Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Zorro

(19,016 posts)
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 12:10 PM Yesterday

Forget Work. Passive Income Is the New American Dream.

Driven by a growing feeling that 9-to-5 jobs are a dead end, people are turning to social media to test out eccentric moneymaking schemes—along with a fair share of scams

Greg Keogh couldn’t stand commuting, office attire and feeling depleted at the end of a workday. To find a way out of his corporate 9-to-5, he decided to break into the world of so-called passive income.

Like most 30-somethings, he didn’t have a trust fund or enough savings to live off dividends. So he sought out a light-touch way of making money that would free up his time.

His escape hatch came from a chance conversation with a dog owner who was excited to have found a bigger-than-normal lint roller. A mechanical engineer by training, he designed one nearly as wide as a paper-towel roll and put it on Amazon, where sales took off.

Keough could have tried to build a lint-roller empire. Instead, he decided to coast. Seven years later, he works on it two hours or less in a typical month and personally nets about $50,000 to $115,000 a year.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/passive-income-dreams-2e67ee5c?st=X9npWd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

NoMoreRepugs

(12,322 posts)
1. My unscientific opinion is that for every "lint roller success" there are
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 12:44 PM
Yesterday

at a minimum a THOUSAND failures.

Aristus

(72,730 posts)
4. Yep. Right up there with the breezy, but idiotic: "You can become a billionaire, too, if you just work hard enough".
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 02:24 PM
Yesterday

I've worked hard since I entered the work force at the age of 14. No billions in sight. Doesn't matter. I do have a comfortable income. But all the exhaustion I feel at the end of a workweek doesn't make me feel any closer to being a billionaire. Never quite got the hang of letting others do my work for me, and exploiting underpaid labor. That is what makes a billionaire...

SWBTATTReg

(26,521 posts)
2. This is nice to see, where people make money to suit their needs, instead of $billions like so many of America's
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 12:51 PM
Yesterday

ultra-RICH has to make. Why make so much money? One can only have so much money and then what? This is a disease that I see more and more in America, where being ultra-RICH is a passion and nothing else is in these people's lives.

Latest Discussions»Editorials & Other Articles»Forget Work. Passive Inco...