90 of 169 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#81
I built an Alexa app a few years ago for an Amazon-sponsored hackathon. Apparently it has a bit of a user base still, and for some reason Amazon sends me about $50/quarter. I don't know how the app is being monetized, it certainly wasn't something I did.

Also, because my app uses API Gateway and Lambda as a backend, Amazon gives me a $100 credit on my AWS account every month to cover the costs. My costs for the app are about $10/month, so the other $90 are used for various other activities.

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naked pics/videos and functional programming tutorials.

I know about first, but second is what I think would be interesting.

I'm definitely not the best at it. I'm in the middle of job applications right now so I'm not going to push all my chips in on marketing myself in case a hiring manager finds it distasteful. And it's almost certainly not the best way to get FP content: there are definitely monetized youtube channels that have a lower barrier to entry for viewers. And of course there are pornographers producing more and better content. But I'm having fun. Kinda at a weird midlife crisis point so I might as well take my shot right?

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#83
post #5

I made a web app that turns Google sheets into beautiful web pages in 3 easy steps. https://sheetUI.com it's still lacking in many ways, but I'm working on a V2 with paid features that'll be launched soon.

Love this, definitely have uses for it in the future.

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#85
Opened a truly passive income Etsy shop that's printable cards[0] and another of Christmas ornaments that's largely passive (I just have to run the designs through my laser cutter and package them)[1]. I anticipate that one to ramp up in the coming month (if favorites/views are any indicator).

My biggest income maker has actually been the least passive: dollhouse furniture[2]. Even then it's only like a couple hours of work a week, and I cleared four figures my first month open (this past month). Plus, it's really fun to design and build tiny furniture.

[0] http://printyay.com [1] http://treeyoself.com [2] http://rathersmall.com

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#86
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You give me too much credit -- it's a really boring approach. My portfolio used to be about 50/50 in fixed income securities and real estate. I got lucky with the real estate, and I got out because I didn't think my luck would last forever. Now my portfolio is made up entirely of fixed income securities and blue-chip stocks that pay dividends. The dividends and interest payments are laddered such that I recieve at le…

How long did it take you to amass a portfolio like this? Seems like it would take decades unless you have a very high salary.

It's a function of percentage income saved, not amount earned. The formula is (income / investment rate / percent income saved). If my investment rate is 4%, I need to save 25 years worth of salary. Saving 50% of my salary looks like I would need 50 years on the surface. However, my portfolio generates income from day 1, so it's actually a lot faster than it seems.

Just for reference, I was living on less than $750/month until I got married. The companies I worked at had plenty of free food. I didn't need a gym membership because the handyman work I did on my investment properties was more than enough. Until we had kids, my spouse and I were still able to survive on less than $1,000/month. We are based in the south SF Bay Area. We had 100% income replacement by our mid-30s.

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#88

I am a serious practitioner of the FIRE (Financially Independent, Retire Early) philosophy. Over the years, I have accumulated assets in a very conservative portfolio. This portfolio has reached a point where it has consistently generated over 150% of my base salary for more than 5 years.

Easy when your base salary is super low :D

If not, gz to making your dream.

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#89

I co-run http://vsual.co . We make five figures of monthly revenue, and generally my partner and I work 8:30-10 AM before our "regular" jobs. We're growing at a moderate pace—for now this is passive(ish) income, but one day we may dive all in.

If I had a side project that was bringing in five figure monthly revenue it would become my regular job pretty quickly. Are you hesitating because you don't think the revenue is going to last?

No, the revenue seems like it will last. But revenue is not profit, and I have a family to take care of and I'm the breadwinner. Plus, my regular job is good. Leaving my regular job for VSUAL right now would mean a 20x reduction in income, and I can't support myself on that. In time, hopefully that divisor gets smaller.

Re: Ask HN: What is your passive income 2020?

#90

I co-run http://vsual.co . We make five figures of monthly revenue, and generally my partner and I work 8:30-10 AM before our "regular" jobs. We're growing at a moderate pace—for now this is passive(ish) income, but one day we may dive all in.

This is a really cool site. Will buy some art from here! Congrats man

Thanks for the kind words! We'd love if you bought some art from us :) Our artists would too!
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