For many people, the idea of making a lot of money suddenly via a stock purchase, a lottery win, a house sale, a business idea, etc.. seems like the only sensible way to escape the rat race. In fact, in one comment, a person (source) wrote about ways to make a little extra income from credit card financing:

Why bother with all this crap. The little bit of money you make/save is not worth the headache and worrying about it.

In response, I wrote:

Actually, I’d have to disagree with that. Most people run around with a ‘I want to win the lottery’ mentality. They are waiting for the big one, the big heist, the big find, the #1 stock of the year/decade, whatever.

In most people’s cases, this won’t happen. Why? Because:
1. if you can’t manage the little wealth, you’ll never be able to manage great wealth
2. the little ‘crap’ really teaches you to open your eyes, see opportunities, assess risks, and understand more about the ‘game’.
3. once you have a solid foundation in the ‘little’ things, you’ll be ready to start climbing more than the foothills of wealth.

But this is definitely NOT a ‘When will my ship come in?’ game for you. It’s a game of little victories, before you launch into a greater offensive.

So, I’d urge my readers to start by finding little ways, as I have done, to boost your income at the beginning: a slightly higher interest rate on your savings, switch your cash from your checking a/c to a deposit account, find ways to keep non-regular income stuffed in accounts (not spent), purchase a few stock with a modest dividend (say 2% or 3%), find a little time to find other small income sources.

These steps are not necessarily easy, but if you want to develop your streams of income, it’s the baby steps that are necessary. They will allow you to walk soon enough, and then run with the horses, given enough time.

IB