Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023

Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by not_me_ever on Thursday November 30, 2023 @06:04AM (#38472066)

I stopped doing (for money) side projects in 2015.

Instead I started to buy solar farms from my yearly xmas bonus. Invest 40K (10K bonus + 30K loan) -> 6000K/year. Net -- post costs & taxes. On average the loan was paid off in 6 years (thanks to low interest rates). From there on it's pure revenue.

Rinse repeat. Not even accounting for the free tax credits I get out of the investment.

Just doing my planning for the '23 investment. If I stop doing anything right now the last loan will be paid off in 2030 (interest rates are up a bit), and I will be making ~5K/month. Net. "Forever".

I use the time I gained for free work on important projects.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by cko on Thursday November 30, 2023 @07:18AM (#38472588)

Wait so these farms yield 15% ROI? And you can invest with leverage? How is this possible.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by not_me_ever on Thursday November 30, 2023 @01:13PM (#38476876)

Government pushing hard to get out of coal & gas ;)

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by uaas on Thursday November 30, 2023 @06:17AM (#38472148)

Would you share where is this? I know someone in the US who wanted to do this, but they couldn’t as the power company would pay them less than they would be making.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by not_me_ever on Thursday November 30, 2023 @01:14PM (#38476878)

Oh, sorry, this is Germany.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by lakpan on Thursday November 30, 2023 @06:37AM (#38472278)

How do you “buy solar farms”? Don’t you have to maintain them? From your comment makes it sound like it’s not a job in itself.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by not_me_ever on Thursday November 30, 2023 @01:13PM (#38476865)

There are quite a few services here that handle everything. Basically you just say "I have $X", and they say "Ok, the bank will add 3X, which will result in 0.5x revenue per year, and a 2x tax deductible".

And yes, the post cost ROI is around 18%, currently -- not including the tax discounts.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by mbrain on Thursday November 30, 2023 @02:01PM (#38477587)

> There are quite a few services here that handle everything

May I ask what is it called?

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by funcDropShadow on Friday December 01, 2023 @08:24AM (#38486375)

Could you give us a name of such a service?

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by leereeves on Thursday November 30, 2023 @07:22AM (#38472620)

> Invest 40K (10K bonus + 30K loan) -> 6000K/year

6000/year, not 6000K, right? At first that sounded like you won a lottery.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by not_me_ever on Thursday November 30, 2023 @01:11PM (#38476831)

Yep 6000 == 6K/year.

My bad.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by MattSayar on Thursday November 30, 2023 @05:48PM (#38480339)

You could probably make money just taking other peoples' money and doing this for them.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by quickthrower2 on Friday December 01, 2023 @03:30AM (#38484494)

Getting high on OPM is the way to go. Could be another YC startup.

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Re:Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2023 ... by quickthrower2 on Friday December 01, 2023 @03:29AM (#38484489)

I guess the problem here is counterparty risk. If the solar farm goes bankrupt, you lost your investment. Also they may be illiquid (hard to sell?).

That is probably why you are investing your bonus, rather than selling everything to go all in. Because apart from the counterparty risk, 15% lifetime yield is pretty good. Obviously there is a threat from unlimited energy scenario like cold fusion, but that is probably 35 years away :-).

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