Passive income is something that I hear a lot about in the FIRE community. It is also something that is flying around everywhere on the internet, on social media and dropping into my inbox on a daily basis.

Every piece of the information on the idea of passive income promises me the earth. Yet, I feel that the passive income they have is gained from my willingness to spend my income on the bulls*it that they are peddling. I am sure there are some genuine winners out there when it comes to who is promising what, but f*ck me, it is a whole lot of noise and blah, blah, blah. 

How do you make sense of all that crap?

When you do gather some understanding of the opportunities, then how do you regionalise it? 

For instance, real estate flipping in the US is a big business. In the UK, the taxman, like some sort of official Dick Turpin, will rob you of your gotten gains. The US is looser around what you can and can’t do, and the consumer is more appreciative. In the UK, well, there seems to be a downward trend of negativity built on the significant political decisions for things such as Brexit. (Stupid f*cking plan that is btw!) 

The other idea of living off your investments is a lot easier said than done. You do need to park up a lot of cash into the markets to get anything decent back in return. I will need another plan on top of this as I don’t have that much money.

Writing a book and selling it online, being an online coach, teacher or whatever else you should do is not as plain sailing as they suggest in the emails. Flogging talent on the Fivver community could be a way to go, but there is a lot on there already, so how do you stand out. Loss leader, anybody? Or should you get caught up in the race for the bottom price to grab some crumb from the table?

These ideas come dripping into my inbox, all disguised as the latest and best way to become wealthy. It is all more blah, blah and about one-way money transference—mine to theirs.

No matter how good your copy is written, I can still see through your plan to take the money from my pocket and put it into yours. To be honest, I am guessing that it works. It must, I mean the old email scams to fleece you of your money or passwords are still being snapped up by the great and the daft. So the promise of quick cash if you buy my book and fall into my sales funnel has to be effective given the scam emails are the base benchmark, and they are written by a semi-illiterate person half the time.

So how do I learn this sh*t? How do I get my passive income streams? I will have to have some ideas for when I get older and free from working for the man?

From where I stand at the moment, It all looks a bit like the Wild West. Working out who the good guys are and who are the bad guys can not be so easy as looking at who the man is dressed in black versus the saintly man in white.

There is a whole lot more mystery to identifying who to trust and who to run away from.

I think I am going to need a plan. I will need to work out how I react when I walk into that ‘passive income saloon’ and ask for a whiskey straight up, and the bartender slips down behind the bar as the person next to me squares up with a proposition I can not refuse.

The question is…

Should I pack a gun?

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