Passive income is a stream of income earned with little to no effort on your part. You can create passive income streams by investing in real estate, dividend-paying stocks, cryptocurrency, or any number of other ways.
Investing in cryptocurrency
Investing in cryptocurrency can be a very risky and volatile investment. According to Dan Hollings, cryptocurrency is not backed by a central bank or any other type of government entity, so it’s subject to sudden changes in value. It also isn’t regulated by any specific government agency or financial body, making the market less transparent than it would otherwise be if there was some kind of accountability built into the system. This can make investing in cryptocurrency tricky—but with some patience and caution, you could still earn yourself some nice returns on your money if you’re willing to ride out some rises and falls along the way.
Sell ad space on your website or blog
Ad space on your website or blog is the simplest way to earn passive income. The more traffic you get, the more ads will sell, and the more money will roll in. That’s because ad networks pay publishers when people click their ads. The publisher then gets 70% of that revenue, while the network gets 30%. So every time someone clicks one of your site’s ads, it could be worth as much as $1 per person.
How much do readers actually pay attention to advertisements? According to research done by Google in 2016, consumers only spend about 1 second looking at an ad before moving on to something else. So if you want people to view your content and click through those ads on it (and earn some revenue), make sure each piece is engaging enough for them not just to come back but also to stay awhile longer than just 1 second.
Write an e-book
If you have a lot of knowledge about a particular topic, then it’s time to turn your expertise into an ebook. You can easily create an e-book with the right software (such as Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing). Ebooks are easy to create, they help build your brand, they’re easy to market and sell, and they’re great for making passive income.
Become a real estate investor
You can start by purchasing a property or homes that are in need of repair. You can then fix them up and resell them, pocketing the profit when you sell them at a higher price than what you originally paid for them.
Another way to make money from real estate is to invest in rental properties, which will earn passive income for as long as they are rented out. Rental properties come with many benefits: for instance, because you don’t have to worry about selling the product—you just keep collecting rents from tenants—you can hold onto it indefinitely and keep earning income for years on end.
As long as there are people who want housing units and buildings that need repairs, investing in real estate has no expiration date; instead of having an expiration date like stocks do (and thus being exposed to the potential risk), real estate investments provide a steady stream of income over time
Dividend investing
Dividend investing is a great way to build passive income because dividends are paid out by companies to their shareholders. Dividends are usually paid quarterly and often in cash, but many dividend stocks also offer additional perks like an annual dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP). You can use the DRIP feature to make money on your initial investment even faster by automatically reinvesting it in more shares of the same stock when it pays its next dividend—and then repeating this process over and over again until you reach your goal.
Similarly, some stocks pay dividends on a monthly basis instead of quarterly or annually which means that investors who purchase these stocks receive their payouts more frequently than if they had invested in stocks with annual payout periods (like most people think about).
There are many good ways to build passive income for the long haul
The best way to build passive income for the long haul is by diversifying your investments. Diversification can be achieved by investing in bonds, real estate, stocks and other asset classes.
You need to be patient and willing to take risks when building your portfolio of investments. It takes time for passive income streams to grow into something substantial enough that you could live off of it alone or use it as supplemental income. This requires patience because many investment options will have ups and downs before they start showing consistent growth over time.
The key here is being prepared for those setbacks along the way so that you are not discouraged from continuing with your plans once they happen (which they inevitably will). If you’re not prepared mentally before starting out then there’s no way anyone can guarantee how successful their efforts will ultimately be; thus beginning with a sound plan is essential.
Conclusion
Building passive income is a great way to start investing. The key is to build a system that works for you, and then automate it so you can free up time in your life while still earning money.
About the Author
Monica is a passionate writer and content creator. Her interests include outdoor activities, fitness, technology, entrepreneurship and everything in between. Say hi to Monica on Twitter @monical_lee.
