Earning extra cash is always nice, but often, it’s difficult to know where to start in order to earn it.
There are plenty of articles about it online, but you need to sift through reliable sources and those that are just fronts for scams meant to target the gullible. For students and young adults, especially, finding a way to make some extra cash is tricky, as it has to be through something that won’t eat up their time.
Fortunately, there are passive businesses that anyone can tap into to earn some extra cash with minimal effort and resources. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Opening a Savings Account with High-Interest Rates
You’ve probably heard or been told that saving doesn’t really yield a ton of money in interest, and this is mostly true. The big banks where most people put their savings pay less than 0.1 percent in interest. So even if your savings account has hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, you’ll be getting back a really tiny fraction of that in interest every year.
However, there are online-only banks that offer higher interests than brick-and-mortar banks do, and these are the ones that you need to look into. A lot of them pay over 2 percent of interest to customers every year, which is already a lot more than larger banks would pay out.
Passively Investing in Real Estate
Real estate isn’t always the first thing that people think of when talking about passive investments. Nowadays, though, there are many companies that allow you to invest in real estate projects for as little as $500—you won’t even have to do any washing-machine lifting! Investing in these projects can yield around 7 percent in returns, although this can only be available after a certain holding period, usually around the five-year range.
Open an Online Shop
This requires more work than the other business ideas on this list, but when done right, an online shop has proven to be income generating. To start, you’ll have to figure out what to sell online. These may be items purchased at a lower price then sold on an online marketplace at a profit or items you’ve created yourself.
For an online shop to be profitable, the products sold will have to either belong to a niche market or be items that are in high demand.
Invest in Stocks
There are risks to stock investments, but when done correctly with the right timing, they can yield much more passive income than any high-interest savings account ever can. However, it is important to understand that investing in stocks comes with risks.
At times, these risks may pay off handsomely, but it pays to remember that not all risks lead to rewards. When choosing to invest your money in the stock market, do plenty of research. Better yet, get the assistance of a qualified financial advisor to help you put your hard-earned dollars in the right risk basket.
Rent Out Your Vehicle
If your area is serviced by Uber or Lyft, then you most likely won’t need to use your car on a daily basis. How about renting it out to earn some passive income? Nowadays, there are companies that make it easy for vehicle owners to rent out their cars.
While this may mean that the vehicle may obtain additional wear and tear, often, the inevitable repairs are more than covered by the money received from the car rental. Alternatively, you may also consider renting out an extra room or apartment.
Take Your Time
Passive income can benefit those who are already quite busy. Still, starting a new venture that’s meant to yield some passive earnings takes some initial work and creativity at the beginning to set things up.
Allot the time necessary for you to learn how to generate a secondary income passively. If you do all these things, you may be looking at a successful passive-income venture.
