The other day I wrote a post about getting a second job to easily increase investment potential significantly, and at work yesterday, I mentioned it to one of my colleagues - who looked at me like I was a crazy person. Doubling the amount one can invest by trading a couple handfuls of hours doing some odd job like stacking shelves per month, doesn't seem like a bad deal to me, but to him, it would have cut into his time too heavily, making it not worth it.
He also said,
when you are stacking shelves, I will come see you.
And I think this is the real reason that so many people won't do it, because they are embarrassed and think that it is beneath them. But, is it really that embarrassing still, or is side hustling common enough that people could accept it as normal?
What I did remind him however was, I am already doing this, as while I am not stacking shelves, I do have a small consulting business I operate and, of course my crypto activities on the side of full-time employed work. This means that I am earning additional euros and because it is a small business, I am required by law to also pay into a superannuation fund, on top of what I pay in through my salaried work. Plus, this extra gives me the possibility to for example, save over the last few years and give the possibility to renovate the kitchen without extending our debt exposure. Once the renovations are done, it will also bring in a trickle here and there to cover the rising costs of living and possibly, give a little to invest into a crashing market.
Then through Hive, Splinterlands and the trickles coming in through LPs, I am able to invest further into crypto or at least, not have to use it to cover my life. While volatile and carrying risk to hold it in crypto, the upside potential is high enough to warrant accepting the risk exposure and rolling the dice.
As I was saying to some friends the other day, the upside is so high, that it is crazy that they (already investing) aren't putting 5% of their regular investment into crypto projects. Losing it might make them feel stupid of course, but it isn't catastrophic to their holdings to lose, but if it does go 5x or 10x in the next couple years, the return will likely cover the same return as the other 95% of their holdings.
Let's work with 5x on crypto, where their traditional holdings are getting 10% return a year. If they start with 1000 in total and put 50 into crypto for a 10x gain in two years, they will have 500 dollars worth of holdings, for around about a 250% gain a year. The other 950 getting 10% however, will be valued at 1150. So, 450 extra from the 50 initial investment and 200 extra from the other 950. And that is at 5x, however depending on what they are buying, it could be 10x, or 100x - so picking up some penny coins, with 10% of the 50, might very well double, triple or go more than the other 90%.
Upside potential is hard to recognize and accept, because we are generally risk and loss averse, meaning that we don't want to lose anything, even if the amount is quite insignificant to our outcomes on the traditional side and, the loss of it isn't going to impact too heavily either.
And, this is part of the reason that I think the extra job can help people also, because if one goes in with the intent to invest all of that earning anyway, there isn't the same challenge to actually do what is intended, as it is extra money. And, once there is more money coming in that is investable, it is easier to put a slice of that into more risk-seeking investments, like crypto.
If someone who was putting away 400 a month to invest, while earlier they were too risk averse to use it in crypto, if they could double it with a second job, the barrier is lowered to put Some of it into crypto. For example, they could increase their traditional portfolio from 400 to 600, and still put 200 into more risk. Two years down the track, their investment portfolio on the traditional side is looking much healthier than it was, and if things pan out, the crypto side is looking very healthy.
Are they embarrassed still?
Maybe, but it is also possible that after a couple years, they have got accustomed to the habit of the second job, maybe even enjoying it a bit and, they are also getting the results of their portfolio growth. Sure, they might still be stacking shelves for a few more years, but a few years past that, they also may be able to retire comfortably, while all the people's whose opinions they were worried about, will still grinding away at a job until they are 70.
There are always opportunities and with all of the vacancy notices in the shop windows and the economy getting set to collapse, a second job is not just a possibility to combat the rising cost of living, but giving that little extra to build a portfolio during the bear market. The difference a person can make over the next few years to their financial outcomes could be quite extreme, if only they weren't too embarrassed to stock a shelf or flip a burger.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
