Daydream about quitting your job and doing something you love? Rather than simply dreaming, why not establish your goals and work toward a day when you have enough money or alternative income to quit? Here are some helpful tips that everyone can use.

Tip 1: Diversify your income sources
In addition to increasing your income, diversification can ensure that if one source of money dries up, you haven’t lost everything. Losing your job won’t mean the end of your income, and you will be in a position to ramp up one of the other sources to replace the lost salary. Continue with your primary job while moonlighting as a consultant or freelancer, or start a side business you can do in the evenings or over the weekends. Do something that comes naturally and you are good at. Ideally, try to make extra money doing something you enjoy.

Tip 2: Develop passive income streams
Even as you diversify your income sources, you’ll realize that there are only so many hours in the day. The beauty of passive, semi-passive and residual income is that these streams continue to generate money even while you are occupied at your regular job, meaning that you can increase your income exponentially without being limited to how much you can actively accomplish during working hours. Real-estate rentals, websites with affiliate links, information products, business interests, and royalties from published books, software programs, recorded music and photography are all somewhat passive sources of income, involving little to no active work as they keep generating money. You can also convert a secondary income source — say, a weekend ice-cream stand — into passive income by turning over the management and daily work to a trusted employee.

Tip 3: Pay yourself first
Make saving money a priority, and set aside a percentage of your income as savings. Take this out of your paychecks or profits each month before you pay the bills. Budget to ensure you’ll have enough to cover all your expenses, and increase your savings every time your income increases.

Tip 4: Avoid debt and high interest rates
Huge credit card balances and car loans are two of the biggest pitfalls on the way to wealth. A credit card balance of $7,000 at 18% interest will take four years to pay off with monthly payments of $205. Now imagine how much sooner you could meet your saving and investment goals with an extra $200 a month. If you haven’t fallen into the trap yet, avoid unnecessary debt and high interest rates. Put your money to work for you, not the banks.

Tip 5: Live like a millionaire
The Millionaire Next Door, that is. Mimic the frugal habits of self-made millionaires if you wish to join their ranks. They spend less than what they earn, research large purchases, avoid debt and pay cash for their vehicles. The very wealthy tend not to have especially expensive taste. Read The Millionaire Mind to learn how millionaires really live — you might be surprised.

Tip 6: Invest wisely and regularly
Don’t invest in things you don’t understand, and make sure you diversify your investments to minimize your risk. Set up automatic investment contributions, and participate in any employer-matching plans available to you. Structure your investments for your targeted retirement date, becoming more conservative and less aggressive in your portfolio as you come closer to relying on your investment earnings for living expenses.

Tip 7: Stay married
Divorce is one of the leading destroyers of wealth in American families. The cost of divorce, legal counsel, child support and alimony add up to severely limit your ability to save money and grow wealth. In addition, virtually all self-made millionaires have been married once and stayed married to the same person. This stability allows you to create more wealth and hold on to your earnings as a couple.

Tip 8: Track your finances
A written budget, whether it’s in your notebook or online at Mint.com, keeps you on track and gives you a visual representation of your overall financial picture. Keep track of your savings, investments and earnings and compare them to your goals. Go over your finances regularly, with weekly and monthly check-ins to stay on track.

Tip 9: Borrow carefully
Look for the lowest interest rates available, and only take out loans that make sense for your financial situation. For some people, this will mean never borrowing money and saving up for an education, house or vehicle. Others are comfortable with low-interest loans that free up their resources to make more money than the loan costs. For example, with peer-to-peer lending, you can potentially bring your interest rates down to almost nothing, and then reinvest that money at higher interest rates. Evaluate the true cost of any new debt you take on. Be especially wary of taking out larger loans than you truly need, as paying them back can be harder than you think.

Early retirement or the opportunity to pursue your dream job? The choice is yours. Follow these easy tips and pretty soon the millionaire might not just be next door, he or she might just be living in your house.

你做過白日夢嗎，不再工作，做你喜歡的事情？與其簡單地想象，為何不樹立目標并且朝著你有足夠多的錢或者有替代收入的那一天努力呢？這里是一些有益的適合所有人的提示。

提示1：使收入多樣化

除了提高你的收入，收入多樣化可以確保當一種收入來源枯竭的時候，你不會失去一切。失去工作也不會意味著收入的終止，你可以提高其他的收入來替代失去的部分。在晚上繼續你作為顧問或者自由職業者的主業，或者開始一份你能在網上或者周末從事的副業。做些水到渠成的并且你所擅長的事情。理想的話，適著做一些你喜歡的事情來掙些外快。

提示：培養消極收入

哪怕你的收入來源多樣化，你還是會覺得每天的時間就這么點。被動收入和剩余收益的好處在于，即使你在工作的時候，它們也能不斷地產生收益，這意味著你不用收到在工作時間主動完成了多少工作的限制，也能提高你的收入。房產租金、網站鏈接、信息產品、商業利益、著作版稅、軟件程序、音樂錄制、攝影都可以成為某種被動收入的來源，這些收入不需要什么主動的工作也可以持續產生收益。你也可以將次要的收入來源，比方說，周末經營的冰激淋小攤，通過將管理和日常工作移交給可信任的員工而轉變為被動收入的來源。

提示3：先為自己買單

存錢是最為重要的事情，將你收入的一定百分比作為存款。將這部分錢在你每月支付的賬單之前，從付款支票或者利潤中扣除。做好預算，確保你能支付所有的費用，當收入增加時要增加你的存款金額。

提示4. 避免借貸和高利率

高額信用卡欠款和汽車貸款是通向財富道路上的兩個最大的陷阱。7000美元的信用卡帳款，以18%的利率計算，則需要連續四年每月支付205美元才能還清。想象一下如果每月多存200美元的話，你將能提前多久完成你的存款和投資目標。如果你還沒有調入這個陷阱，那么避免不必要的貸款和高利率。讓你的錢為你服務，而不要為銀行服務。

提示5：像個百萬富翁那樣生活

那就是，隔壁的百萬富翁。如果你想要加入他們的行列，既要仿效那些白手起家的百萬富翁們的節約的習慣。他們花的比掙得少，大宗購買前做調查，避免債務，支付現金購買汽車。那些十分富有的人們基本上沒有奢侈的愛好。讀讀百萬富翁的頭腦這本書來學習他們是如何生活的——也許你會感到吃驚的。

提示6：精明穩定地投資

不要投資那些你不懂的東西，確保投資多樣化把風險降到最低。設立自動投資金額，參加公司提供的福利計劃。根據你確定的退休日期規劃你的投資，當你越來越接近依賴你的投資收益來生活的時候，要采取減少激進、趨向保守的投資組合。

提示7：維持婚姻

離婚是美國家庭財富的頭號破壞者。離婚的成本、法律咨詢、撫養孩子、離婚贍養費加在一起會嚴重降低你存錢盒財富增長的能力。此外，事實上，所有白手起家的百萬富翁一旦結婚就會維持下去。這種穩定性能使你創造更多的財富并且以夫婦的名義持有收益。

提示8：追蹤你的財物狀況

一份書面預算，不論是在你的筆記本里或者在Mint網上，能對你的財物概況進行追蹤并且提供視覺上的陳述。追蹤你的存款、投資、收益，并將它們與你的目標進行比較。每周和每月都定期回顧你的財務狀況以維持追蹤。

提示9：謹慎借錢

尋找可能的最低利率的借款，并且只在對你的財務狀況有意義時貸款。對某些人而言，這將意味著永不借款，并且為了教育、房子和汽車存款。其他的人則對低息貸款感到滿意，因為這樣能將他們的錢去掙比貸款成本更多的錢。比如，通過個人網絡貸款平臺，你有機會將你的利率降到幾乎為零，然后將錢重新投資到利率較高的地方去。評估每一次新債務的真實成本。需要特別提防的是借了比你實際需要更多的貸款，因為還清貸款回比擬想象得要艱難。

早早退休或者有機會去追求你夢想中的工作？選擇在你的手里。按照這些簡單的提示去做，很快百萬富翁不會只在隔壁了，他或她可能就在你的家里。