If you adore your full-time job, the chances are you won’t forego the excellent promotion prospects, steady wage and office banter for the sake of following a dream on a whim. However, that doesn’t mean that you aren’t keen to see the money languishing in your savings account going to better use.
While a savings account is virtually zero
While you don’t want to be saving for your twilight years at the expense of living for the moment and your current quality of life, you know that the bank probably isn’t the most sensible place to have all of your cash. Consider all of your options and use this guide to explore the sorts of lucrative side hustles that you could take a foray into while still maintaining your current nine to five.
The Property Game
Bricks and mortar is often seen as the safest way to invest cash. The housing market is very much a long term investment for the amateur investor. Or for those more savvy property moguls, it is an opportunity to flip the worst house on the best street into the most incredible house that breaks the ceiling price.
If you fancy taking a punt on the property market, it’s vital that you do your research and look into potential locations. Don’t make the mistake of opting for a property simply because it seems cheap.
The worst locations are often described euphemistically as up and coming, with little or no hope of a property value increase. These locations might be
These sorts of areas often have a high stock of auction properties. This means you can register with an auction house, turn up and bid. If you are tempted to grab a bargain at auction, it’s critical that you visit the properties first and read the legal packs with each pad.
There may be covenants or leases that you weren’t expecting. It’s vital that you can get a mortgage on the place and that the structure is more or less sound. Subsidence that requires underpinning is costly and can result in an unsellable property come listing time.
When you have your
If you’re going all out to sell on quickly, you need to outperform the market, so whip a gable patio out into the back garden, coif the lawn, think about knocking through to make a large kitchen diner, and if your budget allows, extend upwards or outwards. Adding square footage is the easiest way to add value to a home.
While there are taxes and mortgage fees to pay back once you have sold your investment, you should emerge with a handsome profit, allowing you to consider whether you will do it all over again.
If you are choosing to rent out your property, consider the sorts of areas where young professionals like to live. This is the key demographic that you need to tap.
Don’t purchase an apartment out in the suburbs just because it is cheap – it’s a false economy. Instead, up your budget and go for a flat in the city centre, close to the hustle and bustle of city life, with coffee shops on the doorstep and close to excellent transport links. With any luck, you can charge a premium rent and you can have your pick of potential professionals to rent to.
Having enough each month to cover the mortgage repayment as well as put some cash back into savings means that you won’t have to be out of pocket.
Being a landlord is a heavy responsibility that many people take to like a duck to water. They don’t mind being woken up at two AM in the morning because of a burst pipe. However, if your job is stressful and time heavy, you may need to look into securing the services of a property management firm to take on the landlord responsibilities for you.
Forex Trading
If you think speculating on the markets is for the professional investment bankers, it’s time to think again. Amateur investors with enough time on their hands are emerging as Forex traders. Many successful Forex millionaires conduct their business from the comfort of their home office with three or four monitors connected so that they can observe the markets.
Forex trading is a platform where you can buy and sell foreign currencies. By using your knowledge of the markets, you can deduce when is the right time to buy yen against the renminbi or the dollar against the peso.
Don’t think that you need to know everything straight away. You’ll need to set up a dummy account with a Forex trading platform and get a feel for the processes that you need to go through to make money. You are using pretend money and working out how to read the forecasts before you embark on a Forex trading adventure for real.
Forex trading is naturally more risky than investing in the housing market. It’s just as labour intensive, and you’ll still need to be proactive if you are able to make some serious money. Take your time and only ever invest what you can afford to lose. The journey will be more of a rollercoaster but
Wine
If you are partial to a tipple and know your Rioja from your Beaujolais, you might be keen to look into investing in wine. Rather than popping down to your local off licence and picking up a couple of decent bottles to store in your cellar for a couple of decades, you need to head onto the wine merchants’ websites.
Wine, like art, is an investment that is seen as very niche. While a little risky it is totally hands-off, as when you have made your purchase, you can ask a specialist firm to store it or you can store it at home yourself.
The rarer the wine, the more sought after the vintage. This increases the value of the tipple and can see you sitting on a goldmine. Like the Forex markets, wine values can fluctuate, however not usually too wildly.
When investing in wine, hedge your bets and spread your investments across a range of vintages. This way, you have more chance of making money. You could opt for a couple of cases of Australian chardonnay, a Spanish Shiraz and a French merlot all from different years. With any luck, you will hold onto these vintages for a few years, to see their value increase and your return develop at a more rapid pace than if you left your money wallowing in your savings account.
Art And Antiques
With the explosion of the vintage trend and the abundance of antiques valuation shows on the box, it’s no wonder people are keen to get in on the action. It doesn’t matter whether you have a few extra pennies to invest or whether you have super deep pockets, there is always an antique or collectable for you to invest in.
Those individuals who enjoy purchasing art often follow their own taste rather than seeking a surefire painting that they can’t bear to look at but will increase in value.
Art should be enjoyed so anything that you do buy should be hung up in your living room to be marvelled at. Don’t be tempted to store artwork and sculptures in the attic or cellar. The oil-based colours and canvases can get damp resulting in damage to your pieces. Costly renovation may eat into any potential return on your investment.
If you adore antiques and all things vintage, think about heading to a car boot sale or two, venture to some charity shops and look at the local auction houses. Vintage collectables can be sold on relatively quickly if you get a good deal, have an eBay account and are punctual with your shipping.
It’s admirable in the twenty first century to want to make money to prepare for your twilight years. Don’t think that you have to work full time and invest in a pension, and that’s the be all and end all of your retirement pot. Focus on your strengths and passions, and invest your time and money wisely in a quest to top up your savings.
