What if I added a side income stream?
A side income looks like a straightforward addition, and mostly it is — provided you count what is left after the costs and the tax, not the headline figure. The rest of the answer is how reliable it is, how long it runs, and where the money goes each month.
What decides how much it helps
- The amount you keep after costs and tax, and how reliable that amount is.
- The month it starts, and whether it runs indefinitely or ends on a known date.
- The costs and the hours needed to earn it, which rarely stay at zero.
- Whether the money is saved, invested, or absorbed into ordinary spending.
- The effect on the earliest year you could stop working, once the extra money is put to use.
Run the cautious version too
Keep the main income and the spending exactly as they are, and add the side income to a copy on its own. That way the difference on screen belongs to the side income and not to a quiet change somewhere else. If it ends on a date — a contract, a course, a room let for one season — enter that date.
Then run it again at a conservative amount, roughly what you would earn in a slow year. Side income tends to arrive unevenly, and a plan that only works at the optimistic figure is really a plan that depends on a good year happening every year. Compare the two and decide which one you would build on.
Questions worth testing
- How much is left each month once costs and tax are taken off?
- Does the plan still hold at the amount you would earn in a slow year?
- What changes if the side income stops after two years?
- Where does the money go — reserve, debt, investments, or ordinary spending?
How to read the result
Enter the amount you expect to keep — Worthifi applies no levies, contributions or thresholds to side income and does not know which regime fits you; a tax adviser does. Money you earn by working is not passive cashflow, even if it takes only a few hours a month, so read the two separately. This is a planning illustration, not financial or tax advice.
How it works in the app
A recurring income adds a fixed monthly amount you receive on top of your job — a rent-a-room, royalties, or alimony. You enter the take-home amount and it is not taxed again. See how the extra cashflow lifts your runway and brings your Could-stop-working year closer.
- Tap “Add an income stream”.
- Enter the monthly take-home amount and the month it starts.
- Check the change in your runway and Could stop working year.
Model this yourself