My Passive Writing Retirement Plan

I recently responded to my fellow writer Joni's comment (Go check out her site on the history of American women...it's great!)  mentioning my 'retirement plan' as a freelance writer. I immediately received an email asking for more details. Instead of responding to an individual email, I decided to address my writing retirement plan in a short post, so other writer's who may not have thought about it this way could benefit as well.

Most freelance writers agree that passive income is the way to go. Passive income, also known as revenue or residual earnings, are not made in one lump sum with publishing your articles but comes from different revenue outlets like Google AdSense or Info Links. These revenue based payments increase with the more articles you publish. Its a slow and steady pace to create a decent revenue income but since this type of compensation continues as long as your content is available online, it is well worth the time and effort.

The first year and a half as a freelance writer, I focused solely on upfront, direct pay jobs although I did write for Suite 101 sometimes because it was the first site I was hired to. When I really researched passive income, I knew immediately that was the way I wanted to go. My first revenue payout was $23 in November 2010. In July 2011, my payout was $738. And it increases daily.

Because passive income increases with the amount of articles you publish, I try to focus on this type of articles one day per week. After all, I still rely on direct paying gigs to pay the bills. Working for yourself doesn't offer a 401k. I decided passive income would be my retirement plan. The way you contribute each pay period to your retirement fund through an employer, I contribute weekly to increase my amount of published passive income articles, which increases the likelihood of ad clicks which in turn increases my income. It's my weekly contribution to my retirement fund. Because one day, I will retire from writing and will have a substantial monthly income from various places across the web through passive income sources. This income will come even when I am not actively writing a single word. When I am too old, eat up in arthritis from hours of typing at the computer. When I spend my days relaxing on the porch with my husband, rocking side by side in comfortable rocking chairs and sipping chocolate milkshakes, this income will still come in.

I write revenue based articles on websites as well as my own sites. I am in control how often and how many articles I publish. And I am building my retirement slowly but surely, in a similar manner as one pays weekly/bi-weekly/monthly to their retirement fund! Except my retirement doesn't take a percentage of my income, it only takes an hour or two of my time. And the best bonus is, I don't have to wait until I am 62/65 years old to draw my retirement income...mine already comes monthly. :-)