What is the easiest source of passive income is a question often asked. We answer this question by first deciding what easy is.
We can explain the easiest source of passive income in 3 types of easy.
- Fastest to start
- Least amount of effort
- Least amount of upfront money
I suspect most people refer to the third type, the least amount of upfront money, but many are probably a little of all three. Therefore, we will explore passive income from each of these three perspectives.
Table of Contents
What is the “fastest to start” source of passive income?
You can’t get any faster source to your passive income journey than investing the money you already have into stocks, mutual funds, savings accounts, etc. Any one of these can begin in an hour or two.
- Determine your type of investment.
- Pick your broker, bank, online or offline.
- Create your account and deposit your funds.
So you can see how easy that is. Of course, this only works for those with the money to invest, but it is the fastest start. So let’s rank the familiar sources of passive income in terms of startup speed.
- Investing
- Royalties
- Advertising on your car
- Drop shipping
- Digital product sales
- Affiliate marketing
- Blog
- YouTube
- Rental Property
What is the “least amount of effort” source of passive income?
The least amount of effort and the fastest go hand in hand. Of course, to be fast, the effort has to be low, so investing existing money will also win this category. However, the remaining sources do change if speed is out of the equation.
- Investing
- Royalties
- Advertising on your car
- Drop shipping
- Digital product sales
- Rental Property
- Affiliate marketing
- YouTube
- Blog
What is the “least amount of startup money” source of passive income?
Ah, this is the real question. Most people are looking at passive income because they want something better and that many times comes as a result of more money. The reality is if you had a lot of money, you are probably already generating some passive income through investments.
So for those that want passive income but don’t have much money to get started, the source of passive income that requires the least amount of startup money is advertising on your car. Car ads require no money whatsoever. All you need is a willingness to plaster your car with ads. Here is our list ranked by the minuscule amount of money to get started.
- Advertising on your car
- YouTube
- Drop shipping, affiliate marketing, digital print sales and blog. These all tie for the third spot because each just need a website.
- Royalties
- Investing
- Rental Property
Conclusion
I would conclude that the most important is the combination of how much it costs plus how much effort it will take. You have to make a personal decision by factoring in how much money you can start with and how much time you can put in. My opinion is affiliate marketing with a blog is the best of all worlds. The startup is around $75 maximum, and you can be up and running in a day. The time commitment is whatever you want it to be, but you probably need 2-3 hours a week. Just get up and running and never quit. You will get there.
