meal ticket

A person or thing used to provide permanent financial income. This new business was supposed to be my meal ticket, but it's costing me more money than I'm making. I'm a model, so my face is my meal ticket, and I can't afford to have a blemish!

meal ticket

A person or thing depended on as a source of income, as in Magic Johnson was a real meal ticket for his team, or Her interpersonal skills will be her meal ticket when she goes into sales. This metaphoric expression alludes to the earlier practice of handing out tickets that entitle their holder to a meal. [Early 1900s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
RamÓN	rah-MON	Spanish
Uttara	-	Hinduism, Indian, Marathi
Fritjof	FRIT-shof (Swedish), FRIT-yof (Swedish)	Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Adela	ə-DEL-ə (English), ah-DE-lah (Polish)	English, Spanish, Romanian, Polish, Ancient Germanic
SevİL	-	Turkish
Lindon	LIN-dən	English (Rare)