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Low risk investing in 2018+

It's been another 2 years since I gave this blog some attention, and life has both changed, and stayed static in that time.

My drive to leave the boring world of work, and earn a living online, hasn't changed. That said, I've got the bruises from the last 10+ years of trying different tactics, and have probably become a lot more boring, but successful as a result.

As I mentioned in my last post, the shutdown of Liberty Reserve was a turning point in my thinking. I'm now super suspicious of online currencies. eGold and Liberty Reserve shutdowns showed that the US government was either determined to kill off non-traditional payment systems, or that they were trying to steer people towards ones they had more visibility of.

Either way, the question remains around other online payment services, as to whether or not their days are numbered, and whether holders of legitimate funds in these services would lose access at any time. For the record, I've not been able to recover my eGold or Liberty Reserve funds, and not heard of others achieving this either.

So where does that leave me today? Well I earn well in a traditional (IT based) career, and live a very frugal life from it. I've spent 20 years saving heavily, and now invest my money in Stocks and Shares under a UK tax free wrapper (ISA). I imagine other countries have similar schemes, setup to encourage people to save money over the long term. Stocks and Shares aren't going to make me a mint overnight, but I research good funds, and seem to have done alright for myself with 7%+ growth annually to-date. It's nothing like my HYIP days, but I don't have to worry about losing all my money. I get my thrills from some higher risk investment areas, such as Japan and China. I use funds rather than stocks, to spread the risk of any one company going under, and I'm not expecting the government to ban shares overnight anytime soon, so should expect something to remain of these investments regardless!

Beyond this more traditional investment approach, I continue to play with small sources of income online:

ShopandScan - This is a market research scheme that gets people to scan what they buy. They pay in points that can be redeemed for vouchers. I choose mine as Amazon vouchers. Unfortunately this is an invite only programme.

Google Screenwise - Another market research schemes that looks at what we use the internet for, and what we watch on TV. I have an extra box in my lounge for this and get paid monthly for the access. Again this is an invite only programme unfortunately.

Search Lotto - As I've previously posted, Search Lotto pays you to use the Yahoo Search engine. It shares the advertising revenue basically. They pay in the form of Lottery tickets, either UK National Lottery or EuroMillions. I've still not won a lot yet, but I do win occasionally, and before I know it, I've been paid out directly to my bank account. This is a simple one to do that doesn't cost any extra time to take part in. Here's hoping for a big win one of these days!

YouTube - My main YouTube channel now has on 1.5 million views. Just like this blog, I talk to subjects I'm passionate about (my car, and nerdy computer tips mainly!). This earns me around £1000 a year currently, so some work to do to grow it!

Website Adverts - I still have a few blogs but have adverts running on them. I enjoy posting on them, and a payment of £50-60 from Google every now and then makes it an income stream.


Before I sign off, I want to share some advice with anyone desperately trying to earn money online... decide what you are passionate about, and what you stand for (your ethics). The easiest ways to reliably earn money online are based on advertising revenue. This leads many to make videos or posts in an attempt to "go viral". This has more recently led to the "Fake News" trend. People make a lot of money out of conning people, or spreading fake news/hate. Personally I accept a much lower visitor count in exchange for keeping to my ethics. I strongly advice that anyone looking for online revenue:
1. Accept it's a slow journey... work in-parallel until you reach your goals
2. Focus on being happy in life, not just having lots of money
3. Do something you're passionate about. Your audience will see through you if you try faking it

And on that note, I'll leave this post. I hope to post more regularly now, so in the meanwhile, be happy, and hopefully little lucky too!

jb

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