Whenever I meet someone and they ask me what I do for work, I tell them that I’m essentially an investment analyst. The conversation would almost always lead to further questions about whether the stock market is going up or down, if they should buy or sell certain commodities, or whether my day involves looking at charts all day long to plot the best entry and exit points for trading.
And though I may be able to offer my occasional tidbit of input on these topics, I ultimately end up telling people that my focus is on income investing.
This would always surprise people.
Why was someone in my 20s like me looking at dividend and income investing – a category of investing traditionally associated with retirement? Why was I not looking at the fast-paced potential growth of assets like Bitcoin and Nvidia and aiming to 10X my money on the next big thing?
Well, here’s why.
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Why I Became An Income Investor In My 20s
The truth is, I didn’t start as an income investor. For much of my life, I was a mixed hybrid between a growth and value investor.
My biggest influences were Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett, and thus, my investing style revolved heavily around investing in what I know and companies that were undervalued.
That didn’t mean I copied Lynch and Buffett’s investments, though. I invested in what I knew, and what I knew at the time was tech.
In 2017, Nvidia was my favorite company to invest in because I had spent so much time researching in preparation to build my own PC. What I found was that there was almost no reason to ever go with any other graphics card other than Nvidia’s, whether you were gaming, on a budget, creating detailed 3D models and animations, or more.
I saw Nvidia’s work on AI and self-driving cars at the time, too, and became fanatic about getting my parents to buy the stock (I was only in middle school at this time).
My mom eventually did a year later, and the stock has made her a millionaire.
And perhaps, it is this story that makes my transition to focusing on income investing so much more surprising.
My Dream To Play Badminton 24/7
I have an obsession with badminton. My ideal life would be to train full-time and travel the world competing in tournaments.
In October 2024, I made a major step toward this dream. After making enough money (or so I thought) from writing online, I decided to book a plane ticket to Malaysia and embark on a 10-month trip to Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia to train.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well as I had expected.
Training was exhausting and made it extremely difficult for me to work and train. And because I wasn’t working, my financial situation progressively got worse. Thus, with my back against the wall, I forced myself to work.
This put me in a brutal cycle where I failed to accomplish much of anything.
I stayed up all the time to write articles and neglected my recovery. With poor recovery, I trained worse and made little progress in my badminton life. And though I wanted to rest, I needed to survive and forced myself to work.
These experiences made me realize that I needed much more money if I wanted to make real progress toward my badminton dream life.
But it wasn’t as simple as saving up a few hundred thousand or a couple of million dollars.
I would have to wait years before I had enough saved up, and that wouldn’t work at all because I’m so far behind in the first place and need to train more than everyone else just to have a chance.
And if I were to try and make money quick… well, let’s just say that I’ve been trying that for the last eight years with minimal success.
During my trip to Bali, I spent more time writing and researching income investments. In that time, I realized the key to living the life I wanted could be found in income investing.
The ideal life would be one where my lifestyle could be funded by dividends from my income investments, and I would only work occasionally as a hobby.
Of course, living like this would also require a lot of money saved up, but the difference is that there are stages I can progress through that are already much more preferable to me than locking into a 9-5 for years until I’m able to retire.
I don’t necessarily need to fund my entire life with dividends. But if I could just cover a couple of expenses with dividends, I can already choose to work on different things for a more fulfilling life.
For example, I have a YouTube channel about badminton that does not make as much money as writing about investing. But making badminton YouTube videos still does make money and it directly helps me improve my badminton skills from all the time I spend analyzing the game.
If I had a large enough dividend income stream, I could realistically opt to spend more time on the lower-paying, but more fulfilling activity. And you could potentially do so as well.
The 21st Century Affordability Problem
In the mid-1900s, a family of four could live in a nice suburban home and own a car on one person’s income. Today, many households require both partners to work, often in higher-paying, more advanced jobs than their predecessors, just to end up being priced out of the same home.
We’ve all heard this story.
By economic design, life is supposed to get more expensive over time as quote, “The Federal Reserve targets a 2% inflation rate over the long term, believing slow and steady price increases help to encourage business activity.”
Things are designed to get more expensive over time, and if your income is not growing at least at the same rate, you will be falling behind.
This is why it’s crucial to invest your money.
How Income Investing Offers Flexibility
Now, the reason you might specifically opt to invest in income-producing assets is that they offer greater financial flexibility.
Like I talked about in my personal story, income investing could allow you to opt for a different type of career and life that’s more fulfilling.
For me, I want to compete in badminton at the highest level, and I found that my YouTube channel can be a decent revenue source. Unfortunately, however, that revenue source is not big enough to legitimately support my badminton life.
But if I had income investments covering just half of all my expenses, then I could easily focus all my efforts and cover the rest of my expenses with my YouTube channel.
So many people do the jobs they do just for the money. They have other passions that make money, but not enough to sustain their lives. Income investing could give you the freedom to choose a lower-paying job that you like over a high-paying one that you hate.
Leveraging The Gig Economy To Achieve Even Greater Financial Freedom
Similarly, you can combine income investing with side hustling to achieve even greater financial freedom. This is essentially what I’m targeting and working on.
All the work I do is on my own terms, from writing about investments to making YouTube videos about badminton.
The more I work, the more I could potentially make, and vice versa.
Side hustling and income investing is the dream combination because if there are times that you need to work less, income from your investments can help cover you. And when you have time to work more, you can earn more and reinvest to further stabilize and grow your income.
Side hustling and income investing are what I believe to be the new path to retirement.
Because honestly, the traditional way of working a 9-5 until you’re 65 just never made sense. Life doesn’t start at 65; it’s happening as you’re reading this.
We live in the now, and if whatever fulfills you is something that doesn’t necessarily make you money, side hustling and investing for income could be the key to living a life you want.
Side hustling will help you grow your income streams when you have the time to work. And when you want to take off time to do other things, those income streams will support your life.
If you want to learn how to build a side hustle that will help you become financially free, I highly recommend checking out Wealthy Affiliate here. It’s the platform where I first learned how to build a side hustle, and it’s the only one I know that has continually adapted to the rapid technological changes in the world.
Hi Kevin, I really enjoyed your article—it was very engaging. I like how you shared your personal journey of balancing your badminton passion with financial realities while showing how income investing and the gig economy can work together. This topic feels especially relevant since many people dislike the traditional 8-hour workday that only covers bills without leaving room for fulfillment.
I also appreciate how you highlighted that even covering part of your expenses with dividends can create flexibility to pursue more meaningful but lower-paying work. Combining dividend income with gig or side hustle earnings truly does seem like a practical path for many in today’s economy.
One question I had: for someone just starting out, would you recommend focusing first on building dividend income or on developing a reliable side hustle—and why?
Hi Mohamed, you can do both. Since building out dividend income is a relatively passive activity, you would focus efforts on building the side hustle and then just reinvesting profits in your income-producing assets to grow your dividend income.
It’s refreshing to see income investing and the gig economy explored together as real solutions to the retirement challenges facing younger generations. I’ve personally favored gig work for the flexibility—but struggled with the unpredictability of shifting income. Your point about income investing offering both stability and adaptability really resonates. I’m curious: as a young investor active in the gig economy, how did you balance keeping emergency cash on hand versus reinvesting in dividend-generating assets? Also, for those of us juggling seasonal gig flows or low-income months, are there specific income vehicles or dividend strategies that work better, perhaps those with high yield but lower volatility?
Great questions. For emergency cash versus reinvesting, I’d look into having an emergency fund strategy where you set aside 3-6 months of your monthly expenses in cash. You will also generally have a better time with high yield assets that are consistent with their monthly payouts as share price volatility hardly matters when your income is stable.
Thank you for such a timely and thoughtful post! I’ve been investing in dividend-paying stocks for my retirement for the past eight years. When I eventually left my regular job, it was those income investments that carried our family financially.
Reading your journey, from balancing a passion for badminton to leaning on income investing and gig work for flexibility, really resonates with me (and many others). The idea that covering even part of your expenses with dividends gives you the freedom to pursue more meaningful, lower-paying work rings especially true.
As someone who has lived this, I’m curious, how did you determine the right balance between reinvesting dividends for growth versus using them for income early on? Also, did you experience any emotional or practical challenges when relying more on investment income than active work, especially during leaner times?
Appreciate your transparency and the encouragement to rethink traditional retirement paths!
Thank you for your kind words Alyssa. For me, I generally spend more when I have tournaments and less during training. So essentially, I reinvest more when I’m not traveling and less when I am. As for challengers, the main one is just not having enough investment income and being forced to work more.
This is such an insightful perspective on financial freedom in today’s world. I think many people underestimate how much flexibility income investing and the gig economy can create when combined. The reality is, the traditional path of grinding at a 9-5 for decades just doesn’t align with the rising costs of living and the desire for a fulfilling life right now—not decades later. What really stands out is the idea that dividend income doesn’t have to replace your whole paycheck overnight; even covering partial expenses can open the door to pursuing passions, whether it’s sports, creative projects, or travel. Pairing that with flexible gig work allows people to design lifestyles that are both sustainable and meaningful. This feels like a realistic roadmap for the next generation of retirees.
Thank you for commenting!
I really enjoyed how you wove together your badminton passion and financial strategy—it made the topic feel deeply personal and relatable. The idea that income investing doesn’t have to cover everything, but can just free up enough to focus on what truly matters, is powerful and inspiring.
Combining dividend income with the gig economy seems like a modern-day superpower: stability when you need it, flexibility when you crave it. I also appreciate how you’ve framed it as a journey toward fulfillment, rather than the traditional 9-to-5 retirement model. Questions:
For someone starting out with limited capital, would you recommend prioritizing building a dividend income stream first, or focusing more on developing a side hustle—and what makes that the smarter starting point?
Have you found any particular gig work or side hustle that synergizes especially well with income investing—perhaps tasks that are easier to balance alongside thoughtful reinvestment strategies?