Making money without having to work is the endgame for many of us, but few people really understand how this works. Earning money with little to no ongoing effort may sound impossible, but that’s far from the truth. With passive income, you can earn extra money through projects or investments that continue to generate revenue on their own. And if you are looking to learn how to do that, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll explain what passive income is and give you some tips on how to start earning money passively. Let’s get right into it.
What is Passive Income?
Passive income is a recurring stream of revenue earned without putting in a lot of effort. All you need to do is identify an income stream that can continue to provide you with money after its initial setup. Think of things like renting out a place, investing in stocks, or licensing out a product.
However, that doesn’t mean you won’t have to work at all; it just means your passive income won’t require you to put in as many hours as a full-time job.
Now that you understand what passive income is, let’s look at some ways you can start earning money passively.
Top 19 Passive Income Ideas
Here are some popular ways to earn money passively in 2022:
- Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
If you want to invest in real estate but are not yet an accredited investor or don’t want the stress of buying and managing the property yourself, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) can help. REITs are corporations that own and operate income-producing real estate assets such as office buildings, apartments, and hotels. They are similar to mutual funds because they allow individual investors to earn real estate dividends without having to purchase any personal property.
- Peer to Peer Lending
If you’re looking for a way to earn money passively in less than five years, peer-to-peer lending may be an ideal income stream for you. Peer-to-peer lending, also known as social lending, allows you to act as a middleman and lend borrowers money, thus cutting out financial institutions. You can choose who you want to lend to and earn higher returns compared to having your money in a savings account. Plus, you can make as much as 5% interest on your loan.
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing allows you to earn passive income if you are a social media influencer, blogger, or website owner. All you have to do is include a link to a brand’s product on your website, social media page, or email list. When a visitor clicks on the link and purchases the product, you earn money (affiliate commission). You can earn anywhere from 5% to 8% back on every purchase.
- Rental Property
If you have a large capital and want to earn consistent passive income, purchasing a real estate property and renting it out could be the best option for you. However, if you don’t have the time to manage a long-term rental property, you might consider short-term rentals like Airbnb or renting out a spare room in your home.
- Vending Machines
If you’re looking for a low-maintenance side business, consider starting a vending machine business. All you have to do is purchase a vending machine, place it in a strategic location, stock it with desired products, and begin earning passively. You can start a vending machine business with less than $2000.
- Create an Online Course
Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare are online platforms that allow you to create courses and earn money when someone buys them. If you have extensive knowledge of a subject, you can use these platforms to earn a comfortable passive income.
- Dividend Stocks
Earning passive income from dividend stocks is a tried and true method. However, to receive large dividend checks as a shareholder, you may need to invest a significant amount of money. The company in which you invested will pay you a cash dividend from their profits quarterly, which will be deposited into your brokerage account.
- Sell an eBook
You can write an eBook and sell it on Amazon, just like you can sell a course online. Writing an eBook will require little capital because you will not need to pay for publishing. eBooks are typically 30 to 50 pages long, so if you’re knowledgeable about a variety of subjects, you can write and publish as many as you want to earn passive income.
- Start a Blog or YouTube Channel
One of the most interesting ways to generate passive income is to start a blog or a YouTube channel. You can turn your interest in traveling, painting, or singing into a source of passive income. You will be able to earn money from advertisements or sponsorships. All you have to do is pick a niche or topic that interests you and become an expert on it.
- Stock Photos
One way to generate low-maintenance passive income is by selling stock photographs. If you enjoy taking photographs, you can sell your work on stock photo websites and profit from every purchase.
- Make an App
Do you have a fun game or photo editing app in mind? Then you can generate passive income by putting these ideas into action. If you are not a programmer, you can create a no-code app and earn money passively.
- Sell T-shirt Designs Online
Do you have design skills? Then you could turn them into a source of income by selling items with your printed designs. You can sell your designs on T-shirts, hats, mugs, and other items on platforms like CafePress and Zazzle.
- Bond Index Fund
Instead of buying stocks from a company and becoming a shareholder, bonds allow you to lend money to businesses and receive interest on your loan. While they are generally safer than stocks, the interest is usually low.
- Rent Out Your Car
You can rent out your car on Turo or rent it to someone who needs a car for Uber or Lyft and make money when you aren’t using it.
- Cashback Rewards
Cashback rewards platforms such as Swagbucks, Rakuten, and MyPoint allow you to earn money while you shop. All you have to do is sign up, shop, and earn rewards – the more you shop, the more money you get.
- NFTs
If you are a digital creator, you can earn passive income by minting your designs into Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and selling them on platforms such as OpenSea, where you can earn cryptocurrency.
- Laundromat
Starting a laundromat is a good way to earn passive income. While it’ll require large capital, it is often a low-maintenance passive income stream.
- Start a Storage Rental Business
You can make money from letting people keep their items in your storage space. You get monthly checks with little to no effort.
- License Your Music
Just like the stock photos idea, you can make money off your music by licensing it. You make money off it whenever someone uses your songs.
Conclusion
Passive income can be used to pay bills and even build wealth without having to work much, beyond the initial setup. The interesting thing is that you can have multiple passive income streams simultaneously. For example, you could earn money from books while renting out a place. There’s no limit to how many you can have. If you start working on passive income sources today, you’ll be much more relaxed tomorrow.
