Gaining Peace of Mind with Income Backup Plans
Maintaining a list of possible jobs or income streams can improve your peace of mind.
For the past few decades, I have maintained a constantly updated list of personal income backup plans. Although it started on paper, it’s now a simple list in a digital file. It lists all the things I can imagine myself doing were I to lose an employment or revenue stream and need to fill in that income gap.
Why do I do this? It brings me peace of mind. Giving some thought to what I might do to generate income if I needed to allows me to worry less about my financial situation.
Prior to my current full-time writing and content creation life, most of my income came from a long-term position as manager in a large software company. Since the technological sector can be volatile and rife with layoffs and reorganizations, in the back of my mind I was always concerned about suddenly losing my job and with it most of my income.
I forget when I first started to maintain my backup income idea list, but I distinctly remember after the first time I started to write ideas down on paper my mind unclenched. Much of my worry evaporated. Seeing in front of me a bunch of ideas of jobs I could or other ways to make money allowed me to worry less about losing my job.
Anything legal I can imagine doing to make money goes on the list.
For example, even as of a few years ago when I was still working in my corporate management job, I remember putting on the list “I could work in a grocery store.” I had just come from the store. I had chatted with the clerk behind the register who was about my age. They had been employed in an entirely different industry and applied for the job at the grocery store after being laid off since they needed a job quickly. They ended up liking their new job. I went home and wrote down that I could work in a grocery store.
Working in a grocery store might seem like an odd thing for someone working in a Fortune 100 corporate management job to consider were I to have lost my job, but I long ago decided to put anything reasonable I can think of on my list. I continue to maintain that list today and as of now it has about 65 different income ideas listed.
Some of the things I’ve listed are different types of jobs. Others aren’t employment jobs but rather revenue streams such as writing for this Medium newsletter page and putting some of my articles behind a paywall so I make a bit of money from them. (This article isn’t behind a paywall and anyone can read or share it.)
Many of the ideas would require me to attend some schooling or otherwise self-train to do something entirely new. Most of my employment life has been comprised of jobs I never thought I’d end up in just a few years prior. So what I might have considered a wacky idea a decade ago now seems quite reasonable. We change. Life changes.
I’ve never written down “I could be a brain surgeon” or “I’ll become a neuroscientist.” I know myself well enough to know I don’t have the academic patience to pursue such jobs. Of course, now I’m 70-years-old and while a 20-year-old could squeeze in enough education to have a long career in such jobs, that’s not likely for me. I’m a realist. My list is quite pragmatic. Anything I write down on the list has to be something I can honestly see myself doing in the future.
Over time, I have annotated the list. For example, I had written down “I could sell real estate” and after having a conversation with a real estate agent friend I added some notes and a few links to some good online information and education resources should I ever decide to pursue that.
I keep the list in a simple word processing file. Periodically, I revisit the list, add or delete things as my situation or life perspective changes, or reprioritize things so the more likely options live near the top of the list.
We live in a sometimes-tumultuous employment landscape these days. We can never be entirely sure we’ll hold on to our current job. Even if we’re self-employed, economic sectors can change enough that we’ll have to look for something new.
Nowadays, we’re hearing a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) replacing jobs. I think AI will replace some jobs. How many? I have no idea. Regardless, it’s likely the employment environment is going to continue to shift and change over the coming years and you might need to find something new to pay the bills. I suggest starting your own backup income list. Maybe it will bring you some peace of mind too.
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