Unlike your paycheck, which you earn for actively working, passive income is money you can make while vacationing on a beach. Earning a passive income can require you put your talents to work, make either a minimal investment or a large one, or simply offer to share with people — for a fee — property you already own.
Explore: GOBankingRates’ Best Credit Cards for 2023
Next: Get Your Credit Score on Track with These 3 Tips for Success
Although age-old strategies like real estate investing continue to lead countless investors toward financial independence, the digital age has opened the door to new ways of generating passive income streams, including publishing an e-book and even blogging.
With today’s inflation rates, your household budget likely is shrinking. You could be looking to make some quick money and asking yourself questions like these: What is the easiest source of passive income? How can I make $500 a month? How can I make $1,000 a month? Keep reading for 20 ideas for earning passive income right away and some longer-term strategies.
In most passive income streams, some work and a financial investment will be required up front, but some take very little active work. Here are some tips for earning passive income this year.
Virtually anyone can open a savings account, and — through the process of compound interest — earn passive income on their deposits. Savings accounts don’t come with the potential for big earnings like stocks, but they also don’t come with the risk since they’re FDIC insured. The average interest rate on a savings account is 0.30% right now, according to the latest data from the FDIC. Make sure to shop around to ensure you get the best interest rate for your money.
Financial institutions issue certificates of deposit for terms ranging from a few months to 20 years. When the term is up, you cash in your CD for the principal plus interest, which you can use to invest. Like savings accounts, CDs are insured so they’re virtually risk-free, but they usually pay higher rates, making these a great option for making passive income. The downside is that there’s a penalty for pulling out your money before the end of the full term. Nationally, average CD rates pay 1.07% for a 12-month CD, but some online banks pay much more.
The best cash-back cards literally pay you to shop. You can earn passive income by putting purchases you’d make anyway on the card; just make a payment with each purchase you make. You’ll collect points that you can use for purchases, pay your balance or even convert them into actual cash. Depending on your card, you might get as much as 5% back on certain spending categories.
Live Richer Podcast: You Might Be Losing Your Credit Card Reward Points: Here’s What You Should Do
When you shop through sites like Rakuten and Swagbucks, you can buy the things you would ordinarily purchase at the stores where you normally shop. The difference here is that you earn points, gift cards and even cash — all of which can be applied to future purchases or just stashed in the bank.
When you own something in demand, you can choose to rent it out to someone who needs it for a project or special event but doesn’t want to buy it — like an expensive tool that a DIYer will need for just a few hours or baby gear that a traveler will use for the week. That’s where sites like Sparetoolz and Babyquip come in. You photograph and list your rentable item, and then sit back and collect the cash when someone needs your tile saw or portable crib for the weekend.
You can earn hundreds of dollars a month to pay bills if you’re willing to turn your car into an advertisement. Sites like Wrapify pair drivers with major companies that will pay big bucks to turn cars into moving billboards. No upfront investment is required, your car won’t be harmed — as long as you don’t have prior damage or rock chips — and Wrapify estimates that if you fully cover your car, you can earn approximately $264 to $452 a month.
Don’t let your perfectly good bike sit in the garage and gather dust. By signing up for Spinlister, you can rent your bike to somebody who needs two wheels but doesn’t want to buy a bike of their own, such as tourists who want to see your city by bike. Spinlister takes a 17.5% fee on the rental, but you can set your prices to attract renters and make out reasonably well. The site claims you can make up to $500 a month renting your bike. You can also list your surfboard, stand-up paddleboard, snowboard or skis.
Sites like Turo let you rent your car for a daily rate. Consider signing up as a car host if you own a reliable car that you use infrequently. Turo provides insurance and says you can make about $10,500 a year renting your car. Your old clunker won’t bring that much; a newer model with all the bells and whistles has a better chance.
Owning an investment property is out of reach for many, but if you’ve got an extra room, the space can become your ticket to a reliable stream of passive income. Don’t worry — the days of rolling the dice on a creepy roommate with a classified ad or a post on Craigslist are over because of services like SpareRoom and Airbnb that help you advertise your space and screen tenants. Once you find a match, you can take some or all of your tenant’s rent and put it toward paying off debt — like your mortgage — or invest it in other passive income streams.
What is the most profitable passive income? Buying an investment property and renting it out. While the goal is to turn a profit, even if you just break even on your monthly expenses, the renters will still be paying down your mortgage and building equity for you as the value of the property appreciates over time.
Instead of wasting your photo-taking talents on Instagram, make your hobby pay by selling your photos online and generating passive income that streams in when people buy them. Major photo distributors like Shutterstock and Alamy accept submissions; just be sure to follow all the guidelines.
Starting a blog is easy. Making it pay, not so much. But it is possible if you’re willing to put in the work, and that work could eventually lead to a steady stream of relatively passive income. The basic steps are picking a topic you love, choosing a platform like WordPress and creating interesting, funny, useful or otherwise compelling content so that your blog can generate cash through revenue streams like ad sales or subscriptions.
If videos, not writing, are your thing, make money from them. You can create a profitable YouTube channel and monetize it with advertising, merchandising and other ways to earn passive income.
Several competing companies offer writers the chance to publish their own e-books, but none have the reach of Amazon. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service allows authors to self-publish digital and paperback books and provides the platform to sell the finished product again and again. That scenario begins with you downloading the free KDP self-publishing kit. You can earn royalties of up to 70% of the selling price on Amazon, but you could incur some fees along the way.
If you have a lot to say — and access to interesting guests — you can start a podcast for just a modest investment of a good microphone. You’ll monetize your podcast through sponsorships and affiliate sales. Of course, just as with a YouTube channel, you’ll need to create the content and link to it on your social media sites to create traffic, but you can earn a passive income on things your listeners buy that you advertise on your podcast.
Perhaps you have skills such as writing code or constructing a backyard deck. Platforms like Digital Chalk and Click4Course offer the tools you need to sell your knowledge by helping you develop and publish your own online course. Create your tutorial, publish it and get paid — over and over.
Some apps you buy and others you download for free — the catch with the latter is that they usually come with ads. To make some passive income, you can sell your own app or give it away for free and then use it to sell ad space. Technical know-how or coding experience is clearly a plus, but it’s not necessary. Sites like Bubble make it easy for anyone to create professional apps.
One of the benefits of being a rock star or movie star is that royalties pay dividends for as long as the public consumes your work. But even if you didn’t create the movie or song, you can buy royalties on sites like Royalty Exchange, which lets anyone purchase the rights to someone else’s intellectual property and reap the steady payments associated with it.
Vending machines are one of the only recession-proof investments in the world — and if you own one, they can also be a fantastic stream of passive income. Sites like Gumball.com can hook you up with your very own vending machine. Just keep it stocked, and watch the money roll in as the hungry and thirsty insert cash all year long.
Go beyond blogs by buying a fully functioning e-commerce website and then resell it. Sites like Flippa offer marketplace websites. If you have the savvy, improve upon it and flip it for more.
As with any income you generate, you will incur a tax liability. But if you decide to set up your passive income opportunity as a business, you can route the passive income funds you make into a retirement account, such as a solo 401(k) or a SEP IRA, which both offer tax breaks in the year you contribute. The first step is to get an employer identification number for your business. Then, visit your financial advisor to learn about your options and open an account.
The more passive income streams you can successfully initiate and manage, the more money you’ll have streaming in — no matter if you’re in bed, at the beach or working dutifully at your 9 to 5. The best ways to generate passive income are the ones that make the most sense to you — and that yield the most profits for your effort.
More From GOBankingRates
Wealthy Millennials Aren’t Banking on Stocks: Here’s What They’re Investing In Instead
Do You Have a Tax Question? Ask a Tax Pro
The 10 Best Cash Back Credit Cards for 2023
Here’s How To Build a 6-Month Emergency Fund
Cynthia Measom, Andrew Lisa and Joel Anderson contributed to the reporting for this article.
Information is accurate as of Jan. 6, 2023.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 20 Ways To Bring in Passive Income in 2023
Passive income is better than any side hustle because the money comes to you without you having to work for it. You'll read about all kinds of ways to generate passive income, but most won't earn the…
Is making passive income one of your resolutions for this year? If you answered yes and you're new to this type of work, you might not know where to start or what it means to earn this type of…
The U.S. Postal Service is raising prices this weekend. The increases make good fiscal sense for the USPS, even if they raise the hackles of the agency’s loyal customers. The USPS announced the increase in October; its oversight body, the Postal Regulatory Commission, signed off on the plan in November.
Does it seem like your hard-earned paycheck isn't stretching as far as it should be? Fortunately, there are a few changes you can make in how you earn and spend your money that can help you save more…
Building credit and racking up credit card rewards can be great for your finances but putting certain items on your card leads to big fees and higher interest rates, which cancel out any benefits. The…
For instance, wealth managers are just one kind of financial advisor who work with a specific clientele: those with a high net worth. If you need help picking a wealth manager or financial advisor, consider using SmartAsset's free matching tool to find options in your area. What Is a Financial Advisor?
What would Warren Buffett tell you to do with your money? He'd probably recommend investing in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. In fact, that's exactly how his will instructs that most of the money his family inherits be invested.
Investors are especially charged up about fuel cell specialist Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) though. As of 11:14 a.m. ET, shares of Plug Power are up 7.8%. Investors are particularly interested in the announcement since Plug Power and Nikola inked a hydrogen supply agreement in December.
The Oracle of Omaha never saw a future in cryptocurrency.
Zacks.com users have recently been watching Catalyst (CPRX) quite a bit. Thus, it is worth knowing the facts that could determine the stock's prospects.
Tough times are coming — but that doesn't mean you can't make money.
Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Barclays upgrading its outlook on AMD and Qualcomm.
In this article, we discuss 11 most undervalued natural gas stocks to buy according to hedge funds. If you want to see more stocks in this selection, check out 5 Most Undervalued Natural Gas Stocks To Buy According To Hedge Funds. In 2022, the oil and gas industry experienced exceptional financial success, resulting in a […]
When it comes to the stock market, sometimes the largest gains can be had by buying shares of quality companies after they've suffered steep price declines. Amazon's stock price was cut in half. The macroeconomic challenges that have dented Amazon's profitability are likely to prove temporary.
Federal prosecutors have seized money from bank accounts and crypto assets belonging to the FTX founder.
In this article, we will take a look at the 15 biggest natural gas pipeline companies in the world. If you want to see more companies in this selection, go to the 5 Biggest Natural Gas Pipeline Companies in the World. In the past five decades, the consumption of energy globally has increased by over […]
In this video, I will talk about why Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) soared on Monday after some new analyst upgrades and explain why investors shouldn't necessarily take this as a buy signal. *Stock prices used were from the trading day of Jan.
Investors need to pay close attention to Lumen (LUMN) stock based on the movements in the options market lately.
Investors need to pay close attention to Silvergate (SI) stock based on the movements in the options market lately.
Shares of electric truck maker Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) spiked higher Monday morning after the company announced another step forward for its hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV). The stock had jumped 8% as of 10:30 a.m. ET. Nikola started selling its battery-electric heavy trucks last year, and expects to begin production of its hydrogen FCEV this year.
20 Ways To Bring in Passive Income in 2023 – Yahoo Finance
![[Special Recipe] Mentaiko Shirataki Peperoncino](https://proboards1.com/wp-content/themes/blogstream/img/thumb-medium.png)
