You are finally ready to grow your wealth!
At this point, most likely you have already put in a lot of effort to clear your debts, and you have completed the hardest step in your financial transformation. On average, it takes 6 to 18 months to reach this step, depending on how much debt you have. Although it is not easy, it is definitely worth it.
Close your eyes and imagine how it would feel when you finally reach this step. Now you have $1,000 in cash and absolutely no debts except for your home mortgage. You have pushed so hard, with such intensity that you got the ball rolling and now the momentum is on your side.
Now you have extra cash every month (the amount originally used to return debt) and no financial burden whatsoever, knowing that your hard earned money do not get eroded by consumer debt interests. Again, close your eyes and breathe in. Think about how it feels like when you are debt-free except for your house and have $1,000 in cash.
Are you smiling yet?
The Power of Being In Control
You begin to see the power of being in control of your own finances and make use of your most powerful wealth building tool, your income. Without any debts except for your mortgage, your have finally escaped the muddy pool and dived straight into the crystal clear water, ready to paddle at full speed ahead.
With no bad debts dragging you down, this step should be done relatively quickly and easily.
A fully funded emergency fund actually covers 3 to 6 months of your expenses. The $1,000 you have saved up can be used to cover emergencies, but it most probably won’t be sufficient if you lose your income for any reason.
Consider it as buffer to prevent yourself from going into debt again, an umbrella to prevent you from getting drenched during a downpour. It is a rule of thumb to save up between 3 to 6 months worth of expenses, so the actual amount depends on you. But you must have a minimum of 3 months worth of expenses at your disposal at anytime.
What would it take for you to live 3 to 6 months if you lost your income? It depends, really.
If you are single and debt-free, you can most likely get away with having 3 months worth of expenses saved up and stretch it quite a bit further as long as you reduce your expenses when it is required.
If you are the breadwinner for the family and have dependents, you most likely want to save up about 6 months worth of your family expenses or 6 months worth of your regular income to pull through the rainy days.
A typical fully funded emergency fund can range from $5,000 to $25,000. Do not skip this step because it will rain, and you will need the umbrella. The last thing you want to do at this point is to get back into debt again and lose your momentum, right?
Can I Create Multiple Income Streams to Speed Up the Process?
Of course you can! In fact, it is recommended to create a side income to boost your financial transformation. It is a guaranteed way to increase your net income every month.
Income – Expenses = Net Income
There are 2 variables to increase your net income. Either you increase your income, or you decrease your expenses. However, while there is always a limit to how much you can cut your expenses, there is almost no limit to how much you can increase your income, as long as you know what to do.
This step can be done at any point of your financial transformation, in fact the earlier the better. But we choose to introduce this step after you have cleared away all your debts to make sure you have grasped the good habits of savings from Step 3 – Clear Debt Fast.
Provided you do not splurge away your extra income, you should be able to save up quite a bit and channel it towards wealth building. In fact, the easiest way to make more money is to earn more income online. Learning to make money from the internet doesn’t necessarily need special skill set or talents. Trainings and guides are out there to help you get started, and you just have to make use of it.
Investing in Long Term Active Income
Time to get serious about creating multiple income streams
To supplement your income and build wealth, you can take up extra jobs after your day, but it most likely isn’t sustainable. You won’t have much time left for your loved ones and you will get exhausted pretty quickly.
At this stage, I recommend that you invest a bit of your time everyday to start your own online business and build some long term income streams. The best part is you can get started right now for free and there are even trainings provided to kick start your business. Learn more on how you can make your own profitable website without spending a dime.
The alternative way is to start a traditional brick-and-mortar business, but you need a large initial capital and it is not practical at this stage. We do not have much disposable income and throwing down a large initial capital for business is way too risky.
Why Online Business?
With the rise of e-commerce and ever-growing population of internet users, the entry barrier to start your own online business has lowered considerably such that practically anyone with access to internet can start a business.
Online businesses often require a much smaller start up fund, have a lot of earning potential, and there are a lot of great resources to help you get started no cost at all.
These incomes can be used to supplement your day job and other side incomes that you might have.
You still want to focus on building up your fully funded emergency fund. But since you no longer have debts, starting a business at this step becomes a lot less risky and much more rewarding.
Remember — it takes some time to build up any form of sustainable, long term business. Beware of the hype surrounding online entrepreneurs.
There are simply no online businesses that can make you rich overnight, nor there is any “push-a-button-and-get-rich” online systems. Online businesses are the same as any other business — it takes time and effort to see results.
But once you have acquired the skills, it becomes much easier to maintain and generate consistent income.
To Do List
- Save towards fully funded emergency fund (3 to 6 months of expenses)
- Generate an additional income stream
This article is one of 6-step series “Achieve financial freedom in 5 years time“.
Neil
The main problem with people these days is that they put all of their efforts into jobs. Job security doesn’t exist in this day and age.
I think creating multiple streams of income is definitely the best way to make a lot of money and become financially free in life. This is how the millionaires/billionaires have done it because they’ve put their fingers in a lot of pies.
The other awesome benefit I really love is that if one or two streams fail, you’ve got others to support you. 🙂
I love the sound of a BIG river because it will certainly give you many choices in life.
Neil
Marcus
Really good article.
Having an emergency fund is a must and I do not know a lot of people that actually do have it.
It took me around 2 years to build mine up but now it’s on to the next step.
And grow that long term money. I agree with you that you can increase your income at the same time as you are building up your emergency fund as well.
But the net income should go towards the fund.
What do you think about network marketing as well? Online business is the greatest in my opinion as well because it can be started with almost zero money and you can work from home.
Thanks for the great information.
Edward
Hey Marcus, thanks for dropping by.
Network marketing can work well if you have the sales techniques and are not afraid to approach strangers for sales. You can’t be approaching family and friends forever, which is a mistake I see many network marketers do.
Online business / affiliate marketing however removes that barrier as you don’t have to approach prospects face to face. You present the product on your site and its up to them if they want to take up the offer.
For many marketers it makes a world of difference.
Bimmerguy
I’ve long been in a job that I hate and commute 60 miles each way to and from work. Creating Multiple Income Streams has long been something that I’ve been interested in to liberate me from being so dependent on a single job that I have no real interest in. Your article does an amazing job at showing exactly how to go about doing this. Thank you so much for all of the insightful information!!!
Louis
Hi Edward,
Agreed with your points. Having multiple income streams is important for sustainability. Actually it doesn’t matter it is online or offline world. Putting everything in only one income stream is vulnerable even if it’s doing well now. You’ll never know what the environment will be and you’re not in control of that. The world is changing too fast now.
Thanks for your sharing
Louis
Edward
Exactly, that’s why we hear sayings like “don’t put all your eggs into a basket”.
Andrew
Hi there! Thank you for sharing this article with us. I think you have hit the nail on the head here with a few things. I’m finding it quite hard to clear my debts and so I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say about that. But I have already started trying the example that you gave about setting up an additional income stream. It appears to be a very good system and I hope it will bring me some good profit. Thank you!
Edward
Hey Andrew, persistence is the key. You’ve already been introduced to the methods, what’s left to put then into action. If you find some unused items, sell them off and put the proceedings towards paying off the debt. If you get a bonus at work, put it towards clearing off the debts. If you manage to earn additional income, put it towards paying off the debt. You get the idea.
Derek Marshall
Hi there,
One of the best articles on finance I have read period! I, personally hate getting involved in debt and have never done so. Without debt there is no inflation. The two are directly linked.
Multiple income streams, I currently have, like many, just one income stream, I am currently working hard on a second income stream.
That Swedish proverb is awesome I defo going to write that one down.
Afees Alli
Honestly, If you can have a successful online business, that is the best way to go. I just recently created two websites online and I am hoping it will go to the next level. Great website, and keep up the good work, we need people like you to empower others on how to create income online.
Edward
Good job on taking actions and working towards your goals. And thanks for dropping by!
Shannon
This is some great information! We currently only have our mortgage as debt, all cars/vehicles are fully paid for and we have no credit card or other debt. We don’t have the newest cars, but it is great to have that extra money. We have attempted to cut our spending, but as a family of 6 it is a challenge. The extra income stream is something we need. I will check out your recommendation…. how long does it take to get a website up and running?
Edward
You can set up your website and get it up and running within hours (for the inexperienced), however it’ll take some effort and consistency to build it into an income stream.
But it’s definitely the most economical way to start a business, which has the potential to replace your full time income eventually.
tatihden
Thanks for this post. It help me feel better about investing in an online business. I have been second guessing myself, especially since I am still to see any financial benefits.
This post reminded me that it is a long term investment and that I have to be patient.
Great job! Keep it up.
Edward
Persistence and consistency is the key to successes. Don’t give up, but keep learning and improving. There will be a time where your efforts pay off.
Riaz Shah
Hey there Edward,
I love this post. creating multiple income streams is more important today than ever, especially with today’s rising cost of living and high inflation (Especially here in Malaysia).
Online Business is thriving now more than ever and I love that we need to put in effort in order to succeed as there is no shortcuts to success. I hope you will be able to help many people with this post, keep inspiring!
Edward
Thanks Riaz, I’m from Malaysia too! I know how the cost of living has been on the rise, especially with the introduction of GST.
Realizing the importance to create multiple income streams is in itself a big step forward. Good luck!
Tanaquillo
I love the idea of having multiple income streams especially now that I’m in a position where I don’t have any debt apart from my mortgage.
I’m still working on the online business side of things but I find it difficult to find the time to work as much as I’d like to on my websites. What do you think about getting into freelance type work online? I’m afraid that if I do, it will eat into the precious little time I already spend on my site…
Edward
First off, congratulations on being debt-free! Mortgage is the only one thing that can’t be cleared quickly. You are well on track to financial freedom!
Regarding your websites, it really depends on what your current priority is. Are you looking to generate some fast cash? If you are, getting into freelance type of work will generate immediate cash flow for you.
If you are looking at the long term prospect, I would say spending time on building your own business is more important.
Maybe you can get the best of both worlds by outsourcing some of your website works to a virtual assistant, and spend time doing some freelance works yourself?
Arif
Excellent advice. I have already gone through all steps naturally and thus me ending up with online business before bumping into your article.
The site gives you clear steps and clear guidance. I would suggest anyone reading this to follow it.
Increase income reduce expense and try and accumulate further income from other sources such as online business. Any quick rich schemes are a scam. Hard work pays off.
Edward
Your last sentence sums it all. Hard work not only pays off, it gives dividends too.