A matter of income

Or, rather, the source thereof. Basically, in my on going quest to keep Fridge Logic to a minimum (a quest that is most likely in vain but at least I'm making an effort) my latest target is the One-Hour Work Week and other forms of 'where are they getting their money from since they spend all their time having adventures?' My methods of averting the above depend on what suits the specific circumstances of the character in question (e.g. a character who's Walking the Earth is a street entertainer/odd-job man), and I've decided that what would be best suited to the current story I'm working on would be some sort of freelance occupation. However since I have very little knowledge regarding what sort of jobs can be done freelance I'm having trouble with the specifics, so any help would be appreciated.

Is there internet? Stocks, maybe?

My cousin literally paid his way through college playing internet poker. Though I should warn you, some readers may complain that nobody could possibly make an income that way.

@ Mr AHR: Yes there's internet since this particular story is set in the present day. In fact the internet plays a fairly important role in the plot.

The easiest way to get a constant influx of cash is real estate ownership or rather, leasing thereof. If that is not an option, I am also thinking of street performers, but that one really depends on the targeted audiences and the performer's talent. Also, I think some heroics may even be paid in hard cash.

The character may also be a talented writer who writes about their own adventures and sells the books about them, going meta.

edited 17th Jan '11 12:33:32 PM by Koveras

If the characters are anti heroes or simmilar, how about looting dead or defeated enemies? Though, this deppends on who they fight. Wannabe gangsters with a lot of bling will yield lots of cash. Aliens or demonic creatures on the other hand...

They deal with the more supernatural side of things, although there is a character who's some sort of hybrid (what sort is the matter of much debate since no one really knows) and has no problem with emptying the pockets of anyone who makes the mistake of Mugging the Monster (they see it as karma).

↑That better happens once and with a somehow very rich mugger already, or somewhat frequently in a very vast/disorganized land, otherwise the word about a somewhat-monster that will empty your pockets will run fast, both in the "criminal world" and the "law enforced world".

It doesn't happen that often and when it does it's in different towns, plus no policeman is going to believe someone who says they got robbed by someone smaller then them who literally held them upside-down and shook them until everything fell out of their pockets (although that only actually happened once). However it should be noted that it can't really be considered an income source since it's so infrequent and is actually intended as a source of humour more then anything else.

edited 21st Jan '11 2:21:15 PM by Weaver

Do your characters have any superpowers? If so I always thought rigging lotteries ect. would be a good source of income. Not the grand prize, that might cause suspicion, but you could win a lesser prize every few month in different places.

Your world sounds dangerous. Could your characters take temp jobs as bodyguards or security-guards?

It might be funny to badass characters making money house/dog/baby-sitting.

Also you could go with the old standby have one character be born ridiculously wealthy.

If they simply move around within one country, like say America, have them take advantage of "unemployment benefits" or welfare. Or have them defraud Insurance Companies.

A friend of mine has a brother who is a professional poker player. He won $600,000 for first place in a big tournament, which set him up. Otherwise he makes a living in money games and smaller tournaments.

Another friend started a publishing company about 10 years ago. Now he is a movie producer, which is to say he works 16 hours a day while making no money (but working on a big payday out of his first feature film), but the publishing company basically runs itself and he only spends about one day a week really tending to it.

The big trick overall is for the character to have investments that give a return large enough to pay his bills, and then spend a bit of time managing them while adventuring the rest.

The character could be a day trader who parks his investments in money market instruments or other zero risk investment when he isn't actively trading. That wouldn't work so well now with interest rates near zero.

Investments are your best bet.

Depending on how smart your character is, he might be able to play the stock market.

Being an entrepreneur would probably add a bit more flavour than the generic "play the stock market". If he was uber-successful he would have sold off his business for a mint. A moderately successful business can still generate a six figure income or more with the "one hour work week". Unlike my buddy the now film producer, this character could do other stuff to satisfy his adventuresome spirit.

Which brings to mind Sir Richard Branson. . .

Have them run a massive racketeering ring, justifying it that it's helping them work towards a greater good.

But there's a reason that people play the stock market to earn money.

In that, to be an entrepreneur will force you to invest a lot of time and energy into it.

Playing the stock market can take like, 30 minutes a day.

@History Maker: The world I'm creating isn't that much more dangerous then this one, although when all's said and done that's still pretty dangerous. Security or bodyguard works sounds like a possiblity but I don't know how flexible that'd be, or what qualifications you'd need (in England, you need qualifications for pretty much everything). More research for me then. The main characters all have abilities (I wouldn't call them superpowers exactly) but not the sort of things that would allow them to rig anything. I really like the dog sitting idea, mainly because the resident number one badass is also a dog magnet, not to mention them being very prone to falling under the influenence of the Cuteness Proximity of all canines.

If they simply move around within one country, like say America, have them take advantage of "unemployment benefits" or welfare.

Considered it but decided that it wouldn't work in the long term since in the UK if you're unemployed for more then six months you have to start jumping through a lot of hoops, like going on various schemes (which as I know from personal experience are pretty much useless by the way) and unpaid work placements for months on end, which would get in the way of the interesting stuff almost as much as a job. One of the characters is unemployed since I thought it would add a touch of realism to proceedings and since I probably won't need them all the time, the aforementioned hoops provide me with an explaination of where they are whenever I need to get rid of them for a bit.

As for the stock market idea I don't really know much about that sort of thing so it'll have to go on the 'Maybe; pending further research' list.

@Cygan Angel

It matters how much money he has tied up in investments. With enough money you spend basically no time. With smaller amounts of cash, day traders have to "work" a full shift to eek out a good return.

When I say entrepreneur, I don't mean a start up, I mean a successful company that basically runs itself so the boss only has to check in weekly or monthly. Think Bruce Wayne on a small scale. The thing is, with many privately owned companies, you can't just sell them off and pocket the cash, and if you did you probably couldn't earn the same return with that cash by playing the stock market.

True.

But having enough money to buy out a moderately successful business will raise th question of why he needs more money in the first place.

And as soon as the contrivance of such a business coming up for sale right when he needs it hits, you're going to find many people's W So D stretched.

Playing the stock market enough for some good returns can cost as little as $10,000 at first. Much less than what you would pay to by up a mmoderately successful business, and you would gradually expand over time. If you play it well, you can earn back 10% in the span of a bit over a week, over a small scale.