Over 50% of Americans work side hustles to support primary income
While side hustles can be lucrative and rewarding, experts advise people to research upfront costs and tax implications for additional work hours they add to each week.
(InvestigateTV) — MarketWatch recently reported that 54% of Americans have taken on side hustles in the last year to supplement their primary income.
David Straughan is a content manager for MarketWatch Guides. He’s also a former avid side hustler.
“Cost of living has gone up tremendously over the last several years. And housing costs, all those things are, you know, life is just a lot more expensive than it used to be,” Straughan explained. “Some people are they’re trying to earn more money to save or to invest in something and then some people are really just getting by.”
Straughan said while side hustles can be lucrative and rewarding, people should remember some of these jobs come with a cost to get started and it’s not always something they can offset with a tax write off. There’s sometimes a long time between spending money and getting it back.
“I think that, you know, culturally, we have a tendency to look at a lot of these jobs as like not professional,” he noted. “And I would caution people against underestimating the amount of professionalism that that should be put into these jobs.”
Straughan said another benefit is there is often a low level of commitment so people can dip their toe in and see how they like the extra work and how it will fit into their life and full-time job.
And if they recognize that something is just not for them early on, they can just stop doing it.
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