Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 180
March 17, 2017
9 Air-Cleaning Houseplants That Are Almost Impossible to Kill
What might your office or apartment have in common with a NASA spaceship? Unfortunately the answer may be poor air quality. Indoor air pollutants have been ranked among the top five environmental risks to public health: Stagnant indoor environments allow pollutants to build up and stick around in greater amounts than we humans should be breathing in. Living and working in places rife with air contaminants and lacking decent ventilation can cause “sick building syndrome,” which can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and eye, ear, and nose irritation. Lucky for us, NASA scientists have been working to understand this problem and find solutions. Their space-age solution was an easy one that anyone can use: Use houseplants to clean the air .
What’s the Deal?
Given that people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, air quality matters . Furnishings, upholstery, synthetic building materials, and cleaning products in homes and offices can emit a variety of toxic compounds, like formaldehyde. Indoor air pollution can also be caused by pollen, bacteria, and molds, as outdoor air contaminants like car exhaust finds its way into buildings. All of these are made worse in small or poorly-ventilated spaces (like maybe your apartment with that window that you accidentally painted shut last year).
The good news is that there’s an easy and affordable way to combat the presence of the yucky stuff we may be breathing in, and it comes right from the natural world. Plants purify air, making them part of what NASA calls “nature’s life support system.” Adding potted plants to a room has been shown to reduce the amount of air particulates (although plants in bloom may be contributing their own compounds to the air) .
So, how do houseplants clean the air? Plants absorb some of the particulates from the air at the same time that they take in carbon dioxide, which is then processed into oxygen through photosynthesis. But that’s not all—microorganisms associated with the plants are present in the potting soil, and these microbes are also responsible for much of the cleaning effect .
Beyond air quality, plants just make people feel better. For example, hospital patients with plants in their rooms were more positive and had lower blood pressure and stress levels . Similarly, indoor plants may make people smarter by allowing them to stay alert and reducing mental fatigue .
Your Action Plan
Although houseplants may be intimidating to those with a “black thumb” or fear of commitment, it turns out that many plants are easy to care for—so easy, in fact, you’d have to try pretty hard to kill them. Below, we’ve pulled together a list of nine virtually-indestructible plants inspired by NASA’s research.
Each kind of plant has its own favorite environmental conditions, so look for a tag that comes with the plant or online to find out how much sunlight and water it will need. If your plant doesn’t come in a pretty pot, or if it outgrew its previous one, you can easily report it. Just find a pot that’s at least now inch larger than the previous container, add potting soil to the bottom, and place the plant so that the top of the soil remains at the same level as before. Finally, carefully pack potting soil around the edges of the plant and water it. Voilà!
Garden Mum
In the NASA research, this plant was an air-purifying champion, removing ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene from indoor air. Popular and inexpensive at garden stores, they can be planted outside after they’re finished blooming.
Pollutants removed: ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene
2. Spider Plant
Spider plants are among the easiest houseplants to grow, making them a great choice for beginners or forgetful owners. A fan of bright, indirect sunlight, spider plants will send out shoots with flowers that eventually grow into baby spider plants or spiderettes.
Pollutants removed: formaldehyde and xylene
3. Dracaena
There are more than 40 different kinds of Dracaena plants, making it easy to find one that’s a perfect fit for your home or office. They’re common foliage plants with long, wide leaves that are often variegated with lines of white, cream, or red. Pet owners might want to select a different plant, however, as these are toxic to cats and dogs.
Pollutants removed: benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene
4. Ficus/Weeping Fig
Though the ficus is a tree in its native home of southeast Asia, when it grows indoors, it’s a hardy plant that ends up being between two and 10 feet tall. So why not get figgy with it? Grow this low-maintenance houseplant in bright, indirect light and allow the soil to dry out between waterings. Although this plant has some serious air-cleaning abilities, it can also be taken outside in late spring and brought back indoors when temperatures are warm and well above freezing.
Pollutants removed: benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene
5. Peace Lily
Peace lily plants are relatively small compared to many of the plants on this list, but they still pack some major air-cleaning abilities. Easy to grow, these plants will flower for much of the summer. Just be aware that those flowers (like all flowers) do contribute some pollen and floral scents to the air, so you may want to avoid having a room full of them. Put peace lilies in a shady spot and keep the soil moist without overwatering.
Pollutants removed: ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene
6. Boston Fern
These plants prefer to clean the air from a cool location with high humidity and indirect light. They’re relatively easy to grow, but they do need to stay moist. Check the Boston Fern’s soil daily to see if it needs water, and give it a good soak once per month.
Pollutants removed: formaldehyde and xylene
7. Snake Plant/Mother-in-Law’s Tongue
This is one of the hardest houseplants to kill. Although it does need to be watered occasionally, it generally prefers drier conditions and some sun.
Pollutants removed: benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene
8. Bamboo Palm
A superstar of filtering formaldehyde, these palms thrive in full sun or bright light. Part of the reason they can filter so much air is that they can grow to be pretty big—as tall as four to 12 feet high, making them exciting (and pet-friendly) indoor additions.
Pollutants removed: benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene
9. Aloe Vera
In addition to being easy to care for, aloe makes some serious health claims. The plant’s leaves contain a clear liquid full of vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, and other compounds that have wound-healing, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, and there is some evidence that aloe may help (and is unlikely to hurt) skin conditions like psoriasis .
Pollutant removed: formaldehyde
Source:
http://greatist.com/connect/houseplants-that-clean-air
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Trump budget asks for $6 billion in HUD cuts, drops development grants
The Trump administration will slash more than $6 billion in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and eliminate community development grants, according to a budget outline obtained by The Washington Post.
The Office of Management and Budget’s “blueprint” for 2018 puts HUD’s funding at $40.7 billion, down from $46.9 billion in 2017, representing a cut of 13.2 percent. The funding levels detailed in the OMB’s blueprint closely match preliminary numbers The Post first reported last week.
Throughout the OMB budget outline, the administration emphasizes its belief that local governments should be the ones primarily responsible for urban-development programs.
“State and local governments are better positioned to serve their communities based on local needs and priorities,” the budget document says.
The budget proposal would eliminate funding for the Community Development Block Grant program, which supports a wide range of urban-renewal projects and received $3 billion in funding for 2017. The decades-old grant program has been used to fund such projects as the Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans and to support Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.
Source:
I want to marry a robot
On the surface, Lilly seems like a blushing young woman ready to marry the man of her dreams who makes her “totally happy.”
Only her partner is a 3D printed robot named Inmmovator whom she designed herself, after realizing she was attracted to “humanoid robots generally” rather than other people.
“I’m really and totally happy,” she told News.com.au over email in her tentative English. “Our relationship will get better and better as technology evolves.”
The “proud robosexual” said she always loved the voices of robots as a child but realized at 19 that she was sexually attracted to them as well. Physical relationships with men confirmed the matter.
“I’m really and only attracted by the robots,” she said. “My only two relationships with men have confirmed my love orientation because I dislike really physical contact with human flesh.”
She has since built her own dream man with open-source technology from a French company and has lived with him for one year. They are “engaged” and plan to marry when robot-human marriage is legalized in France.
The unconventional relationship has been accepted by family and friends, though she said that “some understand better than others.”
She won’t reveal whether they have a sexual relationship, and she is currently in training to become a roboticist in order to take her passion into her everyday life.
While Lilly’s views will strike many as odd, it’s just a sign of things to come, according to David Levy.
The chess whiz and authority from the Love and Sex with Robots conference said he expects human-robot marriages to become commonplace by 2050, if not before.
Speaking at the second conference on the issue, held in London this week, Levy told a room filled with academics and interested people that advances in artificial intelligence mean robots could become “enormously appealing” partners within the next few decades.
“The future has a habit of laughing at you. If you think love and sex with robots is not going to happen in your lifetime, I think you’re wrong.”
“The first human-robot marriages will take place around the year 2050 or sooner but not longer,” he said.
The conference explored a host of issues on the subject including everything from what robots should look like to whether they should be able to “learn” about sexual preferences and feed back information to companies behind them.
University of London computing professor Adrian David Cheok said he believes robots will not only become common, but preferable for many people.
“It’s going to be so much easier, so much more convenient to have sex with a robot. You can have exactly what kind of sex you want. That’s going to be the future. That we will have more sex with robots and the next stage is love … we’re already seeing it.”
“Actual sex with humans may be like going to a concert. When you’re at home, you can listen to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, it’s good enough and once or twice a year you’ll want to go the Royal Albert Hall and hear it in a concert hall.
“That may be the way sex with humans is going to be. It’s going to be much more easier, much more convenient to have sex with a robot, and maybe much better because that’s how you want it.”
Source:
http://nypost.com/2016/12/23/i-want-to-marry-a-robot/
eBook Pirates Are Relatively Old and Wealthy, Study Finds
A new study has found that people who illegally download eBooks are older and wealthier than most people’s perception of the average pirate. Commissioned by anti-piracy company Digimarc, the study suggests that people aged between 30 and 44 years old with a household income of between $60k and $99k are most likely to grab a book without paying for it.
In 2017, people can download any digital content they like from the Internet, but that’s still most likely to be movies, TV shows and music. Bubbling underneath, however, is a steady demand for pirated eBooks.
Ebooks are relatively cheap when compared to other digital content, but their handy file size and ubiquity ensures that millions of titles are just a few convenient clicks away.
A new study, commissioned by anti-piracy company Digimarc and conducted by Nielsen, aims to shine light on eBook piracy. It was presented yesterday at The London Book Fair and aims to better understand how eBook piracy affects revenue and how publishers can prevent it.
In previous studies, it has been younger downloaders that have grabbed much of the attention, and this one is no different. Digimarc reveals that 41% of all adult pirates are aged between 18 and 29 but perhaps surprisingly, 47% fall into the 30 to 44-year-old bracket. At this point, things tail off very quickly, as the remaining ~13% are aged 45 or up.
There are also some surprises when it comes to pirates’ income. Cost is often cited as a factor when justifying downloading for free, and this study has similar findings. In this case, however, richer persons are generally more likely they are to download.
Around 13% of pirates have an annual household income of under $30k, with those earning between $30k and $59k making up 19% of the total. At this point there is a sizeable leap, with 36% of pirates claiming to earn between $60k and $99k per annum. Around 29% make more than $100k a year.
Overall, the majority of illegal downloaders are relatively well-educated, with more than 70% having either graduated from college or in possession of a post graduate degree.
Taken together, this means that e-book pirates are often older wealthy people with a good education, which is probably close to the profile of the average ebook reader.
Source:
https://torrentfreak.com/wealthy-older-people-more-likely-to-pirate-ebooks-study-finds-170316/
Amazon brings its voice assistant to the iPhone
Amazon has begun rolling out Alexa, its artificial intelligence voice assistant, on Apple’s iPhone via its main shopping app.
Users will need to hit the microphone icon at the top of the Amazon app for iPhone to wake Alexa up. Then users can ask Alexa to carry out tasks such as adding items to their Amazon shopping basket, or playing music through Amazon Prime Music, its Spotify rival service. Alexa can also answer a variety questions such as telling you the weather or doing simple calculations.
Alexa also has over 10,000 “skills”. These are essentially apps created by developers to carry out tasks using Alexa. Users can enable some of these skills via the iPhone.
Amazon has been making a big push to get Alexa integrated with a number of devices. It is already on the company’s Echo smart speaker, but at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, it also announced partnerships for Alexa to be on LG’s new refrigerator and even Huawei’s Mate 9 smartphone.
The e-commerce giant announced the latest move in a statement on its website on Thursday.
Scale is key for Alexa to improve as it requires large amount of data to learn. Voice assistants could also be a key driver for many companies in the future. For example, Alexa could bring Amazon $10 billion of revenues by 2020 from sales of devices like the Echo and even voice-driven shopping, according to a recent note published by RBC Capital Markets.
Amazon is encroaching on Apple’s territory by introducing Alexa on the iPhone, given that the latter has its own voice assistant called Siri. The decision to roll out Alexa inside its main shopping app won’t require users to download another piece of software. And given that Apple is the world’s second-largest smartphone maker by market share, significant adoption could give Alexa the scale it needs.
But Apple’s Siri arguably has an advantage on the iPhone because it is deeply integrated with the software on the phone and can be used to control or open certain apps, link with smart home devices, and is tied closer to Apple’s overall ecosystem. It also is quicker for a user to access Siri over Alexa as it doesn’t require an app to be opened.
Source:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/17/siri-vs-alexa-amazon-iphone-voice-assitant.html
The Happiness of Pursuit
If you’re an American and you’re not having fun, it just might be your own fault. Our long national expedition is entering its 238th year, and from the start, it was clear that this would be a bracing place to live. There would be plenty of food, plenty of land, plenty of minerals in the mountains and timber in the wilderness. You might have to work hard, but you’d have a grand time doing it.
That promise, for the most part, has been kept. There would be land rushes and gold rushes and wagon trains and riverboats and cities built hard against cities until there was no place to build but up, so we went in that direction too. We created outrageous things just because we could–the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, which started to rise the year after the stock market crashed, because what better way to respond to a global economic crisis than to build the world’s tallest skyscraper? We got to the moon 40 years later and, true to our hot-rodding spirit, soon contrived to get a car up there as well. The tire tracks left on the lunar surface (tracks that are still there) are the real American graffiti.
All human beings may come equipped with the pursuit-of-happiness impulse–the urge to find lusher land just over the hill, fatter buffalo in the next valley–but it’s Americans who have codified the idea, written it into the Declaration of Independence and made it a central mandate of the national character. American happiness would never be about savor-the-moment contentment. That way lay the reflective café culture of the Old World–fine for Europe, not for Jamestown. Our happiness would be bred, instead, of an almost adolescent restlessness, an itch to do the Next Big Thing. The terms of the deal the founders offered are not easy: there’s no guarantee that we’ll actually achieve happiness, but we can go after it in almost any way we choose. All by itself, that freedom ought to bring us joy, but the more cramped, distracted, maddeningly kinetic nature of the modern world has made it harder than ever. Somehow there must be a way to thread that needle, to reconcile the contradictions between our pioneer impulses and our contemporary selves.
Those impulses are very deeply rooted: pilgrims to the New World were a self-selected group. Not every person suffering under the whip of tyranny or the crush of poverty had the temperamental wherewithal to pick up, pack up and travel to the other side of the globe and start over. Those who did were looking for something–pursuing something–and happiness is as good a way of defining that goal as any. Once that migrant population started raising babies on a new continent, the odds were that the same questing spirit would be bred into or at least taught to the new generations as well.
And it has been. It took us 100 years to settle the continent and less than 200 to become the world’s dominant power. We snatched and grabbed and extracted, yes, but we gave back too. Happy people don’t just accumulate fortune; they invent things–the lightbulb, the telegraph, the movie camera, the airplane, the mass-produced automobile, the polio vaccine, the personal computer, social media, the iPhone. And happy people are also generous people, rebuilding other nations (hello, Marshall Plan) and donating to charities; the U.S. still ranks No. 1 among all nations in per capita charitable giving.
But what happens to a breed of people hardwired by genes or culture or both to build, build, build when most of the building is done? What happens when the sprinting dog actually catches the car? That first moon landing–Apollo 11–was a very big deal, something we had pursued like nothing else. But Apollo 12? Sort of a letdown.
It’s not as if we don’t have the financial means to keep ourselves stimulated. We spent $118 billion on travel abroad in 2012; we spend close to $25 billion per year to attend sporting events and, combined with Canada, nearly $11 billion on movie tickets. We buy ourselves an annual $140 billion worth of recreational equipment and $200 billion of electronics.
But that’s consumptive happiness, the happiness that comes not from sowing but from reaping, not from building the house but from watching TV in your new living room. That may be the goal of the work, but it’s a goal that, once achieved, can leave us feeling bored.
Since 1972, only about one-third of Americans have described themselves as “very happy,” according to surveys funded by the National Science Foundation. Just since 2004, the share of Americans who identify themselves as optimists has plummeted from 79% to 50%, according to a new Time poll. Meanwhile, more than 20% of us will suffer from a mood disorder at some point in our lifetimes and more than 30% from an anxiety disorder. By the time we’re 18 years old, 11% of us have been diagnosed with depression.
The gap between our optimistic expectations and the reality that a significant portion of the population is, of late, cranky and dissatisfied may be what has spawned the vast happiness industry. We tap that industry in a lot of ways–with pills (the Time poll found that 25% of American women and 5% of men say they are taking antidepressants), with food (48% of women and 44% of men admit to eating to improve their mood, contributing to the U.S. obesity epidemic), with self-improvement products and services (including books, audiobooks and seminars, self-improvement is a $10 billion-a-year industry, about the same as Hollywood), with borrowed wisdom (there are 5,000 motivational speakers in the U.S., earning a collective $1 billion per year). The pursuit of happiness, once an ideal, has become a big business but not an especially effective one; plenty of other countries are doing a lot better than we are without trying so hard. According to the 2012 World Happiness Report, published by the Earth Institute of Columbia University, the U.S. ranks 23rd on a 50-country happiness index, far behind No. 1 Iceland, No. 2 New Zealand and No. 3 Denmark and trailing Singapore, Malaysia, Tanzania and Vietnam.
Source:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2146449-2,00.html
March 16, 2017
20 PASSIVE INCOME IDEAS TO BUILD REAL WEALTH
Passive income streams require an upfront investment and a lot of nurturing in the beginning. After some time and hard work these income streams start to build and are able to maintain themselves, bringing you consistent revenue without much effort on your part.
Speaking from personal experience adding passive income streams to your portfolio can help you increase your earnings and accelerate your financial goals in tremendous ways.
If you want to get started earning passive income here’s what you should know first.
What It Takes to Earn Passive Income
Before we get into the passive income ideas I think it’s a good idea to first clear up a couple of misconceptions. Although the word “passive” makes it sound like you have to do nothing to bring in the income this just isn’t true. All passive income streams will require at least one of the following two elements:
1) An upfront monetary investment, or
2) An upfront time investment
You can’t earn residual income without being willing to provide at least one of these two. Today, I have a big list of passive income ideas you can try regardless of the category you fall in.
Passive Income Ideas Requiring an Upfront Monetary Investment
Dividend Stocks – Dividend stocks are tried and true way to earn passive income. You will have to do plenty of research to find good stocks and invest a significant amount of money to receive large dividend checks. However, if you consistently invest money into dividend stocks you can amass a nice residual income over time.
For any of these investment opportunities, make sure you open an account at the best online brokerage, and get rewards while doing it:
Peer to Peer Lending – P2P lending is the practice of loaning money to borrowers who typically don’t qualify for traditional loans. As the lender you have the ability to choose the borrowers and are able to spread your investment amount out to mitigate your risk. The two most popular peer to peer lending platforms are Prosper and Lending Club.
Rental Properties – A cash flowing rental property is a fantastic way to bring in a monthly income. To make this truly passive you can outsource the running of the properties to a management company.
One of my favorite ways to get started with rental properties is through crowd funding. Similar to LendingClub, you can start investing in real estate for as little as $5,000 at platforms like RealtyShares (We offer our readers a bonus to of $25 to start to off. Simply reply to the “Congratulations on Linking Your Bank Account” email with the referral code TCI25. It takes up to 30 days to process the referral code and make the payment, but it’s free money).
Another similar platform is FundRise.
The great thing about using a platform versus doing it yourself is that the income is even more passive.
CD Ladders Or Money Market Funds – Building a CD Ladder requires buying CDs (certificates of deposits) from banks in certain increments so that you can earn a higher return on your money. CDs are offered by banks and since they are a low risk investment they also yield a low return. This is a good option for the risk averse.
Right now we’re liking the Money Market offered by BBVA Bank Compass Bank. You can open an account for just $25, and they have one of the highest APY’s currently available.
Learn more here: BBVA Compass Bank Money Market Account.
Annuities – Annuities are an insurance product that you pay for but can then provide you passive income for life in the form of monthly payments. The terms with annuities vary and are not always a great deal so it’s best to talk to a trusted financial advisor if you’re interested in purchasing an annuity.
Passive Income Ideas Requiring an Upfront Time Investment
Almost all of these ideas require starting a personal blog or website. But the great thing about that is that it’s incredibly cheap to do. We recommend using Bluehost to get started. You get a free domain name and hosting starts at just $3.95 per month. You can afford that to start building a passive income stream.
Sell an eBook Online – Self Publishing is mainstream today. When you purchase an eBook off of Amazon there’s a pretty good chance you’re buying a self-published book. Self-publishing is also ridiculously easy. I tried this a few years ago and couldn’t believe how simple the process was. To self-publish a book you’ll first need to write and edit it, create a cover, and then upload to a program such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Don’t expect instant success though. There will need to be a lot of upfront marketing before you can turn this into a passive income stream.
Create a Course on Udemy – Udemy is an online platform that lets its user take video courses on a wide array of subjects. Instead of being a consumer on Udemy you can instead be a producer, create your own video course, and allow users to purchase it. This is a fantastic option if you are highly knowledgeable in a specific subject matter. This can also be a great way to turn traditional tutoring into a passive income stream!
Selling Stock Photos – Do you ever wonder where your favorite websites, blogs, and sometimes even magazines get their photos? These are normally bought from stock photo websites. If you enjoy photography you can submit your photos to stock photo sites and receive a commission every time someone purchases one of them.
Licensing Music – Just like stock photos you can license and earn a royalty off of your music when someone chooses to use it. Music is often licensed for YouTube Videos, commercials, and more.
Create an App – If you own a smartphone or tablet then it’s safe to assume you have several apps downloaded. But have you ever had an amazing idea for an app? If so, you could consider hiring a programmer to create your app for you. You could then sell it on the App store for residual income.
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is the practice of partnering with a company (becoming their affiliate) to receive a commission on a product. This method of generating income works the best for those with blogs and websites. Even then, it takes a long time to build up before it becomes passive. If you want to get started with affiliate marketing check out this great list of affiliate marketing programs.
Network Marketing – Network marketing, or multi-level marketing, seems to be on the rise. Companies such as Young Living Oils, Avon, Pampered Chef, and AdvoCare are all multi-level marketing companies. You can earn passive income through network marketing by building a team underneath you (often referred to as a down line.) Once you have a large team you can earn commissions off of their sales without having to do much.
Design T-Shirts – Sites like Cafe Press allow users to custom design items like T-shirts. If your design becomes popular and makes sales you’ll be able to earn royalties.
Sell Digital Files on Etsy – I’ve been into home décor lately and I had to turn to Etsy to find exactly what I wanted. I ended up purchasing digital files of the artwork I wanted printed out! The seller had made a bunch of wall art, digitized, and listed it on Etsy for instant download. There are other popular digital files on Etsy as well such as monthly planners. If you’re into graphic design this could be an amazing passive income idea for you.
Semi-Passive Small Business Ideas
Car Wash – It’s always been a dream of mine to own a car wash. This seems like such a great way to earn a semi-passive income. While regular maintenance will be needed at a car wash it’s something you can either hire out or perform once a week.
Vending Machines – Vending machines are another great low maintenance small business idea. I have a friend who has vending machines all over neighboring towns. He replenishes and cashes them out once every two weeks. His vending machine business is part of his retirement plan.
Storage Rentals – My cousin owns a set of storage rentals and receives monthly checks for letting customers rent these out. The only time she seems to do any work for these is when she has an opening for one of the storage units.
Laundromat – I debated on listing this one here because while in theory it seems like owning a laundromat would be semi-passive I anticipate there would be a whole lot of ongoing maintenance needed. You be the judge on this one.
Easy Passive Income Ideas
Last on the list I wanted to point out a couple of easy passive income ideas. These require no money and no upfront work. While the earnings are menial you still can’t beat easy passive income!
Cashback Rewards Cards – If you pay your bills with a credit card make sure it offers cash back rewards. You can let your rewards accrue for a while and possibly put the easy money you earned toward another passive income venture! (Be sure that the card you select doesn’t have an annual fee or you might be cancelling out your rewards).
Cashback Sites – Just like cashback rewards cards you should opt to use a cashback site when shopping online. If you don’t you’re giving up free money that requires little to no work! We just compared the two most popular sites – eBates versus TopCashBack.
How to Get Started
While it can be tempting to want to pick five passive income ideas to get started with I’d really encourage you to pick one in the beginning. You need time and the ability to focus to really a grow a passive income stream. Master one thing before moving on to the other.
It’s going to take a substantial amount of time or money in the beginning but I promise earning passive income is everything it’s cracked up to be! Pick an idea, make a plan, and dedicate yourself until that income stream comes to fruition.
Source:
http://thecollegeinvestor.com/16399/20-passive-income-ideas/
4 Ways to Think Like a Millionaire
A lot of people think that becoming a millionaire is simply a matter of coming up with a great business idea or working your way to the top of a fortune 500 company. What they don’t realize is that many people who earn upwards of 100k per year are still living paycheck to paycheck.
The road to financial independence is not based entirely on your income, it has more to do with how you think about money. There are four key components to the millionaire mindset. Mastering them isn’t guaranteed to make you rich, but it is certainly going to get you on the right path.
1. Learn the Difference Between Assets and Liabilities
We all know the traditional definition of assets. Things like homes, investments, and cash all add a nice big plus sign to your net worth. However, an asset is not just something that has value. It’s something that adds value.
Let’s say, for example, you want to buy a car. The car certainly has value, but it will not add a single dollar to your net worth. In fact, it’s going to cost you money. Every month you’ll have to pay for gas and insurance. The car’s value will depreciate as it ages, it’s value decreases every single day that you own it. This makes the car a liability.
If you were a taxi driver, the car would be an asset as it makes you money every day. But for the average consumer, a car is often nothing more than a money pit. Thinking this way will remind you to spend your money only on things that will help you grow financially.
1. Learn the Difference Between Assets and Liabilities
We all know the traditional definition of assets. Things like homes, investments, and cash all add a nice big plus sign to your net worth. However, an asset is not just something that has value. It’s something that adds value.
Let’s say, for example, you want to buy a car. The car certainly has value, but it will not add a single dollar to your net worth. In fact, it’s going to cost you money. Every month you’ll have to pay for gas and insurance. The car’s value will depreciate as it ages, it’s value decreases every single day that you own it. This makes the car a liability.
If you were a taxi driver, the car would be an asset as it makes you money every day. But for the average consumer, a car is often nothing more than a money pit. Thinking this way will remind you to spend your money only on things that will help you grow financially.
2. Identify Ways to Generate Passive Income
Most people earn their living by working a job. This is an example of an active income. You have to go to work every weekday, if you want to continue to earn. If you stop going to work, you stop making money. Your wealth is limited by how much you can work.
For most people, generating passive income is a simple matter of making some financial investments. Investing in the right stocks or bonds can earn you interest every month, without requiring any direct involvement on your part. Many millionaires look for other sources of passive income, for example investment properties that are rented out through a management agency.
Another example would be investing in online or offline businesses. Remember, you don’t necessarily have to invest money. You can also invest time. Creating a business that runs on its own, like a website, will require a little more work up front. But once the work is completed, it’s a set-and-forget system.
3. Don’t Let Yourself Be Influenced by Fear
“Buy low, sell high” is a common colloquialism used in reference to business. This can pretty accurately sum up nearly every piece of business advice you’ll find online.
Remember the economic collapse of 2008? Financial publications would have had you believe that anybody investing in the stock market during this time was simply a fool! And yet for the three years following the recession, the average annual gain was a whopping 11.9%
Billionaire investor Warren Buffet said it best himself: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”
4. Live Below Your Means
It doesn’t matter if you make $20 thousand per year or $200 thousand, it’s important that you live below your means. People have a natural tendency to start spending as soon as their income increases, but you have to save whatever money you can. Start today.
Even if you can only save $10 per month, it will be a start. Next time your income increases, whether it’s from a raise or one of your investments, try to add this money to your savings, instead of spending it upgrading your lifestyle.
The thrill of material possessions fades rather quickly. But one day, you’ll be presented with an opportunity. Maybe the perfect house for you to start a family in, or maybe a chance to invest in an up-and-coming business. When opportunity strikes, you want to make sure you have the financial resources to take advantage of it.
Source:
http://www.lifehack.org/455460/4-ways-to-think-like-a-millionaire
