Side hustle vs. passive income. Which one is better, or is there no difference? Read on to find out the truth and what’s best for you.
Passive income is a result of an action. For example, investing in a dividend-paying stock is an action, and from there, your income generated is passive. Your activity ends being the critical point. A side hustle is an action. The income may end when the action ends, but it is passive income if it continues after the activity stops.
In this article, we will dive deeper into the side hustle vs. passive income question so that, in the end, everything will be clear. Then, we will review some examples of both so they will be easy to understand.
Table of Contents
Side Hustle vs. Passive Income? What is Better?
Definitions
Side hustle
A side hustle is making money alongside one’s primary form of employment or income. The invention of the internet has led to more opportunities for people to have side hustles that they can do in their spare time.
Passive income
Passive income is income that takes minimal effort to maintain. It may take significant action to get the ball rolling, but then your efforts stop, but the income keeps coming.
Are they the same?
Side hustles are part-time jobs. They are “side” because you do them besides the fact you have a full-time job. While side hustles are not passive income, passive income can be a side hustle.
Let me explain. Let’s say you start driving for Uber on the weekends for extra money, and you do that for a month and stop. The income, of course, stops. So Uber was a side hustle.
Let’s say you start a drop shipping website on the side. You work during the day, and you put some time developing your drop shipping website at night. Drop shipping is a side hustle, but it also becomes passive income because you are not creating, producing, shipping, or billing the products.
Which is better?
It depends on how urgent your need for money is. If you need extra income starting now, then a side hustle would be a better choice. On the other hand, if you choose one that pays you for your time, you can earn extra within a week.
Passive income is ALWAYS better if you have the patience to develop your passive income project and can put the effort in now to get paid later.
Why is passive income better?
In the long run, you will be better off financially and happier once you have income coming in that you are not trading for your time. Life is short, and you don’t want to spend all your time working, whether it is your “regular” job or a “side hustle.” Passive income is earning money while you sleep, play with your kids, go on vacation, etc.
Regular jobs that provide for passive income
There are some “regular jobs” that provide residuals that could be considered passive. Mostly these are salespeople such as insurance agents, freight sales, security system sales, advertising sales. As your clients continue to use your services, you will make residuals. While these residuals are passive, they will stop when you quit working for the company, so it is best to develop your passive income stream independent of an employer.
Conclusion
When you think about side hustle vs. passive income, it is an easy choice. Even if you have to do a side hustle to earn enough money to invest in your passive income opportunity, do it but don’t just stick with the side hustle. In the long run, all of the benefits you get from passive income will make life better. Also, passive income can start generating $200 or $300 a month and keep growing. This is because passive income has no upper limit. To learn more about passive income, you might like this article.
