I recently went through my first experience of buying a house. (Yay me!)
Many of my former high school classmates have done this task already. I know this because they seem to love posting the cliche photo of them in front of their new house holding a giant key or a “sold” sign. Don’t get me wrong, that is super exciting, I’m happy for them and what they’ve achieved! But that’s not what I wanted for myself.
This house is not for me.
As in, I do not intend to live here long term. This house is not my labor of love that I will make into my own. This house is not for me to raise a family in, or even to host my existing family for holidays.
“Well if it’s not for you, then why did you buy a house?”
Ok, so I guess it technically is for me. But not for me to live in in the traditional sense. I bought this house for my future. It’s a duplex. (Which for those of you that don’t know, it has two separate, but connected units.) I have recently moved into the west unit, while I have a tenant in the east unit. My tenant pays over half off my mortgage. And when I move out? The new renter in my side will more than cover the rest of it.
If all goes to plan, I should have an income of a couple hundred bucks from this place. Of course, most of that will go into savings so I can make repairs when needed (yay homeownership) but once I have my number saved (which I have set at about $20,000) the rest will be put towards my next property.
“Ok, so you own more than one house. What’s the point in that?”
The point? The point is that I want reliable sources of income. From more than one place. My paycheck from my job is ONE source of income. If that job no longer pays me, I’m in a world of hurt. But if I have income from other sources, then I can at least stay afloat.
The main goal is to have enough income from properties (after the mortgage, maintenance, and repair costs) to live comfortably without a job. AKA financial independence! (You could also call this retirement, but I don’t plan to stop working. I’ll just do whatever I want to without the amount I’m paid being an issue.) The goal is many years away, and I’m not in any hurry to reach it because thankfully, I enjoy my job. I don’t intend to stop doing what I do anytime soon!
But it is a goal none the less, and a goal that I believe more people should have. Not buying properties per say, but creating multiple streams of income for themselves.
If you lost your job today, what would happen?
- Would you have to frantically find a new job to pay the bills?
- Could you hang out for a month or two before becoming desperate?
- Would you be unaffected as you didn’t rely on the income anyways?
Whatever the case is for you, you should strive for “unaffected” (unless of course, you’re already there. Great! Please contact me and tell me how you did it, ok?!).
There are endless ways to create multiple streams of income, but all of them take time.
You wont be able to create more income streams overnight. That’s why I’m starting now, and why you should too! It’s never to late to open an investment account and buy index funds or bonds, or to create a product that you can sell, or to buy a house that provides some extra cash after the necessities are paid. (Of course there are more options, but that could be a post all in itself!)
Basically what I’m saying is, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
If one thing fails, have other things that can support you. How can you take risks if you’re too afraid to fail? By creating multiple sources of income you reduce the fear of poverty, thus allowing the freedom to take more risks. Now, as a single person I don’t have a family relying on me. But if you have children that depend on you, multiple sources becomes even more important!
So do this for you, do this for your kids, do this for whomever you please. All I ask, is that you do it! And when you find a creative way to provide yourself another source of income (refinishing furniture perhaps?) let me know! I love to hear how creative people can be!
Unicorn Living 
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