15 ways to create passive income and achieve your financial goals!

You may be a stay-at-home parent or have a regular job. Here are some ideas to generate passive income which is a smart way to earn money without actively working… Passive income may necessitate an initial investment, but should generate income streams in the long run with minimal efforts.

The most common passive income examples are earning interest from a savings account or certificate of deposit (CD), getting dividends from stocks or investing in Bonds. These are safe bets but the interest rate is very low.

If you have access to funds, real estate investing is one of the leading ways to generate passive income and achieve financial independence, by collecting rental payments from tenants on a property that you own.

But there are many other ways, big or small, to create passive income like renting out your car or your bike when not in use.

Thanks to the digital age, you can also create passive income streams by selling your photos or creations online, publish an e-book or online course, making videos on youtube etc.

Here are a few great ideas compiled by Andrew Lisa of Go Banking Rate, to motivate you on your way to financial security!

1. Rent Your Cool Items

Do you have a cool and unique item like a pinball machine, smoke-making machine, disco ball or professional camera? You can rent it out to people who may need it for an event but would not be willing to purchase it. List your items on sites like PeerRenters and make money when someone rents them out for a special occasion.

2. Rent a Spare Room

You may not be able to afford an investment property but why not rent out an extra room in your home to generate a reliable income stream to help with your living expenses, pay off your mortgage or invest in other passive income streams. To avoid having a tenant from hell found from local classified ads or Craiglist, nowadays you can screen potential tenants through services like SpareRoom and Cozy and find a good fit.

3. Rent Your Equipment

Got a bike, surfboard, snowboard or diving gear in the garage that’s gathering dust? You can rent it out to people who need it but may not want to buy one. The Spinlister site allows you to list your rental items at an attractive price set by you, for a 17.5% fee on rental fee. The site claims that a rented bike can generate up to $500 a month.

4. Rent Your Car

The car rental industry has hiked up rates since the Pandemic due to shortage of cars. If you don’t regularly use your car, you can list it in sites like Turo for a daily rate. You can also consider signing up as a car host  if you don’t usually use your car on certain days. Turo provides insurance and claims you can cover your car payment by renting it out just nine days per month — estimating that a 2020 Toyota Camry could make $398 a month in Los Angeles over 12.2 days.

5. Wrap Your Car

By turning your car into a moving advertisement, you can earn hundreds of dollars a month. Sites like Wrapify pair drivers with major companies like Pepsi and Google, which 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 full coverage can earn you approximately $264 to $452 a month.

6. Invest in Real Estate Crowdfunding

If owning investment real estate is out of your reach, you can join a group of investors pooling money to invest in real estate assets through sites like RealtyShares and FundRise. Small investors can contribute modest sums of money into a pool of funds that investors borrow to flip houses or buy rental properties. Although there’s some risk involved, you can earn money when the loans are paid back with interest. FundRise advertises historic annual returns of 7.4%-12.4%, but note that the results may vary as it’s a fairly young industry.

7. Buy a Rental Property

If you are lucky enough to own or inherit an investment property, this is the greatest way to generate passive income. The rental income can contribute to pay down your mortgage, build equity as the value of the property would appreciate over time.

8. Sell Your Photos

Is photography your hobby? Instead of just posting your art on Instagram, you can make money by selling your photos online and generating passive income that streams in when people buy them. You can also submit your photos to photo distributors like Shutterstock and Alamy by following all the guidelines.

9. Publish an E-Book

Aspiring to be a published author of a novel, self-help book, memoirs or recipe book? There are many companies offering e-books publications, but the most dominant one is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing which allows authors to self-publish digital and paperback books and provides the platform to sell the finished product again and again. First, you need to download the free KDP self-publishing kit and can pick between options to earn 35% or 70% of the selling price on Amazon. If you select the 70% option, you may have to pay a delivery fee depending on the size of the file.

10. Publish and Sell an Online Course

If you have skills such as making dolls, gardening or constructing a backyard deck, you can sell your knowledge via platforms like Digital Chalk and Click4Course. They help you develop and publish your own online course. Create your tutorial, publish it, set the price of your class and get paid — over and over. Digital Chalk charges as little as $35 a month and a $4.99 registration fee to sell on its platform.

11. Write Greeting Cards

Do you have a talent for creating greeting cards with your illustrations, photos and poetry, you can earn passive income thanks to companies like NobleWorksand Calypso. If your work is accepted and purchased by greeting cards companies, you will earn income doing something that you enjoy. 

12. Make YouTube Pay

Many people earn a lot of money by creating youtube videos of their pets, kids, cute artwork or special tricks. You can also create a profitable YouTube channel and monetize it with advertising, merchandising and other ways to earn passive income that you can use to pay your debts. Find out how by visiting the YouTube Creators Academy.

13. Buy a Vending Machine

Did you know that Vending machines are one of the only recession-proof investments in the world? You may generate a great stream of passive income by checking out sites like Gumball.com to get your very own vending machine. Watch consumers insert cash all year round into your vending machines but you must make sure that it’s always well stocked. According to Gumball.com, you can make a profit of $220 for every case of gumballs you sell through your machine.

14. Buy a Billboard

See all these tall billboards with catchy advertising or messages along the freeway? You can buy your own billboard, but make sure to understand the market and that all permits are in order. Billboards in prime locations can be rented out for top dollars to marketers or advertisers. FitSmallBusiness.com estimates the rent on a billboard averages about $750-$1,500 a month in rural areas, $1,500-$2,000 in small to mid-sized markets and $14,000 or more in big cities.

15. Flip a Website

If you don’t have the time and energy to build your own website, you can buy a fully functioning e-commerce website through sites like Flippa. There’s a wide variety of websites from dating sites to sites that sell merchandise like fashion or watches. You can buy a site and use it for passive income or if you have the talent and technical know-how, improve upon it and flip it for more. One option selling on Flippa for $15,000 offers estimated profits of $8,517 annually.

Passive Income and Tax Liability

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.

Conclusion

You can have multiple streams of passive income while you’re traveling, working at your regular job or just lounging on your sofa watching TV. Passive income should definitely pay more than the interest gained if you put your money in a savings account or in a CD. The key is to pick passive incomes that make the most sense to you and yield the most profits.

Now is the time to research to find the passive income that is most appealing to you, do your homework then take action and soon, you can just relax and enjoy watching the money roll in.

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