https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/29/how-much-do-i-need-for-retirement/

https://wiki.earlyretirementextreme.com/

Investing in low cost, highly diversified ETF index funds. I’m currently earning roughly 3 to 4 month’s wage per year passively from interests though it’s all invested back into the fund.

You said you’re young so this especially applies to you. Time in the market > Timing the market.

Sell drugs

Beware the trap of trying harder to avoid work than it is to just do the work that you need to do get money. The internet and the world in general is full of people who will tell you there are ways to avoid working. All of which involve work anyways, but with extra steps.

A side hustle can’t be passive income. If you’re involved in the generation of the money, it’s active.

Passive income would be stuff like collecting stock dividends or money market interest. Or owning property that a management company takes care of.

Join the club. Everyone wants to not have to work or be their own boss. The latter is much easier but still difficult. Passive income doesn’t just spawn out of nowhere, it usually comes after you’ve worked at something/invested for a long time. The free methods are scams (and the scammers are also not earning passive income, it’s hard work).

Struggling to learn new things is often a matter of interest/motivation. That wiz kid in math class was likely not “better at math” than most, he just liked it/had interest and put A LOT of attention on it that people don’t see. School doesn’t give you a career but is meant to at least teach you problem solving, how to follow social rules/socializing, how to cooperate, how to plan, how to turn in work/ do presentations; or at least how to manage those expectations and navigate “people”.

People don’t like jobs but are motivated to work for something else or future goals. A job is just a means to an end for most. If you’re lucky you can find something you like and start a business, but that’s often harder than being employed. At least at first. If you discover you like buying old furniture and restoring it, you might do that for a long time before you get good enough, and before you can make a profit. If you do that for a long time and start being reputable then you can have a small business/side hustle. It’s easier than ever to start an online store to sell products or services if you want to be self employed, but it doesn’t necessarily equate to freedom, happiness or fulfillment.

Finally, whatever competent/talented person youve ever met also once sucked at what they do. Everyone sucks at first, and it often takes hundreds/thousands of hours to get good at something. Failing to find something that youre able to spend thousands of hours on is different from failing at “learning new things”. Hope this helps.

Passive income doesn’t exist. If it was possible to make money by doing nothing, everyone would be doing it. Those gurus rent out private jets and sports cars on loans to get your attention, and say “I’ll teach you my secrets” to get your money. In exchange you will get some entry level business advice that you can get from a Google search, probably with a hint of misogyny and racism. The closest you can get to a “passive income” realistically would probably be putting money into an investment account at a bank, owning a successful company and hiring people to manage it for you, or owning some property to rent out. Unfortunately, all you already need to have money for, but starting a business is definitely doable. I don’t have any experience with starting a business though so I can’t give you any advice there.

What I can offer is maybe a different way of looking at things. You were probably told so many things like you need to find your passion and chase your dreams, but I believe that that way of thinking just doesn’t work for most people. I think a “dream job” doesnt exist for most people, because your life shouldn’t revolve entirely around your job. I believe your job shouldn’t be “an End” but it should be “a Means to an End.” Your job shouldn’t be your life, it should fund the life you want. You said you were young and had no talent, you just haven’t found your talent yet. It doesn’t need to be your “passion” just something you are good at and wouldn’t hate doing everyday. I think starting a business is your best bet if you want a “passive income” and if you have an industry that you already find interesting, you might want to get a job involved in that. Find out how things should be run, and save up some money for a bit so you can branch out on your own. I hope this helps

Edit: fixed some grammar

Talent is just something someone practiced a lot. Develop a talent based on something you love and you’ll have more opportunities to earn a living doing in a career you enjoy.

You sound like you already figured this out, but all those YouTube gurus are completely full of shit. Same as the books that tell you how to make millions of dollars in the stock market. If it was that easy to be successful, why aren’t they getting rich doing that? Because they’re full of shit and selling their viewers and readers a fantasy.

So go look at the world with new eyes. Literally everything you see on any day has got a career associated with it.

See a tree? Arborist. Landscaper. Forester. Biologist.

The sky? Pilot. Meteorologist. Rocket engineer. Fireworks technician.

A house? Painter. Plumber. Insurance agent. Christmas light installer. Organizer.

Think about what you like. What’s something you liked as a child and still like today? What’s not a fad and might be something to build a career around?

The safest path is to have a boss. Let someone else run a company and invest and take risks and come home with steady pay. Most people do this. You have a boss and limited control over how you work and how much money you can earn, but it’s safe and predictable.

You can be your own boss and have way more freedom, at the risk that your business decisions determine if you get paid at all.

Or there’s all kinds of in between. But I wouldn’t worry about that kind of thing yet. Figure out what you want to do first.

There are two types of passive income: the first is where through the magic of capitalism, you benefit from the labor of others; the second is the same but it’s someone else earning money off of you. Those internet survey things are the second type, as are all pre-packaged passive income type things. It is possible to profit from them, but that would involve you scamming others, so I advise against it. I think the better path in life is to try to make a living with your own efforts.

Learning new things is hard, and it takes a long time, longer if your schooling didn’t give you a strong foundation to build from. In that case, you’ll have to repair the cracks in your foundation as you find them, which can feel like going backwards. It isn’t, but I can’t deny that it sucks to have to go back and learn stuff you “should” have mastered as a child. But you can’t change the past, and your options are either learning it now or not learning it now. Might as well do now.

Learning is also work, because what you’re learning to do is work, and you learn by doing. If the work is fun that can be a bonus, but it’s not necessary, and it can even inhibit you from expanding your toolbox if you only ever do things that are fun. I would approach your practice with the same attitude you would with household chores or personal hygiene: it’s work that needs to be done.

As to talent: I have never met anyone who had zero talents, but they are rather beside the point. If you don’t have a talent you want to pursue, then just pick a thing and start doing it poorly. You have to actually do it, even if you’re really bad at it. The doing is the important thing. Since you’re broke, I would pick something where failure isn’t prohibitively expensive, because you’ll be doing it a lot. Music is very cheap to make poorly, as is software, as are garden veggies (some of them), as are knitted or crocheted garments. Pick a thing and start doing it. It’s ok to switch things, but don’t switch just because it’s not fun. Do it a little bit every day, and soon you will have a skill. More importantly, you will have developed your skill in developing skills, and you will understand your own learning style better, which will help you in the development of other skills. You may even come to enjoy the process in time.

I don’t have a ton of advice on making money, especially now. I’m between gainful employments myself, and I’ve yet to turn my own skills into sustainable self-employment, though I do make some cash with them at odd turns. The world never really has times where it’s easy for everyone, but this does feel like a particular hard time, compared with when I was younger. I think times will get easier eventually, but it will take time and work.

Well, I wrote more than I thought I would. I hope some of that is helpful.

Short answer, not really.

To elaborate: passive income is a result of already having a lot. It could be being born rich and investing, it could mean working really hard (and/or getting really lucky) and building a company or brand and living off other people running it.

But it sounds like you want it to be easy; it won’t be. Otherwise, everyone would do it.

Possible? Maybe. Worth your time? Probably not. If something was making you good money as “passive income” would you tell anyone about it? Or would you keep it to yourself and enjoy what you have?

Most of the people who make those types of videos (hell, most videos on YouTube) aren’t real people; they’re role players trying to sell you products.

It’s ok to do a thing just because you like it. Sometimes doing the thing is its own reward. Just because it doesn’t make you money doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

Sure. I’ve sold pizza on the side of the road. I grow vanilla. People in my neck of the hood do all kinds of shit as side hustles.

sidehustles

side hustles

hey there, you can teach English a few years, it’s high pay, low hours and very cheap to live abroad so you can save fast, put your savings into index funds and get enough passive income to live indefinitely/retire. I have many posts about living/teaching abroad, passive income/retirement and some FAQs in the travel community . if you’re interested i can go as in depth as you’d like for every step.