The Passive Income Myth: How to Create a Stream of Income from Real Estate, Blogging, Stocks and Bonds

by Joseph Hogue

You've seen the book titles. They start with, "How to," and end with some ridiculous promise of a six-figure income or the word, "from home." Search for 'How to make passive income' in Google and you're blasted by more than seven million results. You can practically feel the swindlers screaming out at you from the screen. Making money on your investments is a powerful draw and ripe for all kinds of scams, scoundrels and shysters. But in the fiction, there's a little truth to be found. The truth that more than a few people have built massive success stories through the four most popular strategies. The truth that many of the strategies can be started in your spare time and require little cash to get started. This book is about that truth. The Passive Income Myth is your opportunity to cut through the B.S. and scams to see how money really can be made in four passive income strategies. I have been involved in every strategy described. Knowing what I have picked up over the last twenty years will save you years of time learning and mistakes made. Each strategy can be read separately or as a part of a complete system to put together true passive income potential. In this book you'll learn: - The exact process I used to make more money on blogging that 81% of bloggers in less than a year (page 46) - 5 simple criteria I use to pick dividend stocks that will create stable cash flow forever (page 88) - The fixed-income investment that is replacing bonds as the safety and income investment (page 122) - Sources of special real estate loans with as little as 3.5% down (page 12) - The step-by-step process to value residential real estate (page 16) - How to invest in real estate without the tenant headaches or even touching a property (page 30) - An investment that has nearly doubled the annual return on stocks over the last 20 years, and has another 20 years to go (page 99)

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2015

About the author

I love talking investments and personal finance!!

*Stop by my two blogs: PeerFinance101.com and Crowd101.com *

Born and raised in Iowa, I graduated from Iowa State University after serving in the Marine Corps. I started my professional career as a commercial real estate agent and in corporate finance before finding my passion for investment analysis. I still love real estate as an investment and have managed my own rental properties since 2002.

After working as an investment analyst for nearly a decade, I decided to start two blogs on personal finance and crowdfunding. Finance in America is opening up to everyone through peer lending and crowdfunding and it is helping people do some pretty amazing things. I enjoy talking about how people can use the two 'alternative' funding sources in their everyday financial lives.

I've appeared on Bloomberg as an expert in emerging market investing and have led a team of equity analysts for sell-side research (stock investing research). Besides running two blogs, PeerFinance101 and Crowd101, I still work as a freelance investment analyst for advisors and institutional investors.

I hold the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the gold standard for ethical and professional conduct in investment management, as well as a Masters in Business and dual degrees in finance and communications.

Reviews

[MangoLoverReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 - Sound high level overview. Simple, short, and straight to the point ideas in on place. Nothing new or earth shattering. Gives the basics and some things to consider.

[Anca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing is created. Nothing is destroyed. Everything changes.

I guess many people get greedy and forget about the principle of Lavoisier. Income becomes passive only when you have a strategy and put a lot of work upfront in building the system and the trust behind it.

This book brings true value in setting out the myths behind it by analyzing four types of passive income: real estate, blogging and online stores, income investing (mostly dividends) and bonds. What I appreciated most is that the author has personal experience with all these and created a scale with all these regarding which ones are closer to myth and which ones are closer to true passive income. The less upfront work needed, the smaller the return on investment. You decide whether you invest time and energy when you have no or little cash or whether you invest upfront cash if you have it.

Nobody gets rich with investing in stocks and bonds, but people get richer if they already developed a business of some sort or inherited that money. My favorite chapter was on blogging and online stores. I love the challenge of developing an online asset and I love writing, so this mix is my favorite strategy. I wish more people knew about passive income and the truth behind making it work, whether they are young and have the energy to build a legacy or they are older and have the cash, but they don't know where to invest it.

[Tylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dude..... really? Save your money. all the same information can be found at google.com. I think this author actually googled things and reworded it to be his own. Nevertheless I bought the book, and that's passive income for him, so touché

[CHAD L MCLEISH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, concise and on point

This is a great read. Brutally honest, no sugar coating and he passes on years of hard earned experience. Well worth your time. Highly valuable.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful. Shared some ideas I had not known about that I plan to use for wealth building.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid primer. Good sections on MLPs and tax liens, topics that many similar books leave out. Good for beginners.

[Kirk G. Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good ideas

The book provides some good information and goes into some areas for passive income that most would not think of. The idea of peer lending was an interesting one I had not heard of so I will definitely be looking into that to see more how it works. But overall an easy read and full of useful information.