Most people believe that going to school and getting good grades will land them a decent job that will cover living expenses, recreation, and savings and investments. Unfortunately, because of the high cost of living, many employees do not earn enough money to cover even their basic living expenses, never mind having leftover funds to take care of recreation and savings or investments dreams.

The average household income in Canada is about $55,000. Most families are currently spending more on rent or mortgage payments than the 30% that experts recommend they should be paying. Many are even using credit cards or payday loans to supplement their living expenses.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 that left many Canadians who could not work remotely unemployed, things quickly become very dismal for them. Government had to step in to provide many households with financial assistance so that they could feed their families and cover dwelling expenses.

Not everyone who became unemployed during the lockdown waited for handouts from the government, however. Some people capitalized on online opportunities to make money and become their own boss. Some of these people even refused to go back to their 9 to 5 when the lockdown lifted, and employers were called back to work.

Why did some employees capitalize on money making opportunities during the lockdown, while others did nothing and relied on government benefit? Because, many are brainwashed to think that they only get money if they have a job.

Having a job is just having a source of income. The rich and wealthy rarely acquire their wealth from just a job, they have business income. Moreover, earnings from a job attract a higher tax than income from a business.

It is important for you to know the difference between having a job and having the means to make money. The rich and affluent focus on making money, while the poor and middle class are more concerned about getting a job to earn money.

Many people believe that when they have a job, they are making money, because they receive a paycheck at the end of each pay cycle. But having a job only allows you to earn money because you have to use your skills and trade your time and effort daily to receive remuneration at the end of the week or month.

However, when you get paid from a job, that is money earned, so you are essentially earning money NOT making money. Why? Because if you decide to stop trading your time and skills and using your energy one week, you would not be paid for that week. Making money doesn’t require you to keep sacrificing your time and effort to be paid. You make money when the one or two sacrifices you made today, generates income for the future, with no further effort required on your part.

People also view a job as a ticket to their retirement. And while this may be true for some jobs that have a defined benefit pension plan, that is not the case for many jobs in today’s market. A defined benefit pension plan is too expensive for employers to sustain in the current economic climate, so more and more companies are opting to match employees’ Retirement Savings Plan contributions instead of providing a pension.

Consequently, when employees retire, the company is not liable for funding their retirement, and if market conditions result in low performing retirement savings plans, the company is not responsible for any topping up the funds to supplement its retirees’ income. When you identify strategies to make money, however, you don’t have to rely on a pension. Your cash flow will continue long after you stop working.

There are several ways to make money, but sadly, these methods are not shared in school. School teaches you to become employees to earn money, instead of teaching you techniques to increase your cashflow. Here is a list of some of the strategies that many entrepreneurs utilize to make money:

1. Investing in a rental property that gives monthly cashflow
2. Building a parking lot where people pay to park every day
3. Composing popular music that is used regularly
4. Writing a book and getting royalties each time it is sold
5. Writing a book that a film company turns into a movie
6. Doing a painting that is printed and sold multiple times

This list is not exhaustive, but I’m sure you get the idea. If you develop strategies to make money, you will make money even when you’re sleeping. In fact, all the examples listed above will cause your estate to continue making money even after you become an angel.

Many affluent people continue to enjoy the finer things in life without continuing to work, because of the sacrifices they made yesterday to ensure that they keep making money in the future. Hence, these examples are classified as assets that will provide you with multiple streams of income. And with various streams of income, you don’t need a job. You will be in a better position to achieve financial independence and live a better lifestyle before and after retirement.