Nearly all "passive income" is not passive at all

Anyone who claims they make more money while sleeping than awake is lying to you, unless their freaking Warren Buffett.

It's like the saying that people work 80 hours to avoid working 40 hours: they act like their work is effortless, when in reality, what they do takes way more effort than a normal "9 to 5" job.

From real estate, to stock and bond investing, to royalties and sold content, there is real work that goes into building, growing, and maintaining these kinds of income producing assets.

Rental real estate includes dealing with delinquent tenants. Stock and bond investing requires picking and timing the market. And when it comes to content people will pay for, you have to have invested heavily in your credentials, building your following, and producing content people find valuable in the age of the Internet.

For example, creating YouTube channels, doing this is touted as making "passive income", but in reality they are probably one of the hardest jobs of all time, and you need real talent, skill, and production capabilities to make it sustainable and produce enough income to live off of.

Sure, if you have an inheritance large enough, you can technically live off of that, but that really dilutes the idea of income that was built to be passive. Or if you are in tech and are doing nothing while you "rest and vest", that's not what the ethos of passive income is about at all.

To me, when I hear someone brag about making passive income I imagine them pulling a 4 hour workweek lifestyle, sipping coolatas on a beach, all while money enters their bank account without them having to lift a finger. But the truth is far from this! Passive income requires tons of work, tons of risk, and tons of investment and talent, which many of us simply do not possess.