Much ink has been spilled in the personal finance arena about how to reduce your spending. After all, the more money you save on stuff, the more money you get to keep for… other stuff!
But frugality has a limiting factor: namely, you can only save so much. The amount of money you save is directly tied to the amount of money you make. It’s a lot easier to save $20k a year if you make $100k than if you make $40k, ya feel me?
So today I want to round up our best and brightest advice not on reducing your spending or saving your money… but on how to increase your income. Get that bread. Make it rain. Get us the lettuce. Stack them stacks. Bring home the motherfucking bacon.
Make more money at the job you have
One of the simplest ways to increase your income is to just make your current employer pay you more. But while it may be simple, it ain’t always easy.
- Santa Isn’t Coming and Neither Is Your Promotion: How To Get Promoted
- How I Chessmastered Myself Into a Promotion at Work
- The First Time I Asked for a Raise
- You Really Need to Ask for a Raise. Here’s How.
- Ask the Bitches: “Can I Quit With Unvested Funds? Or Am I Walking Away From Too Much Money?”
- The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Salary
Make more money at your next job
All that said, you’re statistically more likely to increase your income faster by job hopping! So if your current employer doesn’t want to pay you more, leave that sinking ship behind in pursuit of a higher salary.
- Job Hopping vs. Career Loyalty by the Numbers
- The Fascinating Results of Our Job Hopping vs. Career Loyalty Poll
- How NOT to Determine Your Salary
- When It Comes to Salary Negotiations, Are You Asking for Enough?
- What To Do When You’re Asked About Your Salary Requirements in a Job Interview
- If Your Employer Refuses To Negotiate Salary, Try These 11 Creative Counteroffers
- Season 4, Episode 9: “I’m on the Wrong Career Path. How Do I Convince a New Industry To Take a Chance on Me?”
Invest your way to more money
Of course there are some who say the true path to wealth is passive income: when you stop working for your money and instead let your money work for you. And they’re not wrong! Here’s how we recommend you increase your income passively.
- When Money in the Bank Is a Bad Thing: Understanding Inflation and Depreciation
- Investing Deathmatch: Investing in the Stock Market vs. Just… Not
- What’s the REAL Rate of Return on the Stock Market?
- Dafuq Is a Retirement Plan and Why Do You Need One?
- Procrastinating on Opening a Retirement Account? Here’s 3 Ways That’ll Fuck You Over.
- Season 4, Episode 1: “Index Funds Include Unethical Companies. Can I Still Invest in Them, or Does That Make Me a Monster?”
- Small Business Investing: A Kinder, Gentler Alternative to the Stock Market
- The Dark Magic of Financial Horcruxes: How and Why to Diversify Your Assets
Make more money through side hustles
When it comes to side hustles, we have traditionally advocated caution. The last thing you want to do is burn out in pursuit of a second income stream. But with enough wits and fortitude, a side hustle could help you increase your income by leaps and bounds.
- Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough
- Season 2, Episode 9: “I Use My Free Time to Volunteer. Should I Focus on Making Money Instead?”
- Stop Undervaluing Your Freelance Work, You Darling Fool
- Freelancer, Protect Thyself… With a Fair Contract
- Season 4, Episode 10: “I’m a Freelance Artist. How Do I Price My Work Fairly Without Losing Clients?”
- Ask the Bitches: My Boss Won’t Give Me a Contract and I’m Freaking Out
- “Independent Contractor” My Ass: How to Stop Wage Theft Through Worker Misclassification
- Becoming a Millennial Entrepreneur (In the Midst of a Pandemic) With Katelyn Magnuson
- 11 Awful Mistakes I Made as a Self-employed Freelancer, and How You Can Avoid Them
- The Magic of Unclaimed Property: How I Made $1,900 in 10 Minutes by Being a Disorganized Mess
- I Am a Craigslist Samurai and so Can You: How to Sell Used Stuff Online
What to do when you make more money
Once you increase your income, you might find yourself… not quite bored, but finding you have a little more bandwidth to handle the stuff that matters. It can be a jarring transition! Here are our thoughts on the matter.
- Season 3, Episode 7: “I’m Finished With the Basic Shit. What Are the Advanced Financial Steps That Only Rich People Know?”
- Season 3, Episode 4: “The More Money I Save, the More I’m Scared To Lose It. Can I Break the Cycle of Financial Anxiety?”
- How to Avoid Lifestyle Inflation … and When to Embrace It
- Ask the Bitches: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed
- Update: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed
- The FIRE Movement, Explained
- I Was Happy to Marry a Poor Man. Then Things Changed.
- I Have Become the Rich Relative I Always Wanted
- Believing in Miracles: A Conversation with Chris Dane Owens on Money, Creativity, and Self-Funding Art
- I Now Make More Money Than My Husband, and It’s Great for Our Marriage
- Season 2, Episode 1: “I’m Financially Stable, but My Friends Aren’t. The Guilt Is Crushing!”
- The Resignation Checklist: 25 Sneaky Ways To Bleed Your Employer Dry Before Quitting
Advocate for systemic change
We don’t endorse an attitude of “I got mine.” So once you increase your income, there are lots of ways to use your newfound financial breathing room for good! Lift as you climb, my friend. Here are a few ways to do so:
- Wallet Activism: Using Your Money for Good with Author Tanja Hester
- Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job
- Raising the Minimum Wage Would Make All Our Lives Better
- Post a Salary Range in the Job Description, You Fucking Cowards
- 1 Easy Way All Allies Can Help Close the Gender and Racial Pay Gap
- The Truth About Unions: What Has Organized Labor Done for You?
- How To Support a Labor Strike with 3 Simple Steps
Everything in moderation
One last thing, my lambs: don’t crush your spirit while chasing the goal of a higher income. Working hard is hard work. If you find these tactics are leaving you exhausted and demoralized, you might be on the road to burnout. And that road leads nowhere good!
That’s why we just released our glorious new Burnout Workshop. Click the button below to take a peek!
