The College Investor

Student Loans, Investing, Building Wealth

How To Earn More Money

Join over 30,000 people who've taken action to earn more money and make $25 right away!

Saving money is important - don't get me wrong in this. But at some point, there is a limit to how much you can save. You can't live on $0 per month. Heck, most people can't live on less than $1,000 per month. 

So, why do so many people simply ignore the other half of the equation - INCOME. Growing your income is the best way to build wealth because there is NO LIMIT to how much you can earn. So, keep a frugal mindset, but grow your income, and see your wealth grow immensely. 

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Remember, earning more money requires one of two things:

  • Time: You can leverage your time to earn more money (i.e. trading hours for dollars)
  • Money:  You can use the money you have to invest and earn more money (i.e. trading dollars for hours)

Active Ways To Grow Your Income And Earn More

  • Earn More Money At Your Job
  • Earn More Money By Side Hustling
  • Earn More Money By Becoming An Entrepreneur

The easiest way to earn more money is to simply earn more money at your day job. Maybe you can work extra hours or get overtime. You can look at ways to negotiate a higher salary, or even take on a second job to provide extra income.

A more challenging approach, but possibly more lucrative, is to start side hustling. A side hustle is a job that you do on the side of your nine to five, but you can do it on your own terms. That last part is the key differentiator between a side hustle and a second job. 

Our Favorite Side Hustles

There are infinite possibilities for side hustles. Here are some of our favorites based on experience and earning potential.

  • Drive For Uber: Driving is a great side hustle that you can do on your own terms. Sign up to become an Uber driver here. 
  • Start Selling Stuff: This is how I started side hustling - selling stuff on eBay and Amazon. Learn how I started selling on eBay and was eventually earning over $2,000 per month.
  • Do Micro-Tasks Online: This one won't earn you as much as the others, but it also requires a lot less time and effort. You can do microtasks by signing up for Swagbucks and earning a little bit everyday. If you sign up for Swagbucks through THIS LINK you can earn a $5 bonus!

Become An Entrepreneur

It is easier than ever to become an entrepreneur today (and it's basically free). Becoming an entrepreneur is a longer game of trading your time for dollars to eventually not have to do it. It's a riskier venture (not from a money aspect, but from the time it takes to be successful), but it's probably the most rewarding.

For example, when I started The College Investor in 2009, I didn't make any money online. It took about 2 years before I made my first $25. Now this website earns six figures per year, and it's all pretty passive income at this point. It took 8 years, but the time put in up front is easily made up by the revenue today.

If you want to start a blog and start earning money online, check out our free guide on How To Start A Personal Website Or Blog. We used Bluehost to start because you get a free domain name and cheap hosting at just $2.95 per month.

See, for just $2.95 on Bluehost you can start building your path to online income that could provide you financial freedom.

Passive Ways To Earn Extra Money

All of the above ways to make extra money are active - they require you to do some work to earn the income. While there is nothing that is truly passive (i.e. never requires any work), there are things that you can do that will earn income for you for a long time to come.

My three favorite ways to earn a passive income are:

  • Investing: Investing is the best way to take the money you earned and put it to work for you. Not only will your money grow, but you have the potential to earn with dividends and growth. If you want to start investing, check out Fidelity or TD Ameritrade.
  • Peer To Peer Lending: Instead of taking on loans yourself and paying interest, what if you were the lender and earned interest? That's what peer to peer lending is all about. You can loan money out to others, and get paid interest as a result. 
  • Real Estate: The number one income stream of millionaires is real estate - so why don't you get started investing in property? Gone are the days where it required a ton of money to get started. With services like Fundrise, you can start investing in real estate for as little as $500.

Side Hustle Success Stories

I personally know first hand the power of side hustling to make more money and build real wealth. Side hustling is what allowed me to pay off over $40,000 in student loan debt in less than 3 years. It's still what is allowing me to build wealth today.

But don't take my word for it. Take these stories into consideration as well:

The Power of Starting A Side Business: Alexa shares her story about making $1,600 per month before she was side hustling, to growing her income to more than $5,000 per month.