Want to know what the best beginner passive income ideas are? You'll want to invest in these IMMEDIATELY.
There's a reason passive income ideas are all the rage, and will continue to be. Who doesn't want to make money while you watch a KUWTK rerun for the 40th time sleep? Passive income streams are a surefire way to get rich, and there's no time like the present. These beginner passive income ideas are total genius.
In this post, I’ll share simple ways to start earning while you sleep—including what I use. These passive income streams for beginners are a great way to get started profiting from passive income. Learn exactly how to make money in your sleep with these beginner passive income ideas- including the ones I use!
This post is all about beginner passive income ideas.
1- Start a Blog
This is my favorite beginner passive income idea, and it's the one I use myself! Starting a blog was a life-changing move for me, and it's allowed me to make thousands of dollars in totally passive income! Starting a blog is easy and cheap. For less than $5 a month, you can start a blog today.
Blogs are an amazing form of passive income because once you've written the blog post, you're DONE. That post is now a permanent source of income for years and years to come, without you having to lift a finger. Sure, you have to do the active work of writing the post, but that post will continue to work hard for you in the future. Blogs are hands-down one of the BEST ways to make passive income from home, and they are totally beginner friendly. If you have $5 a month to spare, you're ready to rumble!
Once you start a blog - even MORE passive income streams open up. You can now make money off affiliate marketing, which is when you get paid a small commission any time a reader buys a product you link to. In addition, you can make tens of thousands of dollars a month just by running advertisements on your website.
I know some bloggers who are making over a million dollars a YEAR off their blogs. No education, special skills, or experience required! Even a basic understanding of the English language has been deemed superfluous by programs like Grammarly, so really, what's stopping you?
2- Sell Digital Products
This is another amazing way to make passive income for beginners. There is no shortage of demand for all sorts of digital products in the online space. It is a fantastic way to make passive income because once you create the product, you're done. You don't need to worry about inventory, warehouse storage, or damaged products, you just need to worry about collecting those checks!
Deciding what digital products to make will be the most difficult task, as there are virtually unlimited options. Think about topics you're interested in and search Etsy for inspiration. Think about your strengths, are you really organized? A digital planner might be a good idea. Are you an Excel whiz - what about a budget template?
Creating a digital product is made super easy with Canva, and it's the website I use!
3- Sell an Online Course
Other than starting a blog, this is one of the MOST lucrative passive income strategies, and it's perfect for beginners.
Anyone can create an online course, no special skills or experience required. I recommend using Teachable, as they are the best platform to market and sell your course.
There is "active" work up front in that you have to spend time planning and creating your course, but once it's created your work is done! Aside from minor updates as time goes on, you can kick your feet up and watch that bank account grow and grow.
Now, what exactly should you create a course on? This will vary from person to person. Sit down and brainstorm topics you're knowledgeable about or any skills you have. Crochet? Mandarin? Ultimate frisbee? Home organization? You can really create a course about anything in the world.
The key to making money off an online course is that you need to create value. People will pay lots of money in exchange for something they see as valuable. This means your course needs to be useful, helpful, and/or reduce pain and inconvenience for the customer. If you create a course with the goal to be as helpful as humanly possible, you're nearly guaranteed success!
4- Start a YouTube Channel
Not interested in making thousands from a blog? Why not try a vlog?
If writing isn't your strong suit or simply doesn't interest you, a vlog is an amazing way to generate passive income via content creation. YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google! Millions of people use it, and to make a great income, you only need a small amount of people to subscribe to your channel.
Being an amazing video editor isn't even required- you can hire a virtual assistant to edit the videos for you for as little as $4 an hour! There are also tons of very user friendly video editing software that anyone could learn to use.
What is required is consistency and passion about a topic. In order to truly be successful on YouTube, you need to post at least once per week, ideally a video at least 15 minutes long. After a few months of this, you can begin collecting passive income off the videos you've made through affiliate marketing and paid advertisements. The joy of passive income- those videos will continue to generate income for you for as long as they're posted!
This woman made over $100k in her first 12 months on YouTube!
5- Rent a Spare Bedroom
Do you have an extra room in your apartment or house? You might be sleeping on an opportunity to make thousands in passive income.
It's no secret that rental rates have skyrocketed, so why not use this trend to your advantage? Renting out a spare bedroom is an amazing way to generate truly passive income. You don't have to do anything but find a renter! There are pros and cons to renting to family or friends. Use a written lease either way. Expect some inconvenience that comes with having a roommate, like sharing a refrigerator and kitchen, but it just might be worth it when you're collecting a monthly check. I even heard of someone renting their garage space as a room - just expect to charge significantly less than an actual room.
Finding a tenant has never been easier with the internet, I recommend using Facebook housing groups. Simply join a local group, post photos of the space with details including price, length of lease, and other relevant details, and you're good to go! In my experience, you should get several responses often within a couple of weeks, allowing you to vet and choose the best fit for you.
Have a financial goal you're trying to meet? Perhaps you're looking to pay off debt? Renting out a bedroom is a great way to generate passive income, and it can be temporary (think 6-12 months) until you meet your goal!
6- Rent out a Parking Space
No extra rooms in your living space? Try renting a parking or garage space out. I live in a metro area where monthly parking rental rates are regularly $400 a month! That's nearly $5,000 in passive income per year.
When we go out of town for over a month, we always rent our parking space out, and we've never had any issues. We love using our garage space as a source of passive income.
This is obviously a great beginner passive income idea, as all you need is a parking space to rent out! Just make sure that your lease allows you to rent out your space first.
SpotHero, Craigslist, Facebook, and Neighbor.com are all great options for listing your parking space for rent. You can even rent your space out for as little time as a weekend.
If you live in a condo or apartment, don't forget to try your building's Facebook group or online portal to list your space!
7- Invest Your Money
Perhaps the most well-known option for beginner passive income- investing your money! And no, you don't need to be Warren Buffett to be successful at investing. It's actually extremely easy.
Investing is an awesome opportunity for passive income because of the power of compound interest. This means that if you invest in a good index fund or mutual fund (a standard annual return of 10% on average), your money will DOUBLE every 7-8 years (Rule of 72), without you having to do anything! It's no wonder that compound interest is dubbed the 8th wonder of the world. Each month, each year that you're not investing is costing you thousands, if not millions, in compound interest.
The first place to start investing is with any retirement accounts you have access to through your employer. These might be a Traditional 401(k) and/or a Roth IRA. These are also called "tax-advantaged accounts" because the government offers tax breaks when you use them. Your benefits department can explain everything to you in detail and help you get set up. You will likely create an account, put in the dollar amount you want invested every paycheck, and then you're good to go! Set it and forget it.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO INVESTING WELL: First, contribute to your 401(k) up to the highest employer match (if you have one), then max out your Roth IRA, and then go back and max out your 401(k). Outside of your employer match, a Roth IRA is a better investment for tax reasons. Still have money left over? Good for you!! The next step is to create a brokerage account and contribute as much as you want.
A good rule of thumb for setting yourself up for retirement is to invest 15% of your annual income.
8- Buy a Rental Property
If you think you'd like being a landlord, buying a rental property can be a good source of passive income. But watch out, there are rules you need to follow to make sure this is a passive income dream and not a nightmare.
My philosophy is to pay cash for a rental property, do not get a loan or a mortgage. Yes, this goes against everything you've ever heard on TikTok from those testosterone-fueled macho men who want you to make "a million dollars a month in passive rental income" buy having 15+ leveraged rental properties. Those people are financial dummies, and the chickens will surely come home to roost. If you listen to their advice closely, what they're really telling you is how to go hundreds of thousands of dollars into DEBT. We no likey that. We smart. We no fall for scams. BUT if you're looking for a surefire way to bankrupt yourself and your family, definitely follow their sage advice.
Instead, make a plan to save up for a rental property that you can buy for cash, without a loan. This is the slower way to make passive income upfront, but you will make more income in the long run if you do this without debt.
Renting out a property that you have a mortgage on can become extremely stressful, if not dangerous, very quickly. During the Covid pandemic, many local governments made it illegal to evict people even if they were not paying rent. For landlords, this created HUGE and unexpected financial hardship! Could you go 12+ months without any rental income and still pay the mortgage on that property? My guess is no... The solution? Don't go into debt!
Not only will you be making passive income by collecting rent, but properties typically go up in value year after year. This means you're also making passive income as the value of your asset increases! You won't see this income until you sell the property, however.
Pro-tip: Renting out a property and being a landlord isn't as "passive" as you might think. There is still work involved. From unruly tenants to maintenance issues, expect to have some "active" work as you manage the property. However, if you like managing people, being a landlord can be a rewarding source of income.
9- Invest in a High-Yield Savings Account
Not quite ready to take the plunge and invest in the market? A HYSA is a great option for beginner passive income! It involves virtually no risk, unlike investing in the market which can be more volatile. The upside is less risk, the downside is far less passive income.
A HYSA is a type of bank account meant for saving. Unlike a checking account, you can't use the money quite as often, but in return you make more on your money in interest.
Because inflation has been on the up and up, the % you make on your money per year (called the APY) is higher than average as of late. There are some HYSAs that are offering over 4% return on your money each year. That means that if you put $5,000 into that account, you will make $200 a year in passive income!
HYSAs are a great place to put your emergency fund money, or money you're saving for a large purchase down the line, like a car or down payment.
What is your debt free date? Let me know @ShesFinanciallyFree1 !
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