Only one in 17 workers can afford to save for their future. Let that sink in. The American dream is far out of reach for many professionals, and this crisis is not abating any time soon, as workers continue to be laid off, workforces are reduced, and wages slashed or maintained at the bare minimum in an effort to improve business efficiency.
By now, it’s common knowledge that in many cases, what was a given for Boomers–being able to buy your first house while still in your early twenties–is now considered a luxury. However, the cost of living crisis has extended much further than that, and if you’re a professional dependent solely on your job for income, you’re likely to be stuck in 2025.
About 12% of workers often cannot afford basic living expenses; an estimated 24% struggle to cover essentials, while more than half (55%) believe that their salary is lower than it should be, per a recent Resume Now survey of more than 1,000 U.S. professionals in their latest 2025 Wage Reality Report. Additionally, approximately 73% of respondents stated that they are unable to afford more than basic necessities.
The Resume Now survey’s findings also notes that rising housing costs (55%), increasing prices for everyday essentials (41%), salaries failing to keep up with inflation (34%), and the inability to save for emergencies or the future (33%), are the top four financial concerns of U.S. professionals right now.
So what are these professionals doing about it?
Almost a third of workers have taken on debt to cover living expenses, plunging them further into a financial quicksand, while another 29% have moved to lower-cost housing or locations. For the others, they turned to seeking financial help from friends or family (44%), relying on community or federal assistance (38%), and using up their savings (35%).
This highlights an alarming gap in the employment system: traditional jobs have for a long time, been the sole, primary source of income, and unfortunately, building external sources of income through freelancing or maintaining multiple side hustles has only recently become something that is trending. Although the number of freelancers is increasing to about half of the U.S. workforce by 2027, when you dig into the numbers, it’s evident that it’s only the number of full-time freelancers that is rising, while the share of part-time independent workers (those maintaining a separate stream of income from their primary job while still working) is declining, per a recent MBO Partners report. This means that, as is evident from the Resume Now survey, employed professionals are more inclined to seek external financial support, plunge into debt, or dig into their savings, than actually start a profitable side hustle or passive income stream.
This can be due to factors such as:
- Limited time to work on the side business
- Acting frantically to cover expenses rather than building something for the long-term
- Believing the myth that you need significant financial investment to start a profitable business
- Not fully understanding how freelancing, side hustles, and passive income works
7 Passive Income Ideas For 2025
Thankfully, there is a better way, and you don’t need to feel tied to your job or stuck in a role that does not compensate you according to your skills or in line with the cost of living. You can make extra money outside of your role to bump up your salary, and you don’t even need to invest significant time or money to start.
Enter…passive income.
Passive income ideas are the perfect solution for busy professionals like you who are tired of struggling to make ends meet. This is because passive income sources are usually:
- Easily scalable
- Self-running (they make money while you sleep and with little input except in the beginning and at various intervals)
- Straightforward to learn and beginner-friendly
- Can be adapted to your interests and skills, which makes them even easier to start
- They’re a great way to not only boost your income, but you can use them as a stepping stone for other career and business opportunities, potentially leaving your current job altogether
Here are some passive income ideas you for you to try this year so you can start making more money:
- Domain investing and flipping
- Creating an app
- Selling online courses
- Selling print on demand products
- Licensing your IP (intellectual property)
- Licensing photography and videography
- Selling monthly subscriptions of templates or newsletters
All of these passive income ideas only take a few hours of your time at the most, each week, for you to maintain, market to customers, and handle customer service where necessary.
You don’t need to depend on your job, solicit assistance from friends and family, or plunge into further debt to survive and combat rising costs. You don’t even need to be a full-time freelancer. Think smart and be strategic; look at what skills you already have and consider what resources you already have available to you. Maximize your existing resources, and scale over time.
Forbes
