Can investing really be a side hustle that pays $500 a week?
Not financial advice. We name no banks, brokers or products.
Investing is useful – but it's not a side hustle. Income from investing scales with capital, not with effort. $500 a week needs about $609,000 at today's best savings rate. If a typical household under 35 invested its entire net worth of $39,000, it would earn about $139 a month – less than 5 hours a week at US minimum wage ($157).
The claim
"How To Make $500 per Week"
Similar claims:
- "My investments currently bring me in more than $17,000 per week in passive income. That's why I truly believe that investing is the one side hustle that everyone should have" – in a video for students, 3,399,606 views
- Dividend investing as "one of the easiest … ways to make passive income while you're in your 20s" – 337,364 views
The numbers
Claimed ($500/week)
$2,167/mo
A typical under-35's whole net worth
$139/mo
How we checked
- Required capital = claimed income ÷ yield (best freely available US savings rate 4.27 %, the 4 % rule, dividend yield 1.06 %).
- Typical capital: median net worth of US households under 35, $39,000 (Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances 2022) – generous, because it includes cars and home equity.
- Counter-check with stock market returns of 7 % and 10 %.
- Comparison: 5 hours a week at US federal minimum wage.
The data
| Case | Per month |
|---|---|
| Claim: $500 per week | $2,167 |
| Capital needed at 4.27 % | $609,000 |
| Capital needed with the 4 % rule | $650,000 |
| Typical under-35 net worth ($39,000) at 4.27 % | $139 |
| Same at 7 % stock return | $228 |
| Same at 10 % stock return | $325 |
| $100 at 5 % interest | about 42 cents |
| 5 hours a week at minimum wage | $157 |
Who it might still work for
People who already have significant capital. For everyone else, investing is a way to keep and grow money you earned elsewhere – not a way to earn it.
Verdict
Investing pays in proportion to your capital; as a side hustle for beginners it pays less than five hours of minimum-wage work.
Limits of this check
- US numbers, because the claims come from US videos.
- Interest rates change; rates as of mid-October 2026.
- Stock returns vary strongly year to year; 7–10 % are long-run averages, not a monthly income.
- Not financial advice.
Sources
- Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances 2022, median net worth, households under 35
- Best freely available US savings rate, rate comparison, 15 Oct 2026
Changelog
- Check created, verdict BUSTED as a side hustle.
- Counter-check with 7 % and 10 % stock returns added; verdict unchanged, dependency on the assumption stated.
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