A passive income investment is something that pays you money while you sleep. The best passive income investments are ones that pay you for life without ever working or needing a job. When thinking of my income, I don't think of my true income as money I earn from my job; instead, it's the income I make while I sleep that I count as true income.
"What's the best investment money can buy?". "It depends on your financial goals". That never made any sense to me, how can my goals be any different than yours? Isn't the goal to make as much money as possible and be rich? Don't we all want to know how to be a millionaire? It turns out, the answer is not so black white. With that said, this is my attempt at answering that question for my younger self. Here are the top 5 passive income investments of all time.
#5 "Alternative Investments". Let's start with one that you should avoid. Many people seem to think these are good investments but they aren't. They include collectibles, coins, art, watches, etc. These investments don't pay us passive income and involve a degree of luck beyond our control so because of that, it gets a 2/10 for the money factor. It's easy to invest and buy for anyone around the world so it earns a high score of 8/10 (easy). Investing here to protect yourself isn't very safe however, you risk damages, loss or theft, and your investment losing value. The safety score is 5/10. For taxes, it's taxed a long term capitals gains rate of 28% so it gets a 4/10 for a grand total of 18/40.
#4 P2P Lending which is where you loan money to people and small businesses that were not able to get approved on loans from traditional banks. These investments are higher risk because the borrowers usually have lower credit scores. The return rate on your money is about 4-7% so I will give a solid 5/10 to both the return and risk because you can essentially pick and choose which way you want to go with both. Be careful doing this because it’s an 8/10 for difficulty meaning anyone can get started but you may never get your money back if someone defaults on their loan. Taxes are based on your income tax bracket which isn’t as good as long term capitals gains so I’ll give it a 5/10 for a grand total of (23/40).
#3 Royalties. I make around $100 a month in royalties from courses I put together since high school. The sky is the limit so the money factor is high 8/10. However, it's difficult and not everyone can make a product people will want to buy so the it gets a 5/10 for difficulty (moderate level). Since you’re investing in yourself essentially, I think the risk is low so I’ll give it a high score of 8/10. Taxes for royalties are taxed on Schedule C under ordinary income rates so I’ll give it a 5/10. Bringing the total to 26/40.
#2 Stock Market Investing, specifically, buying dividend stocks to generate passive income. This is my all time favorite passive investment. I make around $7,500 to $8,000 a year from this one and the potential for money is an easy 8/10.
#1 Real Estate investing. If you want to make the most amount of money, as quickly as possible, with the most flexibility and balance, then real estate is the go to asset. You can buy $100 worth of real estate with only $20 down, so your money goes much farther than anywhere else giving it an 8/10. Unfortunately, it’s difficult. Dividends are much easier to start with and it takes a pretty big learning curve and much more money to start doing this. On the difficulty level - 6/10. If you can master it though, real estate can be a protection against inflation at the worst case scenario, so it’s just about as safe as a stable blue chip stock so we’ll also give it an 8/10. When it comes to taxes, you can write off just about everything when it comes to real estate. Property taxes, mortgage interest, etc. giving this a 10/10 bringing the total score to 32/40.
Honorable mentions I didn’t include are CDs, bonds, high yield savings accounts but I don’t consider them “investments” as much as just places to hold your money so it doesn’t lose value.
*None of this is meant to be construed as investment advice, it's for entertainment purposes only. Links above include affiliate commission or referrals. I'm part of an affiliate network and I receive compensation from partnering websites. The video is accurate as of the posting date but may not be accurate in the future.
