This tweet apparently sounded more heretical than I thought it would.
So let me explain, with an example from this week ...
So let me explain, with an example from this week ...
Yesterday I earned $300 in passive income. A $15K treasury bill I bought in Jan expired on 10/31 and yielded $300. Not very interesting. Maybe the only interesting thing is that 9-mo treasuries are down to 1.5% now from 2.5% in Jan, so those yields are bye bye now! ...
Incidentally, today I also earned ~$300 in active income. It was a paid phone consultation for a company that found me on Twitter.
I traded some of my time for money. ...
I traded some of my time for money. ...
Consulting on the phone isn't my 1st preference for making a living. Far from it. And I was in the middle of something important, so the timing wasn't great either. And I have $940K in the bank, so I didn't really need the $300. — Why did I take it? Because it's interesting! ...
It's interesting enough that I will probably remember those 60 mins for a while. There's a little story around it (how they found me, why I took it, what they wanted to know, etc), and it feels really good for someone to pay you voluntarily for your direct contribution! ...
You can buy the same things with a $100 bill whether it's earned passively or actively. But they're not the same $100. Just how earning $1M on your own is not the same as inheriting $1M or winning the lottery. The first one is an interesting story. The others not so much. ...
Passive income is great, but it cannot substitute the feeling of validating your direct contribution. I think if I stopped seeking active income, I would miss that feeling. It would leave a void in me. And my life would be less interesting.
