Top Ten Smart Passive Income Ideas to Make You Money in 2021

How about earning some extra bucks every month? Yeah, I know it’s amazing! But you may be thinking: How? Well, go for passive income, simple! If you are planning for something special and you need some extra savings, then you must figure out additional streams of income. Moreover, the pandemic has caused a severe economic upheaval that has put the jobs of many people at risk. At this time, a secondary source of income would help to bridge the gap. Whether you get unemployed suddenly or attempt to open your business, a solid stream of extra income would enhance your financial security.

Spiking your wealth meter through passive income is one of the smartest and appealing strategies for boosting your savings. But which way to go? To offer you unique options, we have listed some of the amazing smart passive income ideas. Scroll down!

Quick insight:

What is a Passive income?

Passive income is a way of earning money with little effort to maintain your resources. It is one of the most fascinating ways of generating money that most people look forward to. Wouldn’t you want dollars to flow in through a secondary source? If yes! Then opt for one from the list of smart passive income ideas.

Why is it important to have multiple passive income streams?

Since 2020, we have been in the grip of the COVID-19 virus that has not only devastated the health of the population but wealth as well. The worldwide economic downturn has put the financial health of every individual at stake. Numerous companies have shut down, and people are running out of their savings. In this crucial moment, passive income could be a ray of hope for many.

It is okay if you are satisfied with one source, as you may be lucky enough to have your main source steady and stable. But to have multiple passive income streams is a great idea to boost cash flow. Passive income is important for your financial independence, stability, and security. Passive income streams offer you enough revenue with little no effort and do not involve substantial investment in terms of labor.

The below section will explain the types of passive income ideas that you can try out.

Smart Passive Income Ideas 2021

The pandemic has affected the economy adversely, which has also devastated the livelihood of many. Here are some of the incredible passive income ideas.

1. Rental Incomes

You can earn a great deal through passive income by renting properties. This involves minimum maintenance of your resources for steady cash flow.

House rent:

If you have a spare room in your house, which is unused for years you can give that on rent. Or else, you can give an entire floor on rent for residential or commercial purposes. This could be done on a contract basis that would give you an extra earn monthly.

Car rent:

Renting out your car is also a good idea that would help you generate money. While you are traveling or vacationing you can give your car at rent to add some more dollars for your future planning. There are a plethora of online apps that offer safe and secure options to run your car on rent.

Useful household items:

Renting your household items is another useful and profitable source of passive income. Figure out that high-value item that a client may need for a short period and not for the long term. Make way for your inventory to be discovered by the clients and generate revenues for your bigger plans.

Upside: There’s a lot of scope for rental incomes as you can post your house on various online sites for better reach. You can earn hundreds per month by putting in the mileage and even you can rent out items that are mostly on demand. You need to research to figure out the customer’s demand to get closer to the prospective clients.

Downside: Whether renting a car, household items, or house for the short term, the damage to your property and getting trapped by fraudsters could be the possible downside of this passive income source.

2. Affiliate marketing

This is a unique way of earning where a website owner, bloggers, or social media influencers promote third-party products by adding the link of the product to their social media handle and websites. The most interesting thing is that when a client visits your website and purchases the product, you earn commission from every purchase made. Amazon is one of the popular and wide-known affiliate partners. Besides Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok have become renowned social media platforms for promoting products. You can join the exciting affiliate programs of Billbooks and provide the reference link to your social media, websites, or blogs. Every time a user subscribes through your referral link you earn commission every month for whichever plan they choose.

Upside: You can earn a commission of up to 3-7% once a visitor clicks and makes a purchase through your link. This way you can make a decent income.

Downside: The initial phase can be daunting as you need to build traffic and add in more content. Getting the right formula is time-consuming and even though you get customers may flee to other influencers after all the effort you put in. This would drain out all your confidence and you may run through losses.

3. Peer-to-peer lending

P2P Lending or Peer-to-peer lending is a passive income method. A personal loan is made between you and the borrower through an intermediary third party. This method helps the borrowers with various kinds of financial assistance like medical care investment, business loans, and many more. What you need to do for this is to open a bank account with the minimum initial deposit. Build your portfolio and invest in loans in small increments. As the borrower repays the loan amount, you start to receive monthly payments. If you want to move forward with this you can reinvest, or else, you can even withdraw the money.

Upside: You can earn via interest and can invest in multiple loans to mitigate the chances of default risk. Moreover, check the loan payment history of the borrower before you lend money.

Downside: You require knowledge, investment of time, and patience to deal with P2P lending. You need to track closely each of your investments and reinvest the interest wherever suitable. Otherwise, you may face severe loss.

4. Dividend stock

Dividend-yielding stocks are a great source of passive income and are also the oldest way of generating extra income. Various shareholder companies pay cash dividends from the profit they generate quarterly. You need to own the stock to earn the profit share. Therefore, the more shares you own, the more you will earn. The tricky part of this passive income method is that you need to choose the right stock to earn a decent amount.

Upside: Besides initial investment, there are practically no activities related to it. The money simply gets credited to your brokerage account.

Downside: The tricky part of this passive income method is that you need to choose the right stock to earn a decent amount.

5. Buying Bonds

Buying bonds is also an appealing passive income method. Not only retirees or near-retirees, anyone can try out this way to boost their savings at any point in time. You can buy a series of bonds that mature at a different point in time. This involves low-interest payments and decreased reinvestment risk. Moreover, you can rollover the bonds upon maturity for the next year.

Buying new bonds may not come with favorable interest rates, hence diversify the fund of bonds by eliminating the risky bond from your portfolio.

Upside: You can rollover the bonds upon maturity for the next year.

Downside: Buying new bonds may not come with favorable interest rates, hence diversify the fund of bonds by eliminating the risky bond from your portfolio.

6. Time Deposit

Investing money in fixed deposits is one of the best passive income ideas that help you earn a good amount of money to boost your savings. You would receive the amount along with interest on maturity at minimal risk. This offers a higher interest rate than any other investment, but you can not withdraw the amount before maturity. And if you wish to do so, you need to notify the bank at least 30 days before so that you can get back the principal amount.

Upside: You can simply opt for this through online mode and you can get the top rate which is not available at local banks.

Downside: The principal amount is safe as long as the bank is backed by FDIC, but the rising inflation rate would likely cause a dip in the rate of interest.

7. Interest-based income

Time deposits are also an interest-based income, but there are other methods as well. Let’s check out what other options you can avail of.

By lending money:

You can lend out money to those who need it without involving intermediaries. In return, you can charge a fixed interest rate along with the monthly installments that the borrower will pay monthly. This way, you can earn extra cash every time you reinvest.

From a high-yield savings account:

You can keep your savings in online banks, which are currently offering enticing interests. Certain banks don’t even charge monthly fees or ask you to keep a minimum opening balance, which makes it a bigger win. This way, you can earn interest on your savings at a fixed interval of time.

Upside: Other than initial investment there is the least activity involved. Moreover, diversifying your investment results in more income from multiple sources.

Downside: Fluctuating interest rates could be a possible challenge that may drop the amount of interest you earn.

8. Income from the investment made in real estate crowdfunding

Investing in real estate can give you a potentially high return, which is about 12.25% on your initial investment as per the performance reports. There are various crowdfunding real estate platforms where you can invest your money. Some real estate platforms offer you to choose the property you want to invest in instead of relying on the performance of the portfolio. You may receive monthly or quarterly payments, but that depends upon the property that you have chosen.

Upside: You can diversify your investment for a nice payment while keeping your money safe.

Downside: The tricky part of this kind of investment is that you can not easily liquidate your cash. Moreover, it is time-consuming and the price may fluctuate which would affect your cash flow.

9. Selling online courses

If you are skilled in a particular topic, then you can use your skills to make money. Establishing information products and then selling them out through e-books, online courses in video or audio format is a great way to earn money. There are various online platforms available where you can sell out your products. Upload free-content to gain online customers, and then charge them for more detailed information on that particular topic.

Upside: With an initial investment of time and effort, these online courses can deliver excellent income streams.

Downside: It is extremely time-consuming to create useful stuff so that you attract an audience to your site.

10. Online apps

If you are a skilled app developer, then besides your job, you can create online apps to make money. Being an app developer it would be easier for you to work on with existing resources you already have, and that would involve minimum or zero investment.

Upside: Once it catches the attention of the audience it starts generating revenue. You can also make money by running in-app ads.

Downside: To make something truly appealing can be quite challenging. The popularity of the app is short-lived and hence your cash flow would possibly dry out if the features are not upgraded timely.

Few more added information:

How many sources of passive income should you have?

There is no standard parameter for earning through passive income methods. It depends on your financial status and future goals, which will help you decide how many sources of income you need to stabilize your savings. It is great to diversify your income sources to earn a generous amount. But know your strength before you jump into multiple streams of passive income as you may lose your focus, and you may end up adding more effort.

Reduce tax on your passive income

Passive income ideas are excellent tricks to boost your cash flow. But these also generate tax liability that may eat away a large portion of your profit. What to do next? You will have to set up your business to get relaxation on taxes, but for that, you need to qualify and also need resources. So the best way is to stash your cash in SEP IRA or 401(K) to get a tax break for the entire year.

Do these passive income ideas work?

Yes, all the above-mentioned passive income ideas do work well and are effective methods to generate extra money. Some of them are even good enough to take up as the main source of income as they require minimum or zero effort. But, if you already have a good enough job, then you can try these ideas to build your wealth for your future goals.

Wrapping up!

So whether it’s a pandemic standing in your way to gain financial stability or you are planning for extra savings, these passive income ideas are great money boosters. It takes little effort and almost zero investment to build your financial empire strong and healthy. What are you thinking? Get on with your dream project with these amazing passive income ideas, and stop worrying about your financial health.