Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016?

Re:Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016? by wfunction on Sunday December 11, 2016 @06:48AM (#13150675)

> But even if a company doesn't pay dividends, it will often make a profit that ends up on the company's books. A part of this profit, proportional to your ownership, belongs to you who own the stock.

You're totally missing my point. I'm saying, even if your stock is "worth" $1 trillion, if you don't actually ever sell it, you haven't earned a single penny from it. It's only money when it's actually money. So my question was whether the OP was ever selling the stock or not.

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Re:Ask HN: What was your best passive income in 2016? by dgacmu on Sunday December 11, 2016 @10:05AM (#13151329)

This part of your statement is incorrect: "It's only money when it's actually money."

Stocks in major corporations are generally considered a liquid asset - i.e., they can be easily converted to cash. [1]

Don't confuse liquidity and risk exposure. The money is still subject to the risk of the market when it's still being held in stocks, but it's approximately as good as money.

[1] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liquidasset.asp

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