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Over one-third of Americans have a side hustle according to a bankrate survey. And 72% of people say they feel more financially secure with more than one source of income, according to a recent Quicken survey. To discuss how a side hustle might get you closer to your wealth goals, we have Eric Dunn, Quicken CEO, personal finance software provider. Eric, great to have you here with us today. Certainly do appreciate the time here. So, I mean, just walk us through what you're finding in the survey here and the number of people that are feeling that they need to have that side hustle in order to complement their prime gig or their main gig.

First, thank you for having me on today, Brad. It's great to be here. Um, and I guess I personally found the results of our recent survey a little bit surprising. We surveyed thousand adults, um, who have what we, a side hustle, which we define as someone who has, they have a regular job, but they also have another source of income from their independent activity. And maybe I have kind of an old-fashioned view of what a second job would be and, you know, sort of imagining exhausted factory workers taking in laundry in the evening to buy shoes for their kids or people working in a remote call center. That is not what these people are doing. If you look at what the side hustles are reported in our survey, um, the number one activity was personal assistance. And you know, historically, that was something you had to do in person, but technologies enabled a lot of remote activities. Caregiving is also on the list, animal care, fitness, writing, and then one of my favorites, crafts, people sewing, cabinet making, doing things that are kind of creative and high-value and often things they really liked. And that was kind of the overall sense I took away from this survey is that a side hustle is not a stopgap, a desperation measure to make ends meet, it's a positive in these people's lives. They've figured out a way to fit the side hustle into their other working life, and it's not a stressor. It's not a stressor because for them, it's an efficient way to make extra money, and they're typically making over $1,000 a month, so it can be material to a lot of families. And in many cases, it's aligned with their passion, and it's fun. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some, you know, hardworking families where the side hustle is essential. They need that to make the budget balance for their family. But in the majority of cases, they're using the income from the side hustle to do something positive in their financial life.

Certainly.

In many cases, they're paying down student debt. Um, it's funding leisure activities or sometimes they're they're saving. So just in summary, uh, the modern side hustle fits into people's lives pretty well. It's a positive in their life, and for the most part, it works really well.

And so with that in mind, and the number of people that are trying to balance side hustles, how can those who don't currently have a side hustle, but are trying to figure out where to create additional income? Because we always talk on the show about creating streams of income. And a side hustle may very well be one of those. What's the best way that you're finding people are effectively going about balancing side hustles right now?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think, uh, a couple of things stood out with people who successfully worked a side hustle into their personal financial lives. One is to start slow, and, you know, it's clearly a risk of overcommitting and creating stress. The other is if you possibly can, you know, find something that kind of matches your, your passion, something that you enjoy doing, something that's a positive in your life. And then another hallmark of the individuals who are successful is they dealt with what we see as one of the one downside of having or the one significant downside of having a side hustle, which is managing a little bit more financial complexity. If you just have a single day job, um, you know, understanding your income is pretty easy, it's predictable, every two weeks you get a paycheck. Um, if you have a side hustle, the income is much more unpredictable, um, and also any expenses associated with it need to be tracked separately. So, uh, for people who haven't found a solution for tracking this extra financial complexity, it can be a source of stress. Many of the people who are struggling with the complexity resort to spreadsheets or in some cases using multiple apps. And then of course, the happy path, of course, is they use a product like our quick and simplify or quick and classic, which is a great tool for people in this situation to manage the additional financial complexity. So to recap, how do you get into it? Start slow, pick something that aligns with your passion, and get started early with the right financial tools so that you don't end up juggling the math as well as the time.

Eric, just lastly, while we have you here, um, you know, we know the business that Quicken is in. We know that there's this new IRS free tax filing that's expanding even further to 24 states. I wanted to get your thoughts on this and if there's any impact materially to your business.

Yeah, thank you for asking that. You know, 140,000 tax filings is not a huge number in a country that has 100, well over 100 million tax filings, but presumably it will, it will grow and become significant over time. Our business isn't about tax preparation. Our business is about helping families track their finances and assemble the information, including the tax-related information that they use when they file their taxes. And whether they file their taxes using the IRS direct file program or with an accountant, or using a software product, they still need to assemble the information in a coherent, accurate way, and we help them do it. So it's, it's neutral for our business, and I think our value proposition for people filing taxes remains strong.

Eric Dunn, Quicken CEO, Eric, great to speak with you here today, and some great insights from the survey findings as well. Appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you again for having me on.