BUYING A JOB
When jobs are not plentiful (that could be any time, really) people imagine that they could turn a hobby into a business. Some try to land several jobs at the same time (and with work at home programs, some are successful at doing more than one job at the same time … I see that as cheating really!). Clearly, when up to 25% of American adults are living paycheck to paycheck, they have to make a heady decision.
Then looking at retirement several years ago, I considered whether I really wanted to retire. I could do something, right?
I could be someone’s employee.
I imagined that to be low income, and little satisfaction. I did try it and found it to be low income and little satisfaction. I knew way too much to be an employee. Others find it boring or a waste of their potential. One thing is certain, you will get a paycheck.
I could start my own business.
I imagined it would be hard work and expensive. I ran the numbers and, yes, it would be at least two years of expenses with little or no profit. I COULD do that, but figured by the time it became profitable I’d be wanting to slow down. I’d have to hire people to reduce personal work (which doesn’t reduce work, by the way). The singular problem with starting your own business is, as many have discovered, that you may not like your boss. There’s no vacation, no time off for good behavior, and no sick days. If it fails all your time and money are wasted.
I could buy an existing business.
For 2 to 4x the annual gross income and some licensing I could. But, why would I want to buy someone’s FAILING small business. One owner had been in business nearly 30 years and still only grossed $100,000 (profit is only a fraction of gross). That dude could hardly afford to buy coffee. With my experience I know I could have turbocharged that business in no time. I’m not afraid of hard work. The problem was that it would cost me MORE than starting my own business and only increased profit for the first 3-4 years since it had a customer base. Sadly customers get used to how a single-business owner does things and I’d lose up to 25% of the stated revenue in the first year. I’d only be buying a job.
There is a fourth way, buying shares in a small business.
Someone else runs the business and you take a small, regular income. In some cases you don’t even have to lift a finger. However this is the option with the greatest risk. As a shareholder you have no control of the business decisions, but you take on the lawsuit risks. You buy $100,000 worth of shares, and then head honcho goes to Tahiti with the bank account and never returns, for example. You’d better get to know those running the business before you buy shares. How does he treat the customers? Are there any ways you can positively impact the business? Will you be invited to give your opinion about major decisions?
Clearly, the function of money is NOT purchasing power. Sure! You can buy a bigger house when you get a better job. But that’s a waste of the value of money. The actual function of money is GROWTH. There is value in growing it, not spending it. You can grow your money by investing in real estate, the stock market, business, or in yourself (improving your abilities and knowledge). The more money invested, if diversified, the greater the probability of sustained growth.
The second function of money is INCOME. When you retire you may want to have more invested in things which will supply your monthly needs. (These are all exceptional for long-term growth, but risky for monthly income).
Real estate used for this purpose is risky. It only takes one bad renter to suck away all your short-term profits. First, you have to get the bad renter out (months and court fees), then repair damages (bad renters are destructive people), then get new GOOD renters. Believe me, there are no assurances you will. I know one landlord who lost $50,000 in one year. That’s hard to recover from.
Stock market can be risky, too. Even if you have a diversified portfolio one losing sector can defeat 3 good ones. (We are talking here, as with real estate, of sources of your monthly income.)
Business has ups and downs as well. If the business in which you own shares pays dividends based on the previous year you can expect some regularity to your income.
OR, if you are the owner of a business, expenses, wages, inflation, and customer base all play a part. (For example, solar installation companies found 4-7 years ago that the market was drying up. Many businesses which were only doing that dropped out. But one local company installs all kinds of energy systems [solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal] and they are going strong.)
To have more safety, choose two. Growth and Income are great long-term values of money, but short-term income is more a balancing act.
Copyright 2026 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]
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