Conquering Barriers on the Path to Passive Income

Passive income is something that many of us who are becoming financial conscious want to achieve.

The prospect of money hitting our wallets without actively working for it is a good feeling.

For one, more free time is afforded to us to do other things that interests us and this can lead to an upward spiral of many other benefits.

But before breaking free to the other side, there's business that needs to be handled. Which are the roadblocks towards achieving passive income.

You see, we can't choose where to drop off on the map but we can always choose the direction to go.

In my view, passive income isn't a destination per se. It is a means to an end like everything related to money.

From personal observation and experience, I discovered two main barriers on the passive income path. Financial barrier and time and effort constraints.

Image Source

Financial Barriers

On a recent post of mine about sweat equity vs cash investments, I highlighted how cash is hard to come by traditionally and the important role it can play on building a venture.

With modernity, this statement is becoming less true with each passing year due to the advancements in technology.
One doesn't neccesarily require initially investing capital to build passive income.

But from a general investment viewpoint, we have to invest money to make money because finding the one that doesn't is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

The issue for most people is balancing between investments and expenses. Our earnings are primarily allocated between them.

Usually the excess going to investment as expenses are urgent. Unless one is earning above average, there isn't any excess money for investments.

So this is where the critical barrier is.

My approach is to categorically delineate a fixed amount to investments and the rest is spent on expenses. The cost with that is drastically cutting expenses and living a life of frugality.

Obviously, this isn't for everyone, it's an uphill battle against the constant rise in prices.

A better approach is to increase one's earnings to offset the high cost of expenses and have some money to invest.

The misconception I had was that I needed a lot of money to start investing, this is definitely not true.

Time And Effort Constraints

Apart from the financial responsibility of making money to survive, there are other responsibilities that also have to be taken care of leaving little to no time to pursue building passive income.

The passive income landscape is not easy to navigate. There is a learning curve to undertake and neccesary skills to acquire. And these things can take time and effort.

Which ones are legit and which aren't? Mistakes will be made leading to the lost of funds.

Market volatility will give one temporary emotional turmoil. Risk appetite and tolerance.

Mitigating risks by balancing high risk, high rewards opportunities with stable options. Opting for short term gains or long term sustainability?

An option is to outsource this part to a reputable party to do things on one's behalf but the problem with that is the possibility of them throwing dust on one's face without knowing anything about it.

It's better to create time to undertake the learning curve and acquire relevant skills then outsource when we see fit.

That way we will know what's going on without being directly involved in the process.

In Closing

There's another barrier apart from the two mentioned above.

It's the psychological barrier on the temptation for quick fixes or falling for get-rich-quick schemes due to our inability to cultivate delayed gratification and patience.

Nevertheless, we could persevere and be determinant on overcoming this obstacles because the rewards and benefits of building a successful passive income stream(s) outweighs the risks by a good margin.

Or doesn't it?


Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.