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For decades, the American dream centered on climbing the corporate ladder. Now, many workers simply want a way off it.
According to The Wall Street Journal (1) (WSJ), searches for passive income have exploded as AI, social media and online marketplaces fuel dreams of earning money without punching a clock. From AI-generated Etsy shops to voice cloning, dropshipping and Amazon storefronts, many Americans are looking for ways to earn while they sleep.
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It's easy to see why: Roughly 27% of Americans already have a side hustle, according to a Bankrate (2) survey, as many look beyond a traditional paycheck for extra income.
In fact, legendary investor Warren Buffett has long argued that the key to building wealth is owning assets that can generate income even when you're not actively working. As he reportedly put it (3): "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."
It's a compelling idea, but many of today's most popular passive-income strategies don't always deliver on that promise.
Instead of freeing people from work, they can lead to exponentially more.
The WSJ profiles several entrepreneurs who eventually built relatively hands-off businesses. According to entrepreneur Wil Schroter in a post on Startups (4), a founder can expect to spend anywhere from four to ten years on the grind before it can even be defined as "successful," to say nothing of being "hands-off."
That trends with the stories highlighted by WSJ. Greg Keogh, whose lint-roller business now requires only a couple of hours of work each month, admitted it wasn't always easy.
"The more pain you have in the beginning, the more passive it might be," he told the WSJ.
Meanwhile, the flip side is even less glamorous.
The Federal Trade Commission has pursued multiple companies that allegedly promised effortless passive income through online businesses (5), courses (6) or trucking investments (7), only for consumers to lose millions of dollars.
Source: Yahoo Finance Top News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
