Invest in an S&P 500 ETF. This is probably the lowest effort side project you can have which still makes money. Also, if you learn about the stock market, it makes you more confident in how your savings looks, how your retirement will look, how to manage money, etc.
Do you mean like Vanguard? How do learn about the stock market, so the S&P 500 is a invest it and forget it kind of tool?
Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
381–390 of 744 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#382Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the reply. There is a clear difference between claiming extra insurance money and what I'm doing: lying to get more insurance money is fraud, while what I'm doing is exactly what the service is intended for (sending money to others for free). But using your framework of, "if everyone did this, how would this affect the business and others using the business," then I (and many others) are doing a lot of oth…
You may be following the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. The cashback was created as an incentive, you found a way to exploit the business model for personal gain in ways that can have an impact on others ability to enjoy the system while having a material impact on the provider of the service. Most in your position will say "but I am only a small piece of the cog" however, if a small minority starts…
It's not the user's responsibilty to ensure these incentives are sustainable. Look at what happened with the Hoover free flight program.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#383I raise bees and sell the honey. Good for a few thousand a year and the money makes up for the stings. I have a couple of dozen chickens and sell the eggs, but this makes very little money since eggs are so cheap in the super market. It pays for the feed and that's it. I wrote an Amazon book on how to play harmonica in the style of Sonny Boy Williamson II that sells steady and makes me beer money. I sell a couple of…
This one sounds fun - just out of curiosity, how many times a year do you get stung?
How many times a day? I usually can't get away from being around the hives without a sting. Luckily the bees are usually calm and a honey bee sting is like a bad mosquito bite. It is not like a wasp or hornet sting.
If I open the hive without gloves and veil, I can get stung, but not always. If I have to "work the hive" I have to go full bee suit to prevent being stung.
If you can't handle being stung then raising bees is not a good hobby. If you can stand it, honey is like gold, and people will hound you for it.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#384I woodwork at a local makershop, I started out making random things for my home and when I no longer had ideas for other stuff I wanted I’d make things and give them away for free to friends. Eventually other people wanted to know if I can make them custom pieces so I began doing it for money, mostly to cover cost of materials and a bit of time for labor. Not making big money from it but it’s fulfilling work and good…
What would you say the commonality is?
One big commonality I found is that a woodworking joint (dovetail, mortice & tenon, etc) is equivalent to a software design pattern. There are very well-established procedures for common problems.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#385This is inspirationally depressing. Really makes you realize what a shit human being you are when everyone is doing so many interesting things -- on the side.
I barely have enough time to work, go to the gym, and socialize. I don't know how anyone has enough time to add side projects on top of that.
Easy. I have three children. If I didn't have children, I'd have 3 Nobel Prizes by now with all that extra free time :)
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#386Breville coffee grinders are impossible to get internal parts for. I designed a 3D printed upgrade for the main wear-part in their BCG800XL and BCG600SIL Grinders. The storefront is through ShapeWays[1] and I use iFixit[2],[3] to drive the traffic. It passively makes enough to cover my own coffee needs forever. I spend about 20 minutes per month fielding questions. This all happened because my grinder failed and I co…
I saw this response to the same question several years ago. I'm glad you're still at it. Kudos.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#387Earlier quoted context omitted.
You may be following the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. The cashback was created as an incentive, you found a way to exploit the business model for personal gain in ways that can have an impact on others ability to enjoy the system while having a material impact on the provider of the service. Most in your position will say "but I am only a small piece of the cog" however, if a small minority starts…
It's not the user's responsibilty to ensure these incentives are sustainable. Look at what happened with the Hoover free flight program.
The user is the one, well, using it! Sure, in some cases it's not obvious if you're abusing the system but this seems pretty clear.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#388Investing. It takes a lot of time to have an understanding of filtering the good long term stuff from the bad short term strategies, but it's worth it.
at which price did you start buying bitcoin?
$150. At that price it was a much more risky investment. The software, hardware, regulation environment improved a lot. I bought as a high risk high reward long term investment, waiting for 1 BTC to worth millions of dollars in the next 20 years, or 0.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#389I’m working on getting my wife a job in US Congress. We’ll see how this choice pans out in two and a half years.
Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?
#390Betting on politics on PredictIt. I wouldn’t recommend it as an income stream, but having an interest in probability, markets, and international politics, it has taught me to read the news more objectively.
PredictIt was pretty fun for me until I bet ~$250 on Hillary in 2016. I haven't touched binary options since then.