For a lot of working adults, there's this common issue that the cost of living is too high so much so that our earned income is not sufficient to enable us to pay for our living expenses and also our insurance needs. This is especially the case for the sandwiched class who needs to pay for their parents' living expenses and also budget for their own family expenses. Very often protection and retirement planning is thus placed at the least important priority because the hand to mouth fire-fighting is far more important.

As it is, it has come to my attention that side hustles are increasingly common. Out of every 5 people I meet, at least 3 have an additional source of income be it from investments, selling stuff on Carousell or a part-time job. So if you ever question whether it's easy to earn extra income, here are some ideas for you. Just a word of caution before we begin, these side hustles are just some known hustles I've encountered from other working adults. Check your company employment policies before embarking on them!

1. Grab Hitch/Driving Grab

Grab Hitch is the more common of the two because being a full-fledged Grab driver requires special licensing. Grab Hitch on the other hand limits every car to 2 rides per day and it's fairly easy to sign up. Many times, people who drive either Grab car or Hitch typically own or need a car for their day jobs and see fetching other passengers as a good side income given that they will be on the road and sometimes even going the same direction. From my conversations with most Grab Hitch drivers, they say the 2 rides per day helps them to cover the cost of owning a car and it's fairly convenient.

2. Food Delivery

I don't know about you, but I am fairly annoyed with most of those PMDs on the road. I find it very dangerous and worry for the safety of the elderly. In any case, I happen to know a couple of people who do food delivery for side income. Apparently, the jobs can be allocated based on location and you can choose how many jobs you wish to take on in your spare time. You are paid based on the number of jobs you take. This is partially the reason why you see these PMDs racing around because time is money for people doing these deliveries. It's back to the old days where drivers used to lament that taxi drivers are reckless because they seem to be perpetually in a rush and now these PMDs form the new hazards for pedestrians. Having said that, people who do this tell me they enjoy this job because it's relatively stress free and the lack of mental work required offers them a break from their stressful day job.

3. Tuition

Tutoring is one of the best paying side hustles that some people can even feed their entire family doing this full time. How much you are remunerated largely depends on how in-demand you are as well as your qualifications and teaching experience. Back when I was tutoring as a student, my hourly rate was $15 per hour and one lesson ranges from 1.5-2hours. At that time, I had about 4 students and they each had 2 lessons per week so it's about close to 1K every month. Now that I've graduated with a degree, I'm confident my per hour rate would be even higher. Having said that, I no longer have any interest in tutoring. There are lots of online portals around who matches aspiring teachers with parents who are looking for tutors. If you are keen to get started, the process is fairly easy. In fact, the environment in today's context is even better than my time. There's more demand than ever. The people I know who are tutoring are telling me that they can save 100% of the income from their day job if they are sufficiently diligent to take on a full day worth of tuition during the weekends.

4. Singing Gigs

Singapore is a place where certain passions are far more difficult to develop as a career than others. Singing and dancing are some examples. In case you are truly passionate about singing, I know that cafes and pubs with live band performances are usually hiring. Having said that, I also believe that the demand far exceeds the supply so you have to be relatively good to be hired. I know a cafe that a friend of mine runs have a number of resident performers on different days of the week. What I do know about such gigs is that the performers truly enjoy the work that they do and it's really awesome when you can get money out of it. So if you love to sing, you might wish to explore this.

5. Designing, videography, photography

Another talent driven area that pays fairly good money is in the area of web and graphic designing, videography and photography. People who have skills in these areas can command a good fee for outsourced assignments. I've actually hired web and graphic designers back in my university days when I was running a technology start up and I've got to say I found the rates charged even by students to be fairly attractive. In fact, if you know how to code on mobile, I feel that this area of expertise pays the best per hour rate for an outsource project. If you are wondering how to get started on finding clients in the coding, web and graphic design segment, you can explore Fiverr. I've personally engaged the services of a number of freelancers on Fiverr and found it surprising that very few Singaporeans are offering their services on it.

In closing, I'd like to mention that there're actually a ton of ways to earn a side income. Just like many other professions, the good ones get paid more and the not so good ones may have difficulty finding work. Sometimes, we may also find ourselves with no relevant skills in the areas that pay an extra income. A good way to start would then be to go invest in a set of skills which in turn can pay you a decent remuneration for the longer term.

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Disclaimer: The content created are based on my personal opinions and may not be representative to everyone or any organisation. If you have any doubts or queries pertaining to insurance or investment, please seek professional advice from a trusted adviser in an official setting. You may also reach out to me if you do not have a present adviser using the message box under 'Let's Talk'.