I Have An Extra Worker In The House Who Gives Me 100% Of Their Earnings

What would you say if someone knocked on your door one day asking you if they could live in your house, but promise to use up no water, no electricity, eat no food and require no space, and yet would go out and get a part-time job and give you 100% of their earnings? Would this be an arrangement you could dig?

I know it’s a setup I would love to have. Better yet, it’s an arrangement I already have.

Dividends are my extra worker in the house. I get paid cash money, deposited into my brokerage account every few days or so. These amounts vary from just a few dollars all the way up to almost $100 at a time.

But, you know what’s wonderful about it? This money required no work on my part. I simply made great decisions with surplus capital in days previous. I decided years ago to live below my means and invest every free dollar I could into high quality companies. And what has this lifestyle done for me so far?

Well, I’m expecting to receive somewhere north of $4,500 in dividends over the next twelve months. That breaks down to about $375 per month in completely passive income. Taking it one step further, that is like a part-time worker in the house making $10 per hour and working almost nine hours per week every week all year long and giving me all of it. No lunch break. No coffee stop in the morning. No clothing allowance. No vacations. No holiday time. I get all of it!

Furthermore, this part-time worker is likely going to keep receiving raises that outpace inflation over the long haul. Where my job income is tied to a fixed commission rate, the part-time worker living with me isn’t bound by such constraints. He’ll likely see 7-10% raises every single year, passing on all of it to me.

The wonderful thing about this is that anyone can do this. I’m no genius. I’ve never taken an IQ test, but I’m quite sure I’d score about average. Furthermore, I know that I don’t need to score high. All I need to do is recognize that life is only lived once and I want to live mine on my own terms. I want to spend more time with family and friends, continue to engage in passions that drive me and make some of my dreams come true. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do things like that when most of my dwindling time is being spent at work.

I’m changing my life one day at a time. I continue to believe in the power of frugality, leveraging my savings and increasing my investments in high quality companies that have a history of increasing dividends and rewarding shareholders generously. These dividends will eventually grow to the point to where this part-time worker living with me is a full-time worker and making more money than I do. At that point, I’ll ask myself why I’m still spending 50+ hours per week at the office when I have a friend giving me more money than I could ever hope to spend.

So, if you haven’t already started then you need to get busy on finding yourself a part-time worker that would love to do nothing more than to give you all of their money all while asking for nothing in return. It’s a wonderful arrangement that I’m sure you’ll be thrilled with! And if you’ve already got hundreds of dollars coming into the household with no extra work on your part you’re well on the way to financial independence. One day the world will be yours!

How about you? Have an extra part-time worker in the household?

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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56 Comments

  1. DM,

    Awesome post! Now I’m really fired up about embracing this strategy.
    Thanks for all your hard work.
    Nomad

  2. Bryan,

    You’ve got that right! No backtalk. Just money. 🙂

    I hope your journey proves to be as wonderful as mine has been so far. Best of luck to you and your wife!

    Take care.

  3. Nomad,

    I’m fired up just writing about it. The tangible nature of dividends is quite enticing, and a major reason why this investment strategy is so fulfilling.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Best regards!

  4. Sounds like a heck of a deal Jason. The best part is they don’t talk back or give you a hard time. My wife and I are embarking on a similar plan. Keep up the good work!

    -Bryan
    fastletter.blogspot.com

  5. DM,
    One of my favorite posts ever. Really, really like this clever way of looking at dividends. It really is like another extra worker on your side! Also, recently started listening to your and Kraig’s podcasts, truly enjoying them, keep up the great work! It’s funny – I think I’m totally obsessed with dividend investing. On the elliptical the other night after work. Am I listening to music? No way! I’m listing to Chasing Financial Freedom and learning all about dividend investing!
    All the best,
    Ian

  6. Great post DM. Whats neat is with the power of compounding and re-investing dividends into high quality companies, your zero-maintenance worker will exponentially increase his income. This is something I could never achieve as an employee for a company, year after year.

  7. Hello Jason,

    I regularly contribute to my portfolio a nominal monthly amount either to add to the existing positions or buy a new quality company. As a motivation factor , I started paying my utility bill from dividends that I receive (through brokerage checks) and later came to realize that my utility bills are covered for my life time. These kind of smaller expenses coverage will create a strong resolve in me to stick to DGI plan.

    For me comparing my portfolio to S&P or DJIA or Mutual funds doesn’t make sense. I look at my portfolio and start comparing if I can start paying my cell phone bill along with utility bill next year or two. That I call it as a growth and fair comparison.

  8. Great way to look at your workers. I was happy that my worker at MSFT just recently got a 22% raise. Glad to see my workers doing better on raises this year than I am.

  9. DM,

    I don’t know if you saw the video interview by Brad Thomas with the CEO of ARCP Nick Schorsch – He stated they will be raising the dividend to .94 and plans on increasing it quarter after quarter. Man I’m loving this!
    Nomad

  10. While it’s great to have an extra worker that contributes everything yet draws nothing, the best part is that by having a careful screening process they can get raises that you would kill for from your own employment.

  11. DM!

    Totally agree! I have a part time worker that I hope to translate into a full time worker sooner than later and hopefully they like to pick up some Overtime shifts on the side. Great perspective on what we are trying to accomplish!

  12. Two hours a month for me. The worker does need a tiny bit of supervision, though, in case the business fundamentals change or dividends are cut.

  13. Ian,

    Thanks so much. You’ve been incredibly supportive for quite a while now. I really appreciate it. I’m glad you’re digging the podcast. It’s a lot of fun to produce them with Kraig. He’s been a great partner.

    I hope your journey is still going strong!

    Best wishes.

  14. Investing Early,

    Absolutely! This worker’s earnings is getting reinvested back into his ability to earn even more money in the future. That paycheck will increase at a much faster rate than mine ever could. Soon, it will be a paycheck representing a lot more than nine hours of work. It’ll climb to 10, then 15, 30 and so on.

    Cheers!

  15. Anonymous,

    Great way to look at the dividends. I once commented not too long ago that my dividends will now pay for food for the rest of my life. It’s a great way to think about things – what bills are now covered. In fact, I always include what % of my expenses were covered during the month in my monthly dividend income updates.

    I agree with you on comparing to benchmarks. Benchmarks have nothing to do with my expenses or my ability to generate passive income that exceeds them.

    Take care.

  16. Nomad,

    I was aware of the planned increase after the close of CapLease and ARCT IV. Great stuff there. I expect they’ll follow the model of O and increase the dividend by very small amounts month after month. It’s a great plan, and one I fully concur with! My YOC will rise very quickly with this investment. 🙂

    Let’s hope our part-time worker continues to receive raises like this.

    Take care!

  17. Tom,

    Glad you liked it! I love having a part-time worker in the household that continues to give me money. It’s a very nice arrangement.

    Best of luck finding your own free worker. 🙂

    Cheers!

  18. Pursuit,

    Absolutely! I’ve never received an implicit raise from my employer. Rather, I was moved at one point from one department to another that had higher volume and higher ticket averages with indirectly resulted in my ability to make more money. My direct compensation, however, has remained the same since I started.

    On the other hand, my little worker bee has received about one hundred raises since he started working for me. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  19. Debbie M,

    Two hours is better than zero. You’re off to a very nice start!

    I concur. There is a little bit of supervision involved, but considering the compensation I consider it time well spent.

    Take care!

  20. My part time worker comes to my mail box up to two times a month and leaves me a check with my name on it. Once again let me say thanks for your site.(I know its a old way but I like to see the paper check and take it to the bank)

  21. Anonymous,

    That’s great stuff there! Nothing wrong with a check. A bit old-fashioned, but certainly feels nice to go down to the bank and cash a check you didn’t have to work for! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  22. Roger H,

    That’s a pretty sad statistic/poll right there. To expect to work until you’re dead is rather unfortunate. It just reinforces my belief in how important it is to keep doing what I’m doing. I may not retire by 40, but even just retiring by 50 would be quite a feat according to some of the stuff I’m seeing.

    Let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. 🙂

    Take care.

  23. dividendgamer,

    Absolutely! Getting to the point where the worker’s earnings are being reinvested back into his ability to make money for you is key. That’s when the compounding fun really begins and that snowball starts getting fairly large. 🙂

    Cheers!

  24. I love the analogy of the extra worker. The worker just keeps on trucking even while you sleep, no matter what time zone you’re in. That extra worker makes its presence especially known when it decides to increase the amount it gives. I love it!

    I think this post deserves to be in the pantheon of posts that can be handed to anyone in doubt of the DGI strategy.

  25. Your money will work more harder for you then you could physically work for it. It is definitely a good position to be in when it comes to investing in quality companies that pay dividends to their investors and increase these dividends over time.

    A person can only work so many hours in a day and not the entire 24 hours of each day. You money works for you 24 hours a day. For example,people are buying a coke product every hour or every day. The earnings these companies make from the sale of their products are shared with investors in the form of dividends on a monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually basis. Companies like Coke make money 24 hours a day.

  26. hahaha! I thought you were taking money over your kid’s job 😉

    It’s nice to build such big dividend payout. Imagine, it can technically pay for a car by now and in a few years, it will pay for your mortgage payment…

    I love reading about true application of dividend investment. Truly inspiring!

    I keep all my dividend stocks in my retirement account so I don’t get too excited about my passive income so far since I can’t cash it now.

  27. You should feed that little worker a daily dose of dividends so that he gets stronger and bigger and grows into an even stronger worker.

    Hell yeah – now that’s what I’m talking about:
    “$4,500 in dividends over the next twelve months. That breaks down to
    about $375 per month in completely passive income”

  28. Spoonman,

    Glad you liked it. 🙂

    I’m more than happy to collect a check while I sleep. Makes the dreams that much sweeter!

    I know you’ve got a well trained part-time worker on your side too. Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  29. Investing Pursuits,

    You nailed it there. Money can work harder than I ever could. That’s exactly why I’m trying to save as much of my excess capital today so that it can continue working for me in the future.

    And better yet, that money makes money 24 hours per day, every single day. It never takes a break. I just love that work ethic.

    I hope your part-time worker keeps pulling double shifts for you!

    Best regards.

  30. The Dividend Guy,

    If I had a car, the dividends could easily pick up a pretty nice car payment, and maybe even a tank of gas on top of it. A free car sounds pretty good to me. 🙂

    Glad you find this inspiring. I look at other investors and their dividend income rising month after month and really find that stuff inspirational. It’s awesome to see freedom becoming more realistic as the days pass by.

    Keep up the great work.

    Take care!

  31. $25000 Dividends,

    I’m feeding him as many dividends as I can. I promise you!

    You’re building your portfolio rather aggressively. You’ll be seeing a full-time worker in your house before you know it. 🙂

    Best wishes.

  32. A clever write up. I liked the comparison to a person who pays you everything he makes. However, it wasn’t for free. You had to pay him first, but then, once he is trained, he will pay you forever.

    And as the guy above, you still need to pay for his training (feeding him) so he will be trained and skilled enough to bring home a huge salary :)) I like this…

  33. Part time workers with annual raises… who recruit more part time workers every 3 months. In some cases every month. Nice!

    Can’t wait to see how this all turns out in the next 5 years. I’ll toast to adding more workers… Cheers

  34. “How about you? Have an extra part-time worker in the household?”
    Since two of my stocks pay fat dividends this year and at the start of the next one, yeah I have an extra worker.

    HAppy investing DM 🙂

  35. Martin,

    Yeah, there was an upfront cost to the part-time worker but you just wind him up and he goes on and on and on. 🙂

    I’ll gladly keep paying for his training as long as he keeps sending me his checks.

    Best wishes.

  36. Compounding Income,

    I can’t wait to see how this turns out five years from now either. I’ll be anxious to see how both of our journey’s have turned out. I think we’ll be pretty happy with our progress.

    Keep your part-time worker going! 🙂

    Take care.

  37. JF Baconnet,

    Great job! You’ve got extra money coming on that can just keep getting added to the pile, which creates even more income in the future. Keep it up!

    Cheers.

  38. I used to be just a lurker here and I have enjoyed most of your posts. But now I have to let you know that this post is all about my goals and what I am trying to accomplish. Its just like you have put words in my thoughts.I hope you don’t mind if I share it in my facebook.

  39. Raquel,

    I don’t mind at all. Share away! 🙂

    Glad you enjoyed this post and you were able to identify with what I’m talking about. I think once you think of it as income that you simply don’t have to go to work for the light bulb illuminates. It’s like “if I can make close to the money I make now and don’t have to work anymore that’s pretty awesome!”

    I hope your passive income continues to grow.

    Take care.

  40. My Mantra is ‘Give The Worker in Me’ a fair go! I chant for the future of THE WORKER IN ME By Tracey Maguire. Is this getting old news?

  41. “Ohhh MMaaate” You’ve got to get yourself on the bandwagon. It’s an elaborate plan to say the least. Get familiar. Start tracking it down. It will pay dividends. Cheers Vic

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