Side income is what sets you up for retirement. Generally, without a side income, you can't retire or stay retired. I don't suppose I have to explain why retire

Side income is what sets you up for retirement. Generally, without a side income, you can't retire or stay retired. I don't suppose I have to explain why retirement is something of growing concern as you age. Depending on where you live, the government may provide you a side income after a certain age (mid-60s, commonly), but often it is well below what one needs for their preferred standard of living, so one's own side income remains important to many. For what it is worth, this is more typically referred to as investing, but not all investments successfully return the all important income, so the distinction does matter here.