This week I’m going to share my queer thoughts on a couple of web articles that popped up on Yahoo! The first installment will be about Five Ways to Grow Your Income by 20 Percent by David Bach. Mr. Bach wrote the book Start Late, Finish Rich which I bought before becoming a born again finance-nerd.

Growing MoneyI’m sure I’ll like the book when I finally get around to reading it. Mr. Bach gripped my attention by prefacing his advice in this Yahoo! article with the following admonition, “Grow your income, not your lifestyle.” Basically, don’t fall into the trap of spending more money as your income grows. Indeed it is a well-disguised and mean little trap.

I always find a way to “improve” my quality of life as I cut down spending in other areas. I’m referring to how I send laundry out for wash and fold these days. I hate doing laundry, and my apartment building charges so much to use the washers and dryers that I think it justifies paying 20% more to have someone do laundry for me. It really is a splendid luxury I’m not willing to give up.

Aside from the wash and fold indulgence, I really have scaled back my lifestyle. I’m ready to have more money without spending it frivolously. So then, with all the financial advice out there, are Mr. Bach’s suggestions to grow income worth listening to? Let’s find out.

So far I like his first bit of advice. Mr. Bach says, “Asking negative questions like why you’re always broke or can’t get a raise can lead to negative answers. If you believe you can’t make more money and consequently do nothing to change, you’ll prove yourself right. If you think it’s just too hard, it will be.

“But if, instead, you empower yourself by asking, “What can I do to make more?” then you’ll change your life.”

Funny he says that because I feel that changing the way I think about my abilities and my relationship with money really has changed my life. For instance, over a year ago I left a comfortable but boring job to get a 33% raise in salary by switching to what’s now my current job as a mid-level paralegal. I was worried I’d be under-qualified, or that I didn’t have what it takes to sustain competent performance. But it turns out I’m doing just fine after all this time. And rather than thinking I’d waste the extra money, I’ve been doing a good job paying down debts. I’m with Mr. Bach on this one- positive thinking may sound hokey, but it’s powerful.

I have mixed feelings on Mr. Bach’s second suggestion. “Starting your own side business for extra money doesn’t have to be complicated, nor does it have to take a lot of money.”

If you have the time or desire for it, I say great. It’s an ever better idea if you need money desperately. But adding extra work on top of your current responsibilities sounds a bit hectic, even with his following ideas: “You can perform a service (like painting houses or editing resumes), make something and market it (like cookies or jewelry), and buy something and resell it (think eBay or Amazon.com).”

I agree with Larry Winget when he says, “It’s called work for a reason.” I’d rather not feel as if I’m always working. The other part of Mr. Bach’s side business idea is much better: “You can even turn a hobby into a side business — if you cook you can cater, and if you sew you can do tailoring. Be creative and see what else you can come up with.”

That’s more like it! Getting paid to do what you love can be rather inspiring. I’m pretty new to freelance writing, but I absolutely love it. I’m glad I took this next step with my hobby. I can even see myself doing this for a living, which would be a dream job. On the other hand, some people don’t want to taint their hobby. I have some friends who are incredible cooks, but they would never want to make money from their creative expression. They see cooking as an escape, which I completely understand. It all depends on what your hobby means to you.

Mr. Bach’s next point is relevant to anyone who already has a business or provides a service: raising your rates. Sounds like a rather obvious way to raise your income, but he makes a cogent argument: “Right now, someone somewhere is raising the price he charges for his services. Why aren’t you?”

His last two points deal with getting more money at work, either by doing extra work at work, or by asking for a raise. Some of the negative comments that Mr. Bach received to his post on Yahoo! Finance said that he’s just pointing out the obvious. Well, so what if he is? It seems some people want a magical solution about how they can get more money. There really is no windfall one can expect other than the lotto or an inheritance. What Mr. Bach is providing is a dose of reality and encouragement about making more money, and I commend him. Overall, it’s pretty good advice.

Stay tuned for my next post. I’ll talk about a Yahoo! article that covered the subject of difficult bosses. If the movie or book The Devil Wears Prada felt more like an autobiography than a comedy, then you’ll love this next post.