You have a grip on the monthly household budget, keep non-essential spending in check, and set aside some money out of each paycheck to deal with emergencies. These are all sound financial practices, but years of frugality don’t necessarily guarantee a comfortable retirement. Tightening up on the expense front will help you make ends meet and pay off debts, but how about taking things a step further?
Many strategies to grow wealth incorporate some form of passive income. In this digital age, it’s a relief to know that you can start earning some extra money with little effort, just by using your computer. Here are some of the top options for passive revenue, which won’t even require you to step outside your home:
Investing and trading
The image most associated with stock trading might still be one of the busy traders shouting over the chaos in the pit of the NYSE. But technology has long since ushered us into the age of electronic investment and trading. Simply sign up with an online broker and transfer money from your bank to the investment account, and you can start buying shares in a listed company.
Forex trading is likewise accessible online, and you’ll have much better odds of success with a true ECN broker. Recently, the realm of real estate has also opened up for online investors. Crowdfunding sites allow even non-accredited investors with limited resources to pool their funds, own property, and split the profits.
Selling or licensing digital products
Back in the ‘80s, when Bill Gates first sold copies of Windows to the general public, people didn’t know what to make of it. Profiting from a product that only existed in the virtual world was revolutionary at the time. Soon enough, companies selling software installation packages on CDs had become commonplace. Today, the average consumer doesn’t even need to download software. They can just pay for a license and run it off the cloud. With a computer, you can create your own digital content and sell it online.
Vector graphics and audio files can be licensed for royalties. If you’re so inclined, you can also write a book or create an instructional course where you can share some career expertise. You don’t even have to be the distributor for your content; many sites allow you to upload content for licensing, while Amazon has a self-publishing service for prospective authors.
Monetizing a website
Setting up a personal website was once a relatively arcane skill, though still accessible to most digital natives. Today, user-friendly site builders and content management systems offer the end-user straightforward and intuitive means of building their own website. With a personal website, you’re able to take on the distribution aspect of your digital content, as well as other options.
Writing regular blog posts and hosting a podcast or video content will drive traffic and increase the revenue you can earn from CPC ads and affiliate marketing. You can also engage in dropshipping; this allows you to turn your website into a virtual store. Simply connect users placing orders with the respective suppliers, and turn a profit without ever having to own inventory.
No source of income can be 100% passive. You still need to put in some time and effort. But with these options, you can begin to supplement your wages just by working a little more at your computer and nowhere else.
