9 Actually Passive Income Ideas – Make Money In Your Sleep

Making money while you sleep is the dream right!? But often passive income ideas aren’t actually passive at all rather residual income. Take blogging for instance, which is often suggested as a passive income stream. Well as someone with a blog, it is far from passive! It would be better classified as an residual income stream as the money often still rolls in long after the initial work is done. True passive income should be almost set it and forget it and then watch the money come rolling in, right!

So with that in mind, here are 9 actually passive income ideas, the set it and forget it type…

_{{Disclaimer – this post is meant to be educational-only! To get the ideas flowing! This is NOT investment advice – please do your own research!}}

Invest in dividend-paying stocks

Investing in dividend-paying stocks is a great way to develop a passive income stream. Dividends are essentially payments made to shareholders from the company’s profits. Typically dividends are paid out quarterly but it could be more or less frequently, it depends on the company you invest in. Examples of companies who pay out dividends are Microsoft and Coca-Cola.

Peer-to-peer lending

Riskier than putting your money in a savings account but could potentially yield a higher interest rate. With peer-to-peer lending you are the bank! You lend money to other people with the expectation of getting your initial capital back plus interest. Now don’t go lending money to every Tom, Dick and Harry but if you’re picky and maybe use a specific P2P lending site (like PeerBerry) you could make some decent passive income with this one!

Put your money in a HYSA

HYSA is the abbreviated way of saying High Yield Savings Account which is essentially any savings account with a decent interest rate. Think 4-7% in the current savings market. Putting your money in one of these will make passive income through earning interest each and every month. Let’s say you keep £1000 in a savings account with a 4.1% interest rate (hello Chase). You will earn around £3.42 a month just for keeping your money there. That’s a coffee right there!

Real estate crowdfunding

Becoming an investor in a real estate crowdfunded project could be a great way to diversity your portfolio into property without taking on all the risk yourself. By investing in a real estate crowdfunded project you essentially become a share holder in that project. Like all investments, this is not without its risks but the potential rate of return could be immense. Plus if you are a UK based investor you can invest in these types of projects through an Innovative Finance ISA – did someone say tax free earnings?

Share your data

Now this passive income idea isn’t going to make you rich anytime soon but the pennies add up right! Sites like Amazon Shopper Panel and YouGov will pay you to share your data with them. I’m getting £24 from having the Amazon Shopper Panel app downloaded without having to do a thing!

Put your money in a regular or notice savings account

A Regular Saver account or a Notice savings account often come with a higher interest rate than your typical HYSA’s because you are agreeing to lock your money away for a set amount of time. Regular Savers are typically a year long scheme where you add a fixed amount each and every month until the offer matures. Which is when you will have access to your money plus the interest you have earned over the year. I have a 7% Regular Saver that is just about to mature at the end of the month which I have been adding £300 to each month. I’m looking at a passive return of around £130 for the two minutes it took to set this account up!

Notice savings accounts usually require less than a year of commitment (it’s typical to get a 90-day or a 180-day notice savings account) but they require you to add the full amount in at the start. Your money is locked away for the set period of time and then once this is up you regain access to the money plus the interest earned over the period.

Both of these accounts are great way to earn passive income if you have a pot of money you are not planning on spending in the next year or so. Think house deposit!!

Rent out your driveway

Did you know you could earn cash completely passively by renting out your driveway? This could be a super successful passive side hustle if you live near a train station, airport or stadium for instance. The site JustPark claims their top earnings are bringing in an additional £4000 a year for registering their drive on the site!

Rent out a spare room

Renting out a spare room is a great way to passively earn a little extra each and every month! Plus if you are UK based the first £7.5k is tax free through the Rent A Room scheme. You could list your spare room on sites like SpareRoom or rent a room to a friend or colleague.

Rent out storage space

Have space in your loft or garage? Why not rent it out to people looking for storage space? Think someone moving abroad who has boxes they need to keep safe for a fixed period of time. A quick search on the site Stashbee suggests I could earn around £1200 a year for renting out storage space in my home.

There you go, 9 actually passive income ideas to look into! Have you tried any of these before? I’d love to hear all about your experience!