Passive Income composite

Wait, so you think that writing a book (which sounds suspiciously like work to me) is passive, but you think that capital gains on a stock are not passive? Color me confused.
I didn't write the book, that list is from the internet. However, capital gains is work money; whereas, dividends are passive money. There's some good definition on the net pertaining to passive income.
 
I didn't write the book, that list is from the internet. However, capital gains is work money; whereas, dividends are passive money. There's some good definition on the net pertaining to passive income.
Okay, I understand that you find this distinction of some use to yourself. For me, I don't see any value in considering whether the ROI of my funds is from divvies or gains.
 
Okay, I understand that you find this distinction of some use to yourself. For me, I don't see any value in considering whether the ROI of my funds is from divvies or gains.
The topic of this thread is Income of a certain fuzzy type.
Unrealized capital gains contribute to your ROI, yes, but are not "income" of any type...
 
The topic of this thread is Income of a certain fuzzy type.
Unrealized capital gains contribute to your ROI, yes, but are not "income" of any type...
I apologize for the slight mispeak -- I meant realized capital gains. I.e., I sold some to cover my expenses.
 
I apologize for the slight mispeak -- I meant realized capital gains. I.e., I sold some to cover my expenses.
I think some folks are over thinking the concept of "passive income". Nothing fuzzy as it is well defined in many publications. I attempted to carry the definition into this thread. I believe passive income demonstrates planning and deserves consideration in decision making and determining budgeting/expenses. Passive income is the closest thing to free money, although not free, it can appear to be that way.
 
DH's pension;
DH's annuity;
DH's withdrawals from his "fun money" IRA;
Interest;
Dividends;

In July I will be starting a SPIA;

I have been doing Roth conversions but have not yet made any IRA withdrawals. Currently, I am planning on my first withdrawal from my traditional IRA after turning 70 1/2.

We have not yet started SS.
 
I think some folks are over thinking the concept of "passive income". Nothing fuzzy as it is well defined in many publications. I attempted to carry the definition into this thread. I believe passive income demonstrates planning and deserves consideration in decision making and determining budgeting/expenses. Passive income is the closest thing to free money, although not free, it can appear to be that way.
If you're talking about the 25 items, in #68, I consider items 1-4 to be self-employment earned income, especially when done on a continuing basis. Didn't try to analyze the remaining 21 items...
 
If you're talking about the 25 items, in #68, I consider items 1-4 to be self-employment earned income, especially when done on a continuing basis. Didn't try to analyze the remaining 21 items...

Passive income is not …​

  • Your job. Generally, passive income is not income that comes from something you’ve been materially involved in such as the wages you earn from a job.
  • A second job. Getting a second job isn’t going to qualify as a passive income stream because you’ll still need to show up and do the work to get paid. Passive income is about creating a consistent stream of income without you having to do a lot of ongoing work to get it.
  • Non-income-producing assets. Investing can be a great way to generate passive income, but only if the assets you own pay dividends or interest. Non-dividend-paying stocks or assets like cryptocurrencies may be exciting, but unless you’re staking your coins, they won’t earn you passive income.
 
If you're talking about the 25 items, in #68, I consider items 1-4 to be self-employment earned income, especially when done on a continuing basis. Didn't try to analyze the remaining 21 items...
btw...that list on post #68 is hypertexted, i.e. click on the item(s) for explanation.
 
Interesting thread. I agree with most of the distinctions of Passive Income and also think that I better understand the two camps of how people look at their portfolio. 1. Total Return. 2. Dividend/Interest

Also realize that everyone has a bias regarding how they think about how they "pay the bills" or "where the money comes from" to live when you no longer have a paycheck.
 
About 44% each from SS and RMDs from IRA (I'm 75, DW is 65 and won't claim until full retirement age of 67). The rest is from a pension from employment at a public university in Texas for 10 years.

Also have a small inherited IRA from my mom (split with my brother, ca. $40 k each) and have 10 years to deplete it (started this year). This year took a larger amount for tax reasons and will do the same next year before my DW starts her SS the following year. Then we'll see, depending on what works best.

Essentially, the money from the inherited IRA and between a couple thousand to $2500 each month from the combined income from the above sources goes into a taxable Fidelity brokerage account that I'm investing myself. Another couple thousand $ more goes into various savings accounts for larger, occasional expenses: eventually replacing our car, medical expenses (mostly dental—our health plan, which is very good, covers most stuff and we can pay out of pocket for those few co-pays and meds we have), household (larger repairs or projects), and vacation.

We also have a small savings account with our regular bank for occasional things that we might need to do and can easily cover this way. Given the small interest paid (B of A), it's not worth keeping too high. We also transferred a big chunk of the amount in car savings to a much better CD with our other (local) bank, just keeping enough in B of A to get better service and fee free.
 
Today? These 4 put me at the top of the married / 12% bracket after subtracting
the standard deduction. Exactly where I want to be.
1 SS
2 Rental income
3 Annuity from old cash bal. plan. Started in 2016.
4 Int. income from cash accounts / CD's. Money that seldom get used.
Did buy a car last month... And went to Europe last year.

Since retiring in 2013, I have had a withdrawal rate of zero from my
actual Ret accounts. IRA and Roth's.
Just Roth conversions every year, pushing me out of the 12%
bracket some / most years. Now 61% Roth / 39% Trad IRA.
They just keep growing at around 4%. I must be doing it wrong. ;)
 
Made me look (below is for BOTH of us):
Pension 46.8%
Social 33.0
IRA 12.1 <<OPTIONAL - NOT yet into RMD territory.
Interest 5.1
Dividends 2.7
P/ship Distribs 0.3
 
Wow, a lot here with huge percentage of income from Dividends! How does that work for stability/predictably?
 
Wow, a lot here with huge percentage of income from Dividends! How does that work for stability/predictably?
Our equity dividends come from index funds, which are extremely predictable.
 
Just wrapped up taxes. Looking at income from our 2025 filing …

20% pension
2% social security
70% rental income
8% other investment income

After a very long career in private sector, wife changed careers to be a part-time school teacher for a couple years. At retirement she was hit by the windfall elimination provision on social security. Thanks to the repeal of WEP, her social security will be a bigger percentage of our income going forward. I haven’t started SS yet.
Shouldn't she (already) have a full year of increased SS in 2025?

Meanwhile, for me:

Dividends and Interest34.53%
Annuities9.33%
Pensions33.75%
Social Security22.39%
100.00%
 
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