Turn Liabilities Into Passive Income

Assets make you money. Liabilities cost you money.

I think that needs to be said. Often. And with enthusiasm.

Or, we can say it in a slightly different way — If it isn’t making you money, then it’s costing you money.

Okay, why am I saying this?

The answer is “to highlight how you need to turn things that don’t make you money into things that do”.

I have a problem. I have a lot of things. A. Lot. Of. Things.

Stupid things. Things that maybe at one time held some interest for me. Things that I thought I needed. Things that made me happy by buying them, or collecting them.

Turns out, most of those things only made me happy in acquiring them, and once I had them, they no longer held much interest for me.

Example: Guitars

I have a guitar. Why? Because at one time I thought I really wanted to play the guitar. So I bought one. And I kind of learned how to play enough to play some songs that I liked. And I got another guitar. Learned enough to get a band going in college that played a few gigs. Then got another guitar, and amps, and things that go with electric guitars. Then adulting hit. Did the whole get-a-job-get-married-have-children-hyperconsumerism thing. Turns out I have no time to play the guitar.

Did I like playing the guitar? Sure. It was fun while I was playing, but it wasn’t the be-all, end-all that a lot of guitar players turn into. Seems I liked the “idea” of playing the guitar, more than actually playing the guitar.

So, I got rid of it/them. Used the money on all those house/car/spouse/kids things that crop up all the time.

Fast forward several years (decades) and my kids are grown. I have some time. I have a few dollars that I can play around with. Hey, I have an idea! I’ll get a guitar! I used to like guitars. I’ll get another one, try that whole guitar playing thing again.

So I got a guitar. Actually, I got a lot of guitars. At one point, I had 16 guitars in my house. And amps, and pedals, and microphones, and recording equipment. Because I was going to record myself playing.

Hey, it’s a hobby right?

Actually, it was an incredible waste of time and money.

I’m never going to record anything.

I’m never going to be a guitar god playing to packed stadiums of screaming thousands.

Actually, I found that the more guitars I got, the less I played. I was convincing myself that I needed more guitars that made different sounds.

But I really didn’t.

Anyway, to make this long story shorter, I needed to do something else. I needed to make some money.

I’m looking to try and replace my active income (Income that I do the work to earn) with passive income (income that someone or something else does the work for you).

To earn money work needs to be done. Either you work, or someone or something works for you.

I’ve spent my adult life working to earn money. I decided it was time to have money work for me.

A thing that interests me is crypto mining.

I currently work in IT, so anything with technology is guaranteed to spark my interest.

Using computers to mine cryptocurrency is very intriguing. But it also has a lot of risk. I repeat — A LOT OF RISK. There are huge swings in crypto value, and it could all come crashing down to nothing in a heartbeat.

So, I have taken the viewpoint that I will not invest any of my wages into crypto mining. If I’m going to get into this, I’m going to do it with dollars I’ve already spent — not money that is new to me. What I mean by that is that I’m going to sell things that I have already spent money on — like guitars — and use that money to finance/invest into something that can make a return — crypto mining.

I’ve already spent the money on the guitars. That money is just sitting there collecting dust. It is a liability. My plan is to sell the guitars and take that money and purchase things that can generate some value. In other words, turn the liabilities into assets.