(If you’re looking for something completely passive, you’ll have to stick with things that meet the IRS’s definition, which refers to “trade or business activities in which you don’t materially participate.” Basically, own rental property without being a real estate professional, or buy or invest in a business that you don’t make decisions for or work in.)

But if you’re willing to put in some work up front, and do a little regular maintenance along the way, there are several ideas that might be right for you.

Some of the more common passive income ideas include:

• Writing articles for money
• Doing article marketing or promoting affiliate links
• Writing an e-book once and selling multiple copies, or receiving royalties from a traditional book
• Creating a monthly membership site, program, or course
• Creating an online course & selling it
• Holding a webinar once that refers folks to products you sell or make a commission on, and then replaying the webinar on demand or at regular intervals later
• Selling stock photography
• Creating and selling an app
• Having a vending machine business

Things to keep in mind

When choosing an idea, keep your skills and the amount of time you have available in mind. Some passive income ideas require relatively little work to get started, but others require a great deal of time and energy up front.

For example, you could probably write one or two articles a month on a variety of subjects in your spare time fairly easily, and gradually build up a stable of articles that are generating you income — but your income is likely to be very low for quite a while.

On the other end of the scale, creating an online course that attracts lots of students will likely require in-depth knowledge of a particular subject, significant marketing efforts, and at least a little bit of money to get started with a web site.

Other things turn out to be not nearly as passive as they might seem, like my Pay Off Debt app that requires regular time for testing updates, and time spent marketing the app and responding to customer emails.

Those ideas can still be a lot of fun though, and they’re passive in the sense that they’re not a complete dollars-for-hours trade like a 9-5 job would be. Sometimes you literally can wake up having earned money overnight. It’s just that you’ve worked at other times to create and market the product that will do that.

The benefits

No matter what you choose, remember that you’re unlikely to get rich from passive income ideas overnight, if at all. But don’t sell yourself short. Given time, you can make a steady income that gradually increases while the amount of work you have to do to maintain that income either decreases or stays the same. And that’s pretty nice.

The post Passive Income Ideas That Work appeared first on JackieBeck.com.

Your kid comes home and needs $20 for a field trip, or your car starts making a funny noise. Then next month, the cat exhibits mysterious symptoms and requires a trip to the vet. The month after that, there’s a series of wedding and birthday gifts to send. It feels like it never ends.

In short, there’s always something. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Budgeting hiccups are incredibly frustrating

It’s frustrating. Every month, it feels like the “extra” money that you “should” have had leftover just disappears. Or worse, you find yourself borrowing money and getting deeper in the hole because you didn’t have much extra to begin with.

That’s often the point where people throw up their hands and give up.

They think that budgeting isn’t for them. Or worse, that they’re bad at money.

But if you keep at it, you’ll find that budgeting starts to smooth out all those unexpected bumps. Especially if you don’t aim for perfection, but instead use what’s happened to fine-tune your using a zero-based budget.

Less than perfect months ARE normal

If you have “one of those months”, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure or that you suck at budgeting. But also, it doesn’t mean that you should write off what happened as something abnormal. Instead, take it as an opportunity to learn, and adjust for future months.

For example, if you’re caught without funds for a car repair, make a note to start a car repair fund — and then do it, even if it means you need to make some extra money somewhere or cut back in other areas. If you figure out that you typically spend $300 on birthday gifts through the course of the year, build that into your budget as well by starting a gift fund that you put 25 bucks a month into.

Organize your spending plan so that the things that are most important to you get funded first. Things like somewhere to live, food, and basic transportation should top the list. Prioritize, and when you do have extra money, save some of it to smooth out those less-than-perfect months.

Give yourself some wiggle room

Budgets should have some wiggle room in them anyway. They shouldn’t confine and restrict you.

Instead, they should help you do the things you want to do — whether that involves getting your finances under control for the first time ever, or saving up to buy the latest expensive gadget as a treat.

The post Why There Is No Perfect Month in Budgeting appeared first on JackieBeck.com.

While it may have become habit to shop on Amazon, you can usually get the exact items that you want elsewhere with just a little effort. Read for how to find the alternatives to Amazon, along with some of the benefits to doing so.

How to find specific products outside of Amazon

The first step to finding a specific product that you’re looking for is simple. Note down the brand name and model number, if any, of whatever you’re wanting to buy. If you’ve first found the item on Amazon, also note down the name of the store it’s in too. (It’ll say something like “Visit the _____ Store” above the item.) If the store name is something like ZLjhasoieluls, it’s a good idea to also save the image of the item.

Once you have that info, it’s time to do a search.

Suppose you want to buy an adapter. You find one called “Meenova 60W Lightning to USB C Adapter for iPhone 16 15 Pro Max Plus, S24, Type C Charging Converter, iPhone Lightning to USB-C Adaptor Not for Audio, Apple AirPods Accessories USBC Charger CarPlay” from the Meenova store on Amazon. Most of that info is just in there for the search engines. You only need to worry about the most relevant part of the name.

In this case, “Meenova 60W Lightning to USB C Adapter”.

Google that phrase (including the quotes) and make sure you have All selected for the results. You’ll find that it’s available on eBay, Newegg, and Shop. (Clicking the Shop tab may show other options, but more likely that will just list related things or sponsored results.)

Other ways to search

You can also search for just Meenova to find the website for the brand, go to the brand site, and then search it to find the product. Often, you can buy it directly from the brand website. If you can’t, they’ll typically have a “where to buy” page that lists the stores that carry their brand.

If it’s an off-brand product with a name filled with random letters or bunch of gibberish, you’ll likely have better luck searching for the product without the brand name. That’s because it’s likely a white-labeled or drop-shipped product that’s available lots of places. You can also search by image, which will likely bring up lots of results.

More general Amazon alternatives

Of course, sometimes you just want to shop in general, or don’t have a specific product in mind. In that case, mom & pop stores make great choices. If you aren’t sure what kinds of mom & pop stores are available in your area, look up the local merchants association.

Resale & thrift stores area great too, both in person and online. You can sometimes get great deals on new items on eBay. Don’t forget in-person pop up stores, and online marketplaces like Etsy (if you avoid the dropshippers) and Poshmark as well.

Other companies you may want to support where you can order online include Bookshop.org, Better World Books, Powell’s Books, Barnes & Noble, Libro.fm, Penzey’s Spices, Macy’s, Kohl’s, JC Penney, Boscov’s, Ikea, ThredUp, Uncommon Goods, Chewy, Grove Collaborative, and iHerb.

Even shopping big-name stores in your area can be a better alternative than Amazon, because at least the employees are local, and any sales taxes would go to support the local area. And some stores are great at doing right by their customers, like Costco!

Why seek out alternatives to Amazon?

There are plenty of reasons to find Amazon alternatives. You might be boycotting Amazon, want to support small business instead, or looking for deals.

You may even save money in the process too, as the days of Amazon being the cheapest place to buy are long gone.

And not only are things sometimes cheaper elsewhere, you’ll likely spend less overall without the “convenience” of paying extra for “free” shipping every year via Prime. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates, average Prime members spent $1,170 per year, compared to $570 per year for non-Prime customers on Amazon.

So even just getting rid of Prime is likely to save you money. It eliminates the ease of buying, and the temptation to add to cart for every little thing.

This is great if your goal is to get out of debt or save up a bunch of money.

The post Alternatives to Amazon appeared first on JackieBeck.com.

So what can you do when you lose your job?

First, whether or not you have emergency savings to fall back on, tuck any scary feelings you may be having now away for the future. Because you can use them later to completely change your life for the better.

(Long term unemployment was what got me off the path of debt to a very positive place. I used how I felt during that time as motivation to do everything I could to never be in that position again.)

I won’t lie to you: Dealing with job loss is going to be hard. But you can get through it.

Meanwhile, what can you do in the short term if you’re in the US? Here are 11 things to look at doing when you’ve lost your job.

1. Apply for unemployment when you’ve lost your job.

The very first thing to do is apply for unemployment. You may be able to do that online or over the phone, depending on where you live. You can find out where and how to do so here.

Do NOT wait to apply, because some states have strict deadlines. Even if they don’t, it normally takes time to get benefits, so the sooner you apply, the better. Also, do not be surprised if your case is denied the first time you apply. Just file an appeal right away if that happens.

Unemployment benefits usually come from payroll taxes, and you deserve the money if you lost your job through no fault of your own. (Also, when you’ve lost your job, you need all the money coming in you can find. File right away.)

In some cases disaster unemployment insurance may be available too. So look to see if that applies to your situation.

Once you are able to get unemployment, be sure to do whatever they ask in order to keep meeting their requirements.

2. Breathe.

Once you’ve applied for unemployment, take a moment to breathe. There’s nothing wrong with doing nothing for a day and feeling however you feel. It can be a shock to lose your job, and it’s never fun. (Even if you hated your job.) Taking a little time to acknowledge how you’re feeling right now can help you going forward. But do take action after your day of rest.

3. Get health insurance.

Losing a job is generally considered a qualifying event, so if you have a spouse with insurance benefits, you should be able to get on their policy. If you don’t have a spouse or they don’t have health insurance, there are other options.

If you worked for a private company with 20 or more employees that offered a group plan, you should be offered COBRA insurance. (COBRA is short for the “Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985” law.)

You have 60 days to decide whether or not to say yes to COBRA coverage, so at the very least, don’t decline COBRA coverage it until that entire time is up. This gives you time to look at the other options that are out there, so use it wisely. Find what’s best for you.

If you say yes to COBRA and pay the costs, it keeps you on your former health insurance plan for up to 18 months (and sometimes longer.) The catch is you have to pay up to 102 percent of the cost of the plan to get it. Note that the 102% is the cost of the plan to your old employer, not 102% of whatever you might have been paying as your share. So it will cost more. (HR will tell you the exact amount.)

Other health insurance options are:

• Signing up for a plan on the Health Care Marketplace. (Losing health coverage is a qualifying event, so you can sign up for a plan even when open enrollment is closed.)
• Getting on a state-sponsored health insurance plan if one is available where you live.
• Getting back on a parent’s plan if you are under 26.
• Seeing if you or your kids are able to get Medicaid or CHIP.
• Joining organizations that offer group insurance to their members at a good rate.
• Getting a catastrophic plan that only covers a few big things. (The first time I needed surgery was when I was unemployed. That would have been an even bigger setback if I hadn’t been able to get on a catastrophic plan.)

Sometimes people may also join a health sharing ministry. Some people have had good experiences with that, and some people have not. The main thing to remember is that health sharing ministries are NOT health insurance. Many require you to be of a certain faith. (Liberty Health Share does not.) There are also some problems with health sharing to know about.

4. Cut back as much as you can on spending, starting now.

Go through every item in your budget and try to cut back on or cut out as many things as you can.

(If you don’t have a budget, use this free budget spreadsheet to get an idea of where you might cut. And then start using it or something similar going forward.)

Many people wait to cut back, thinking they will find another job quickly. While that may or may not be the case, the time to cut is right away. Better to add things back in later if things turn out well than to need the money later and not have it.

You probably CAN spend less in many areas and still keep basic services like internet and cell. Ask for deals and see what you can do to cut costs in every area though. Here are a whole bunch of money saving tips that could help.

5. Polish up your resume and start your job search.

Update your resume and post it on sites like Indeed and LinkedIn. Review listings for jobs you could do, and make sure your resume uses those keywords.

If you have odd or vague job titles for old jobs, include the normal matching titles in parentheses so the computer scanning your resume will know what you did.

While you’re at it, get back in touch with old contacts, since it’s common to find jobs through people you know. Provide some information that could be useful to them, and let them know that you’re looking for a job at the same time. (It’s always fun to get back in touch with people anyway, so this can’t hurt.) Make sure that your references are still willing to be references, and that the contact information you have for them is still correct.

Don’t just tell people once that you’re looking, either. Don’t be a pest, but do ask family and friends every couple of weeks if they’ve heard of any openings. It’s easy for others to assume you’ve found something, or just to be caught up in their own lives. You have to keep putting yourself out there.

Prep for interviews now in general, and in particular before you’re called in. Read this whole post on how to slay job interviews and then do those things.

6. Look for other ways to make money.

Jobs aren’t the only way to make money. There are plenty of other ways to make extra cash.

Look at all of the skills you have and see how you could use them to bring in some money now. Are you good at sewing? Maybe you can hem pants & skirts for people. Do you know how to keep kids happy for hours with crafts? Maybe you could sell directions for those crafts. Are you a good cook? Maybe you can teach a class online or in person.

Don’t spend money to start doing things like this. Instead, just let people know you can do it and see if they or anyone they know are interested. Again, keep putting yourself out there. Marketing is not a one and done kind of thing.

Beware of scams or people who promise to help you make money but who need money from you to do it. Here’s how to avoid “make money” scams. This is not the time to invest what money you do have into something that may or may not pay off. (Stay far away from things that promise or guarantee to pay off.)

Look at what you have in your house too to see if there’s anything you can sell or use to pay bills. For example, do you have gift cards laying around? Dig them out and use them.

7. Put your bills in order of importance.

No one knows how long a job loss will last. I lost my job during the whole dot com bust and the 9/11 aftermath. It took me nearly 4 years to find another one. I don’t say that to scare you — I hope you find work quickly — but it can be smart to act like your money has to last you a long time.

That means putting your bills in order of importance. Food and someplace safe to stay should be top of the list. Things you will not literally die without are less important. Unsecured debt (for example, credit card debt) is least important of all.

Speaking of debt, if you’ve lost your job, do not pay extra on your debt. Make only minimum payments. Eating and having somewhere to live are most important. Do those things first. You and your family matter most. If you have to choose which debts to pay, pay things like your house payment first.

You are not a bad person if you can’t pay any or all of what you owe. You are human in a bad situation. Note that you can’t be sent to jail for not paying debt in the US. You can be sent to jail and fined for not going to court or for not filing taxes though, so do file your taxes (call the IRS if you can’t pay) and do go to court if you’re summoned or sued.

8. Reach out for help.

If you need help, ask for it. You are a valuable person no matter what your job situation.

I know it can be really hard to ask for help, but think about this. It feels good to help others, but that means there are people who need to be helped. So by asking for and accepting help you are actually helping others to feel good too. We are all in this together.

Where do you find help? Check with your city, your state, the the federal government, your neighborhood group, your local Buy Nothing group, your local library, your friends, and your family. And here is a huge list of financial assistance resources.

Apply for anything you might qualify for, now and then again later if your situation or rules change. Use food banks, put your student loans in deferment if possible, etc.

If you rent, tell your landlord that you lost your job. (Especially if they are an individual landlord.) See if you can work out an arrangement.

If your mortgage is being foreclosed on, find out how long you can possibly stay before you are forced to leave. Foreclosure is not a fast process, and your existing lender may have programs that can help.

9. Use your emergency fund and flexible spending money.

If you have an emergency fund for job loss, this is the time to use it.

If you had a flexible spending account, thanks to the Uniform Coverage Rule you can still file all those claims you hadn’t gotten to yet. Even if they’re more than the amount you put in to the account before you lost your job.

What does that mean? Suppose you signed up to contribute $1000 to your flexible spending plan this year, but you got laid off on January 31st. You would have only contributed $83.33 to your plan by then, but you can still be reimbursed for the full $1000 if you had those expenses before leaving your job. So submit all of the eligible expenses you have. Go through your receipts and get reimbursed for as much as possible.

10. Take care of your 401k.

If you had a 401k account, you generally have three choices on what to do with it when you leave. You can:

1. Probably leave the money where it is
2. Roll it over to an IRA (a direct rollover is best)
3. Take it out and pay a ton of taxes on it plus maybe a penalty.

Let me just say, you probably shouldn’t do number 3! Spending it is a bad idea, for so many reasons. Roll your 401k over to an IRA instead (unless your 401k offers great options, in which case you might consider leaving it there.) If you’re retirement age and retiring, you may want to look into requirements for using the money in your 401k.

This article is about whether it’s a good idea to use your 401k to pay off debt but it has some info in it that applies to this case too. Remember that in many cases retirement money is protected from creditors. You will likely need it more in retirement than you need it now, even though it may not feel like it. Don’t throw good money after bad.

11. Take care of yourself

Finally, take care of yourself. Losing your job (and any kind of big change like that!) is always stressful. Take the time to exercise, get plenty of sleep, and eat well.

I hope you are able to find work quickly after you’ve lost your job. Take care of yourself and do your best. You can get through this.

The post 11 Things to Do When You’ve Lost Your Job appeared first on JackieBeck.com.

While you may not be planning on leaving your job today, that kind of situation is exactly what happens to many people each year due to layoffs or other circumstances. Which makes it smart to think about what kind of shape you’d be in if it happened to you.

The short-term impact

Short-term, of course, you’d probably be under some emotional stress. Even if you hate your job or had been planning on quitting it anyway, it can be stressful to actually receive the news that you can no longer go in to work.

Things are always easier when they’re your decision instead of being forced upon you. Recognize that you’ll probably feel at least a little bit lost or disconcerted — even if you’d been secretly daydreaming about what things would be like if you didn’t have to go to work any longer. And if you actually like your job or are totally surprised by the news, it can be very emotional.

That’s another reason it’s good to have a financial contingency plan in place now, while your point of view isn’t colored by sudden emotions or shock. If you do already know how you would handle things money-wise, the first thing to do would be to give yourself a few days to adjust to the situation. If you don’t — or if you’re forced to quit due to something like an accident — you might not have that luxury.

The long-term impact

The long-term impact of job loss, especially one that you’re not able to quickly recover from can be financially devastating and stressful. To minimize that potential impact, start by taking stock of what your minimum required expenses are now, while you still have a job. See what you can cut, if need be, and how quickly you would need to make those cuts.

This is where using the zero-based budgeting method can really help, especially if you prioritize your spending. Many people realize there are areas they could cut back on if they really had to, but don’t actually make the cuts in a timely manner. They keep telling themselves that they’ll be back to work soon, but bleed cash in the meantime. Better to make some cuts now, and set a schedule by which you’ll make other cutbacks.

Of course, having an pile of emergency cash that’s readily accessible is an excellent idea. If you don’t already have an emergency fund, make building one a priority. (See how to build a $1000 emergency fund for ideas.) We’ve all got to start somewhere, so any amount that you can set aside will help, but speaking as someone who ended up being unemployed for years, it can make a huge difference if you’re able to make that fund stretch for a long, long time.

Pursue other income sources

Pursuing other income sources is another thing that’s good to do now, especially passive income ideas. Why do it now, while you’re able to work and aren’t seeing any issues on the horizon? Well, because you can, and because it takes time to get a passive income flowing. Do it now while things are going well, and best case is that they will only get better.

Cover all the bases

Make sure you’re investing, and that you have adequate insurance. (And if you’ve gotten laid off, see if you qualify for COBRA, get signed up for your spouse’s insurance if you’re able, and/or get an individual health plan going via HealthCare.gov.)

Plan ahead, just in case

In other words, today is an excellent time to make plans for how you would handle an unexpected job loss. Don’t forget to include things like making sure a trusted relative or friend could temporarily take over your finances if need be.

Planning ahead for the worst won’t make it happen, but you’ll be glad you did if you do need to put your plan into action. And if it doesn’t, you’ll be in that much better shape financially. It can only help you to do so.

The post Surprise! Today Will Be Your Last Day at Work appeared first on JackieBeck.com.

At a glance, it may be hard to understand why they’d choose to drive an old car, or to buy a new car and then hang onto it for years instead of replacing it regularly.

“If I were rich,” you might think, “I’d drive a really nice new car.”

After all, you’d think a millionaire could afford a brand new car. So why not get the latest and greatest?

Lottery mentality vs. work

If someone handed you a million dollars today, of course it’d be tempting to go out and get your dream car. Free money!

But if you got to be a millionaire over time through hard work, you’d know the value of a dollar. You’d know what it takes to earn that money and keep it. And so you’re much less likely to just fritter that away on an asset that on average will depreciate 15 to 25% in the first year, with 11% of that happening the moment you drive it off the lot.

The average price of a new car in 2025 is $47,462 according to Kelley Blue Book. I don’t know about you, but if I paid that much for a new car, I’d be irked if I knew it would be worth $5220.82 less just a few minutes later.

Millionaire or not, I don’t see any point in wasting that kind of money when I can probably get a perfectly nice (and even fun!) used car for less. Maybe I’m a bit jaded too. The only new car I ever bought in my life turned out to be a lemon. I’d rather make sure a car’s been good enough for someone else first before I buy!

But it’s not just about the math

I suspect a large part of why millionaires drive old cars is plain old being content with their life and belongings.

If you like your stuff, why replace it? Especially if it’s given you good value over the years, and continues to do so by needing only normal maintenance items + the occasional repair.

You enjoy your old car, it does the job, and you don’t see the point in getting a new one. Or maybe you’re just not into cars. Also, you probably don’t get too worked up about what other people think of you. Instead, you know that what they think of you is none of your business.

Point in fact: This car?

That’s my 1990 Miata, mostly patched up after its run-in with a tree. I know it doesn’t look like much in the photo. But it still runs awesome and is a ton of fun to drive! I’d rather have it than any of the new cars I test drove when I thought it couldn’t be repaired.

(I’ve since sprung for a new paint job, which again was a whole lot cheaper than a new car.)

Why do I still drive it? Because I love my old car.

And that’s what it’s really all about: choosing the things you value over the things you don’t and then enjoying the heck out of them.

The post Why Millionaires Drive Old Cars appeared first on JackieBeck.com.