This is a guest post written by Timothy Ng who is a regular personal finance writer and part of the team at Credit Card Finder, a 100% free Australian credit card comparison and application service. Visit the Credit Card Finder website for more information on credit cards.
Passive income has become a popular way to supplement the income of many households. Adding extra streams of income can do many things like help pay for vacations, the kids college, even an early retirement plan. Once you have stopped working your passive income can boost your standard of living by providing a bit more cushion to your post-work lifestyle.
Like a lot of people you might think that generating passive income is complicated and more work that you have time for in your already busy life. If you think that you are incorrect. The term passive means that you will be able to earn extra cash with little or no extra work. While there may be some initial investment or work in the beginning, after a while you will be able to just sit back and let the money roll in.
Top Passive Streams Of Income
Investment properties – Investing in rental property is a great source of passive income as long as you choose your property wisely. It would be easy to just go out and get some cheap, ramshackle home and rent it out to the first person with the cash to show up. However, doing that would make the rest of your life much more difficult. Instead, do some research and find a place to buy that is reasonably priced for your budget and that would be appealing to a good renter. You do not want to have to spend a lot of time dealing with issues from your tenant nor do you want to wind up paying the mortgage yourself while they take advantage of you by not paying their rent. It can be scary to rent a house to someone else, but with the right house and the right renter you can build up a big investment with very little investment or hard work on your part.
Sound financial investments – Investing your extra money into dividend paying stocks can create a steady stream of income. To make this really worthwhile you will have to have a significant amount of money to plunk down initially or to build them slowly, which means that you might not a see a big return right away. You can also out your money into high yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit. While you might have to wait a while to see the return on your money it is one of the few passive forms of income that requires absolutely no work on your part.
Use the Internet – There are literally thousands of ways you can earn passive income on the Internet. You could build your own blog on a topic that you are an expert in or that you enjoy. You could open an online store or auction site. You can write blogs or web content or make viral videos. The list of ways to make money on the Internet goes on and on, the trick is finding the thing that you like to do so that you will be more likely to stick with it in the long term. If you enjoy writing, you could start a blog or write articles and eBooks.
If editing video is a hobby you could make funny videos or how to videos and market them on various video outlets. If you have a special skill like making quilts or woodworking you could sell your wares at an online store, avoiding the cost of overhead involved with having a real storefront.
If you are a thrift store junkie you can sell your great finds online too. Whatever online income you choose you should know that there will be a decent time commitment, at least in the beginning so make sure you enjoy what you are doing. The best part is that you can take your business anywhere so if you move or travel all you need is your computer and an Internet connection to keep earning passive income online.
Seasonal jobs – Seasonal working is an excellent way to earn extra money when you really need it or just when you have time. You would probably be surprised to find out how many people will pay to have the snow plowed from their drive during the winter or their Christmas lights hung and removed after the season. In the summer you could do gardening or mow lawns. This work can be done in the evenings or on weekends, allowing you to maintain your regular job. Of course, this is all hard work so the term passive does not actually ring true, but over time it can be a dependable revenue stream that requires only a little extra work.
Sell stock photography – This might be one of the best streams of passive income for retirees. All you need is a good camera and decent photograph taking skills and you can become a stock photographer. You simply take photos and then load them online for sale as stock photography. You will get a little bit of money each time one of your photos is downloaded. Over time you can earn lot of money all by just taking and then posting nice photos.
Vending machine business – You might not ever think about it, but those candy vending machines you see everywhere are an excellent stream on income. There is little initial investment, just a couple of hundred dollars on the machine and the candy and your time to procure businesses that are willing to let you put a machine in their shop. After that it is all profit and just a little bit of work refilling the machines as needed.
If you want to be able to do some extra things in life, retire early, or just bulk up your finances passive income is the way to go. There are loads of ways to earn money that do not require you to break your back logging loads of hours. Instead, find something you really like to do or some savvy investments and you will be on your way to earning extra income with no extra elbow grease.
Related posts:
- How to Identify the Best Passive Income Streams
- 10 Ideas for Diversifying Your Passive Income Streams
- Build Passive Income Streams from eHow
- What is Passive Income?
- How To Earn Passive Income At Home
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Thank you for submitting this article to my weekly contribution. I hope to see another article in the next edition on Wednesday, 4 August 2010.
@ditchtheboss – Thanks for including this post (from Timothy Ng) in your carnival. I look forward to reading some of the great content you have posted there.