Highest Paying Jobs that you can do from home (via the internet)?

It's my dream to live in a tropical third world country...and to make a solid American salary while doing so.

The power of the American dollar in some of these beautiful places is 5 or 10 times as great. Making $50,000 a year and living in one of these places would be like making $250,000 or $500,000 a year.

So, I'm starting to investigate what some of the highest paying jobs you can do from home (via the internet) are. But I'm having a lot of trouble finding reliable info with the flood of "get rich quick working from home" b.s. sites out there.

So, I'm here fishing for ideas. Something I can get a masters degree in and be qualified for (plus a year or two of in-office working experience, if necessary).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Blue

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73 Comments
 
blueadams
lime1945Become a developer

What kind of developer?

Sorry for not being specific. Software/Web developer. It's a fairly well paid profession, but I don't have any specific numbers. Think $50k-$100k+ the latter if you luck out or are really good at what you do.

 
blueadamsIt's my dream to live in a tropical third world country...and to make a solid American salary while doing so.

The power of the American dollar in some of these beautiful places is 5 or 10 times as great. Making $50,000 a year and living in one of these places would be like making $250,000 or $500,000 a year.

So, I'm starting to investigate what some of the highest paying jobs you can do from home (via the internet) are. But I'm having a lot of trouble finding reliable info with the flood of "get rich quick working from home" b.s. sites out there.

So, I'm here fishing for ideas. Something I can get a masters degree in and be qualified for (plus a year or two of in-office working experience, if necessary).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Blue

Software development or web design are options. You could also trade forex or equities, Im guessing the tax regimes in these places could be pretty decent? How reliable is the internet out there though?

Damn you Rodger! My WSO Blog
 

I run a GPT site that makes me about $100 a day. All it took was for me to put $1200 upfront to pay the members. It's a site that allows its users to do surveys ($0.75 each) and make money. The advertisers pay me $1 per survey completed and I pass 75% of that to my members. Easy money, especially for a 16(turned 16 today !!) and great for my Wharton and Stanford apps =)

10030=3000 300012=36000/ year (more than my mom).

Learn Programming, Lectures by Professor Mehran Sahami for the Stanford Computer Science Department http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMDCCdjyW8
 
BuysideI run a GPT site that makes me about $100 a day. All it took was for me to put $1200 upfront to pay the members. It's a site that allows its users to do surveys ($0.75 each) and make money. The advertisers pay me $1 per survey completed and I pass 75% of that to my members. Easy money, especially for a 16(turned 16 today !!) and great for my Wharton and Stanford apps =)

10030=3000 300012=36000/ year (more than my mom).

this is the evil method
 

If you're a hot chick you could probably make a killing on www.myfreecams.com. Most of them are from third world countries like Russia and Europe.

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
 
Boreed
FlakeIf you're a hot chick you could probably make a killing on www.myfreecams.com. Most of them are from third world countries like Russia and Europe.

Idiot.

How much does a Russian wife cost? Could you import a few hotties from places unknown and run a little free cam resort? Essentially you would be a camera pimp and collect some of the money...though I suspect you might need a good number of girls to get that done.

I would actually seriously consider doing something like what the OP is asking about.

I've never looked into programming, but how difficult is it to learn/pickup and how boring is the work?

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
trazer985online poker is a trap, big bro plays it professionally, got friends in the tour, they cant leave. Life never changes, they've reached their earnings limit, and leaving would take a lifestyle hit they are afraid to take. That tropical island is only paradise because you have the choice of leaving it, when you're stuck there its hell, ask a local.
damn bro why u gotta go an' crush a jigga dream like dat
 
trazer985online poker is a trap, big bro plays it professionally, got friends in the tour, they cant leave. Life never changes, they've reached their earnings limit, and leaving would take a lifestyle hit they are afraid to take. That tropical island is only paradise because you have the choice of leaving it, when you're stuck there its hell, ask a local.

Don't blame the game. Blame the player.

Power and Money do not change men; they only unmask them
 

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone. Some comments on questions on the ideas...

Ideas I liked:

Importing US Products and Reselling them in said third world country - THIS...is not a bad idea at all. Maybe once I get there I'll notice some big gaps in the local market. Intriguing.

Start an Online Business - Got any good, simple ideas? Like I said, I'm not looking to make a whole lot more than $50,000 a year. Are there any good tried and true easy methods out there?

GPT Site - I've heard of these, but don't know much about them. Any good suggestions - aka non rip-off sites - to help me learn more/potentially get started.

Online Marketing/Affiliate Marketing - Is this more or less the same deal as GPT, or are you talking about something entirely different?

Software Development or Web Site Design - I've thought about these paths as well. How much can they make a year? And can they work abroad as salaried employees...or is it only as independent consultants (stressful).

"App" - Much easier said than done. But maybe I could figure something niche out.

SEO Consultant - I'm not quite sure what this is...but it sounds intriguing.

Ideas that might not be right for me (at least right now):

Property Management - This would be a great idea once I had some start-up capital. I have thought about eventually purchasing things that don't require much time/physical presence...like storage facilities of various sorts.

(Day) Trading Forex or Equities - Seems like it'd be stressful, and I'm not sure that I'd be very good at it.

Mechanical Turk tasks - I'm guessing this was a joke?

Poker - I'm not a very good poker player, lol.

Thanks again for all of the great suggestions thus far!

Blue

 

"Richard, that is a great question, but it is very difficult to answer. Since having my 3rd child (I now stay at home with 3 kids under the age of 4), I'm too busy to complete offers. I built up my downline and now make $40 to $50 a month with gpt sites without spending any time on them at all. My downline is earning for me. All I do is log in to each site once a month (spending less than 2 minutes on each site) to keep my account active."

low risk, low reward.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
Best Response

I know a girl (a friend of a friend) that makes roughly $100k-$150k per year running a coupon(ing) website. She does update it a lot, so it's by no means a 'set it and forget it' type business but I don't think she spends a tremendous amount of time per day...probably just a few hours...so that is pretty good money. Plus she lives in a small city...basically a college town...and has a super low cost of living. That works out great for her because she's a mother and doesn't want a 9-5 and gets to work from home.

Ideally you could find someone else's idea and just replicate it and try to add some value to the site...something that the original person doesn't have. If you can get people to visit it, you can generate some decent ad revenue and it shouldn't be too time consuming to maintain.

My one issue with moving off the grid and living the island lifestyle is whether or not I will feel 'fulfilled'. I realize working in finance isn't all that some people like to make it out to be, but there is a certain sense of accomplishment that comes with having a high paying job and affording nicer things in life. If you check out and move to some island and run a website will you ultimately feel like you gave up? I realize that is all a matter of perspective and that having an 'easy life' can be super appealing but I've thought about doing this several times and never went through with it because in the end I think I would sort of feeling like I'm running from the challenge. Maybe I'm being naive and stupid.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

Real estate broker...condo sales and vacation rentals for English speakers. The truth is, if it was easy to just make website where you could earn 50,000 dollars everyone would try to do it.

 

Friend of my dad is a computer consultant; designs and manages retail websites for big companies.

Honestly, it seems to be one of the sickest job ever. He can work anywhere he has internet, so he usually works from home. Hours are whenever he wants pretty much, with the occasional conference call and late night handling servers when high demand products are released. He spends tons of time with his kids, working out, watching tv series, movies, playing tennis, anything etc.

Given all this, his pay of around 250k a year is pretty sick. He actually used to be a quant guy on wall street but preferred the relaxed nature of this job.

 

There is no fucking chance I would wear anything but sweats and a t-shirt if I was working from home. Disclaimer: I'm terrible at working from home.

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 

Last Friday during the NYC snow.. bathrobe, slippers, sweatpants. Then watched the last season of 'Weeds' while working from home.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 

I slack off if I can at home. But if I have work to do I don't. I definitely am not dressing up at home, though, that seems silly. Sweats all the way. For me there are two things that make a difference:

1) Having a work area defined for work. Like, for instance, if I sit on the couch with my laptop I have a much harder time working then sitting at a desk. I actually always keep a desktop for both this reason (and battlefield).

2) Turning off the TV and turnign on music. EDM helps me focus and I listening to my headphones whenever i'm working hard at work. So I pull up a playlist and put it on in my apartment and turn off other things like the TV.

I do also thing getting up/keeping a morning routine helps, as well.

 

The few times I work from home I get buttloads of work done. If I did it more often, I'd take your advice. However, simply not dealing with constant distractions allowed me to maybe start a bit later but then plow through a huge amount of work without interruption.

Get busy living
 

I only live a 10 minute walk from the office so almost never work from home - and when I do it's just wrapping up something later at night, so no real rush.

But CFA study is a whole other story - I'll wake up, shit shave shower, coffee, then put on my suit and get to work. The clothes don't put me so much of a work mode, they're just uncomfortable and keep me from falling back asleep or staring longingly at the couch. If at all possible, build a home office with no TV or couch or whatever in sight.

The moment that TV turns on, productivity ceases. But as of an hour from now cable should be cancelled - gonna produce the shit out of this year :D

 

I'm guessing I am different than most. But I get much more done when I have a 3 day beard, a stain on my shirt, and haven't showered in 2 days. I find that I get more done because I am different than most.

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 
heister

I'm guessing I am different than most. But I get much more done when I have a 3 day beard, a stain on my shirt, and haven't showered in 2 days. I find that I get more done because I am different than most.

I want to dislike you, but I can't. I don't have it in me. The monkey shits were not mine.
 

Work from home quite often, advice as follows:

0) Wake up at a normal-ish time, no later than 9 1) Wear whatever you feel most comfortable in - for me this is usually tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie / tshirt 2) Work less hours but more intensely than you do at work - I can easily get a full days work done in 4-5 hours at home 3) Sit somewhere with NO distractions, no TV or anything - any minor distraction will KILL your productivity 4) Work in short stints (30-60 minutes) and take dedicated 10-15 minute breaks and enforce this rigorously 5) Take a full hour for lunch to sort out any household admin and get any distracting activities out of your system 6) Consider turning off your wifi during your working stints and only checking email during the breaks

@asatar said it pretty well

been working from home and/or a local cafe at least 3 days a week since i graduated college and ha i don't think i could work any other way. could write a whole blog post on the topic...

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We're waiting...

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

I love sweatpants and hoodies so much. It's best when the hood has plenty of room and I can fucking disappear in that shit.

 

Spent 25 months working from home 4 days a week. It basically ruined my life. It destroyed my sleeping schedule, it turned me into a person who always arrived late, productivity was difficult because of distractions, I ate horribly and hardly exercised because I would go 4-5 days in a row hardly seeing anyone so I would wear sweat pants--55 lbs later I realized that I got fat. And it exacerbated my introversion. I would be crushing work and would step back for a moment and realize that I had gone 2 weeks without having a non-work conversation.

I'm maybe 24 months away from becoming the boss at my bank. Once I get there I will let my subordinates work from home once a week; however, I wouldn't want it to become routine for them or they could end up nearly destroying their lives like I did.

 

Working from home = not working. I don't listen to anyone saying that's not true. My friend Marissa agrees.

 

No fucking way I would wear I suit when I work from home. shirt, hoodie, maybe jeans (more likely sweatpants). You guys pointed out how it's important to keep on the routine, but I give you the 80/20 solution: just wear shoes. I.e. wear whatever you want, but do have some shoes on. Slippers will kill your mood. Sneakers will do. Somehow shoes restrict the blood from circulating too well down there, so the blood has to stay up and goes to your brain. But I'm not a doctor. Just trust me.

/bs

Oh, and besides that, wear headphones if you can't concentrate.

 

When I work from home I just turn on the instant messenger, volume on max. and walk out of the room. Don't touch my laptop unless a message comes in.

 

Agree it's definitely not a one-size fits all solution. And now, I ONLY wear sweats when I work from home or in a hotel room. The three tips above weren't necessarily for the person who spends 80% or more working from home, just the occasional day or two here and there where tricking your brain and body into thinking you're going into the office is key. Otherwise @Asatar is spot on!

 

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