Side-hustle culture may seem enticing \u2014 you can be your own boss and set your own hours \u2014 but the reality can be quite different.<\/p>\n
Bree, a stay-at-home mom from Philadelphia, has a toddler and a baby on the way. But her husband wants to quit his salaried job to drive for Uber full-time, thinking it\u2019s an easier way to make more money.<\/p>\n
Her husband is currently an assistant manager with a trucking company \u2014 a high-stress job that involves managing drivers and mechanics. Right now he makes $1,800 a week. \u201cHis friend at work told him that on Uber they can make $2,000 and more a week. So that\u2019s why he\u2019s thinking about it,\u201d Bree told The Ramsey Show (1) .<\/p>\n
To do so, they\u2019d need to replace their 20-year-old Lexus (which has engine problems), so her husband wants to finance a new car \u2014 something like a Toyota sedan \u2014 under his wife\u2019s better credit to fund his new \u201cbusiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to drive that car into the ground and the depreciation is going to hit it so hard that you guys are going to be underwater on this car within the first week,\u201d said co-host George Kamel. Here\u2019s why the Ramsey co-hosts warned Bree\u2019s husband not to quit his day job.<\/p>\n
Gig, contract, freelance and temporary workers make up about 36% of the U.S. workforce, according to McKinsey & Company\u2019s American Opportunity Survey, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2022 (2).<\/p>\n
And the platform economy \u2014 which includes tech players like Uber, DoorDash and Instacart \u2014 is growing fast. The U.S. gig market is projected to reach $674 billion in 2026, growing to $2,522.4 billion by 2034 (3).<\/p>\n
In some cases, though, gig work isn\u2019t a choice. For Americans who can\u2019t keep up with the rising cost of living (or who\u2019ve been laid off), gig work could offer a lifeline. For others, side-hustle culture<\/a> has additional appeal, beyond being your own boss: The more you work, the more money you can make.<\/p>\n Still, there are drawbacks many don\u2019t consider. A Goldman Sachs analysis using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston\u2019s Survey of Information Work Participation (SIWP) found that gig workers earn less per hour than they would in a traditional job (4).<\/p>\n \u201cRelative to earnings from their current or most recent traditional job, employed gig workers earn about two-thirds as much per hour doing gig work,\u201d the report notes.<\/p>\n Not only are many gig workers earning less, they may not even be earning minimum wage. A study from the Economic Policy Institute found about one in seven workers (14%) earned less than the federal minimum wage on an hourly basis.<\/p>\n Despite this, some Americans are walking away from stable jobs for the allure of flexible, high-paying gig economy work. And while it\u2019s possible to make a good living \u2014 particularly if you\u2019re a knowledge worker (5) \u2014 many don\u2019t anticipate the hidden costs of gig work.<\/p>\n Read More: The average net worth of Americans is a surprising $620,654. But it almost means nothing. Here\u2019s the number that counts (and how to make it skyrocket)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For Bree and her husband, for example, there\u2019s the hidden cost of car depreciation. Rideshare drivers can quickly put thousands of miles on their car, which can shorten both its lifespan and resale value. This also leads to faster wear and tear, requiring more maintenance and potentially costly out-of-pocket repairs (6).<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the cost of gas, cleaning and insurance (personal auto insurance doesn\u2019t cover commercial use, so you\u2019d need a more expensive policy or rideshare endorsement).<\/p>\n Self-employed workers are also responsible for paying both the employer and employee portions of Social Security, Medicare and federal and state income taxes. Plus, there\u2019s no paid sick leave, no paid vacation days and no 401(k) matching. Inconsistent, unstable income can also lead to financial precarity.<\/p>\n \u201cGig workers often need to work during peak demand times to make a reasonable income, which leads to long, weird hours. And monthly earnings among gig workers could vary by as much as 20% from month to month,\u201d writes Virginia Hoga in Forbes (7).<\/p>\n That volatility, she writes, can make it difficult to \u201cbudget effectively, save for the future, or even secure loans and other financial products \u2014 all of which add to the total cost.\u201d<\/p>\n Gig-work income can seem attractive, but after crunching the numbers, it often delivers far less once expenses and risks are factored in.<\/p>\n The Ramsey co-hosts strongly urge Bree and her husband not to go this route \u2014 especially if they\u2019re planning to add to their debt by buying a new car (they\u2019re already $40,000 in the hole) (1).<\/p>\n \u201cIf he doesn\u2019t enjoy his job currently, that\u2019s fine. I\u2019m all for him looking for different jobs that he enjoys more,\u201d said co-host Jade Warshaw. But they shouldn\u2019t go into debt for it, she said and they should wait until the baby is born so they \u201chave some solidity going through that.\u201d<\/p>\n In the U.S., the average annual cost of raising a child under the age of five reached $27,743 in 2025. These costs \u2014 which rose 4.5% between 2024 and 2025 \u2014 include everything from housing and transportation to food, healthcare and childcare (7).<\/p>\n So now is \u201cdefinitely not the time\u201d to put their income in flux, said Kamel. Not to mention make Bree\u2019s husband less available to be on-hand to support his newborn, wife and child through the transition of welcoming a new child.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re considering full-time gig work<\/a>, start by creating a budget<\/a> (if you don\u2019t already have one), building an emergency fund<\/a> with at least three to six months of income and, ideally, testing it out in your spare time<\/a> before quitting a stable job and fully committing without a way to reverse.<\/p>\n For example, you\u2019ll want to stress-test your gig-work income before financing a car specifically for Uber or Lyft. But in Bree\u2019s case, her husband can\u2019t give Uber a trial run, since their 20-year-old Lexus has engine problems.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need a different car. But what you don\u2019t need is another $25,000 loan on top of your $40,000 in debt,\u201d said Kamel. Instead, he recommends they save up to buy a more reliable car and then clean up their $40,000 debt.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not going to be switching jobs,\u201d said Kamel. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be working extra.\u201d<\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n @TheRamseyShow (1<\/a>); McKinsey & Company (2<\/a>); Business Research Insights (3<\/a>); Goldman Sachs Research (4<\/a>); Economic Policy Institute (5<\/a>); Zip Recruiter (4<\/a>); Forbes (5<\/a>); smartasset (6<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Side-hustle culture may seem enticing \u2014 you can be your own boss and set your own hours \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":527478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,234146,2332,7780,3828,74500,4061,1448,2830,1311,711,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-527477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-bree","tag-car","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-gig-economy","tag-gig-work","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-social-security","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115921925085002582","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}