My Sources of Income

In this post, allow me to discuss some of my other sources of income. Not to brag or anything, but to give you an idea of possible ways to earn extra income while working as an OFW or in the Philippines.

Let's begin.

My first source of income is carpooling or transportation pooling. If you have a vehicle such as a motorcycle or a car that you use to travel from your home to work, you can talk to your co-worker who commutes and ask if they want a ride with you in exchange for a reasonable fee.

Since you're already driving to work, why not take someone with you and earn extra money? As long as your co-worker lives or works along the way, there's no inconvenience for you to pick them up and drop them off.

This arrangement benefits both parties as your co-worker can save money on transportation costs, and you earn extra income to buy gasoline or maintain your vehicle. If you don't have a car, you can still save money by riding with someone who offers a lower fare than the actual transportation costs.

In my case, I have two co-workers who live in the same area as me, so we share the transportation costs. They're happy with the arrangement since they save money and feel comfortable since there are only three of us in a five-seater vehicle.

My second source of income is dividends from stock market investments. Apart from stock trading, I also invested in preferred shares to generate fixed dividends. Preferred shares are an investment instrument that is cumulative, non-voting, non-participating, non-convertible, redeemable, and peso-denominated.

This publicly traded instrument can be purchased at a higher or lower price than its redeemable price, depending on the market price at the time of purchase. A quick tip is not to buy when the price is too high compared to the redemption price. It's better to buy below the redemption price. Unlike common shares, preferred shares have fixed dividends usually paid every quarter. Additionally, the company can buy back or redeem these shares on a specific date stated in the offer supplement of the issued preferred shares.

This means I can hold onto my preferred shares until the company redeems or buys them back at the redeemable price on the specified date. While waiting, I receive a fixed dividend every quarter. The good thing about this is that there's a dividend rate step-up in case the company decides not to redeem the shares on the optional redemption date, which means the dividend rate adjusts according to the offer supplement.

In summary, after purchasing preferred shares, I receive a fixed dividend rate usually paid quarterly until the company buys back or redeems the shares.

I learned most of the skills in stock investing from the book "How to Make Money in Stocks" by Willian J. O'Neil.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in investing in the stock market regardless of your level of experience. It has a clear and concise investing strategy that has been proven to be successful over time.

My third source of income is dividends from common shares. Dividends from common shares are usually not regular and are based on the board's decision of the company. The dividend rate is usually not fixed. Most of the dividends I receive are from stocks in my long-term investment in MARGE. MARGE or Mytrade Affordable Retirement Guide is a program by Mytrade for people who want to invest in the stock market for a long-term period. Mytrade will guide you on what stocks to buy, hold, or sell.

My fourth source of income is Adsense. Adsense is a platform used by bloggers and YouTubers to earn money. Around 2011, my Adsense account was approved and verified by Google. Since then, I've been earning through my blog and YouTube channel.

That's it for my sources of income. I hope this gives you an idea of how you can earn extra income too.