While the rise of the gig economy is often attributed to technological advancement, it may have more to do with stagnant earnings in the UK and the desire of households to increase their regular income.
To this end, nearly half (48%) of gig workers on these shores also have a full-time job, although for 71.5% of this number, part-time work makes up less than half of their total income.
However, this highlights the potential value of having a secondary income in 2022. But what exactly do we mean by this, and what are the best methods of building such an income in the current climate?
What’s a Secondary Income?
In simple terms, a secondary income stream provides a flow of money that supplements an existing and primary source of income.
For example, you may have a 9-to-5 job and operate according to a hybrid working model, and look to make the most of this flexibility by seeking out additional, passive or part-time ways of earning.
Passive income streams are particularly popular, thanks to increasingly flexible working directives, advancements in technology and the growing accessibility of the financial markets (we’ll touch more on this below).
Passive income refers to a flow of cash that isn’t directly dependent on human activity or a direct labour transaction, and is synonymous with property rental yields and leveraged investments.
What Are the Best Secondary Income Streams?
The question that remains, of course, is what are the most viable secondary income streams in the modern age? Here are three popular examples:
- #1. Trading the Financial Markets: If you look at speculative and leveraged investment assets such as forex, you’ll observe an accessible market in which it’s possible to trade short-term price movements (both positive and negative) while optimising the size of your positions and potential returns. Trading such a market requires knowledge and a keen sense of determinism, while you should also use a so-called “demo account” to hone key strategies and minimise the risk of loss.
- #2. Sell Items Online or Drop Ship Items: You can also use the burgeoning ecommerce market to sell unwanted items online through sites like Amazon and eBay. Similarly, you can engage in a practice known as ‘drop shipping’, through which you identify in-demand items before buying these at wholesale prices and shipping them directly to customers (at retail prices). You’ll then realise the difference between these two price points as your profit.
- #3. Long-Term Investment: If you want to build more reliable and long-term income streams, you may want to consider the type of buy-and-hold investment strategies synonymous with stocks. So-called “dividend” shares are particularly valuable, as they’re highly appreciative and tend to deliver reliable and regular returns over time. This type of income stream is highly passive and ideal for those of you with a risk-averse outlook.
