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Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#201
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's completely false. You can love your kids but still find it non-relaxing to take care of them. Just ask... literally any parent.

Don't ask me... Spending time with the kids, looking after them or not is super relaxing. It's the best bit of life.

How old are your kids?

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#202

Exercising options in a startup that I was convinced wasn't going anywhere but had great tech, and would be a decent acquisition within a year or two. Turns out, they shook off both their doldrums and their VC-fueled overambition and started throwing off cash. The first dividend check alone quadrupled my investment cost, and they're still going strong.

Since most tech companies don't pay dividends, I'm very curious as to which company you're referring to.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#203

this is like asking a fisherman where his best fishing spots are

not really... because you WANT people to hear about your income streams, because that's how you get more income from them. there are a bajillion worthwhile business ideas... they're a dime a dozen (and that's paying too much). The problem is IMPLEMENTING them, which essentially no-one ever bothers too. way more folks who hear you idea will say "shit, i wanna use that" than "i'm going to spend a year of my life making…

What's the best way to learn to implement ideas (and in a way that leads to a profitable business)?

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#205

I actually have a few: 1) Board member (advisor really) of a crypto/blockchain company. They pay me $5k per month to basically answer questions and help solve certain issues that might arise. There's also regular meetings but all in I spend 4 hours per week max. 2) Small contractor jobs. I was a contractor and home builder in a previous life. These days, I do side jobs both for the extra income and as a way to relax…

WRT #1: How does one get a board position for roughly $1k/hour?

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#206
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to put more in to your 401k

You're probably right, on looking up the details it's actually $120 per weekly paycheck, matched by my employer, so it's not so bad as the estimated $100, especially if you assumed that was monthly, but that's still not on-track for my retirement target. I also haven't poured much into the Roth since my eldest was born. But kids are expensive... (Also, I see I also need to use more of that ~4 weeks of vacation I've s…

Your comments remind me of Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#207
post #204

Dealing MtG[1] cards on eBay. [1]: Magic: the Gathering.

What a coincidence - that is actually the worst income stream I ever created.

I was working at Software Etc.[1][2] in 1995 and used my employee discount to buy 12 boxes of Fallen Empires. I was certain it would make me (relatively) rich.

Five years later I sold them all on ebay for, basically, even money. FE was so overprinted that it had no value at all and I don't think I would have made any significant money until after 2010.

[1] Southdale Mall in Edina, MN - the first shopping mall.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southdale_Center

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#208

Software consulting. You’d be surprised how many little businesses out there have a need for custom software. I make about $60-70k/year in my spare time (maybe 10 hours/week) doing everything from adding features to legacy products, building brand new applications and even simply conducting technical interviews. It’s also pretty nice to work on something besides the usual thing at work, experiment with new/different…

How do you start this? It can't be as easy as a website and some online ads right.

Mostly word of mouth. Friends, past and present colleagues, etc. I even went part time at a job once instead of leaving altogether for another full-time job. It helps to have a good reputation. Often those positive relationships pay off over time without any solicitation whatsoever.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's right around 30-35 hours per week. Not to toot my own horn but I am very good at what I do, which is software & data engineering. Most importantly, both are jobs that have a large and talented support system of fellow engineers, scrum masters, product owners, and management. In fact, that's precisely why I took these two. My previous jobs were extremely stressful and left me no time for anything outside of…

I'm sorry but I still don't get it. I've never had a job where being very good at it left a lot of free time during which to be very good at another job. It just left free time to move more things along more quickly or improving things. Like, I think mechanically I understand what you're saying; I think you're saying that each week or couple weeks or month or whatever, you commit to projects sized to fill about 50% o…

How so hard to understand? There’s an acceptable level of work at a company and this guy is meeting it without having to use 40 hours a week.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#210
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still think index funds like Vanguard Total World is good to invest in now, as you watch stock market slowly losing steam this year?

I do not know, but I am not changing strategy. This year, just like I did for the past 10, I invested all my paycheck savings into VTI/VXUS despite suffering 6 figures unrealized losses from them. I plan on doing the same next year, and for as long as I am employed/have disposable income. Every spare dollar I find, outside of my emergency fund, gets immediately invested.

Investing if like being a batter where you get to choose when to swing and have an unlimited number of pitches. Just wait for that slow easy one, and hit a home run. -- poorly paraphrased Buffett quote
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