DISQUS

brip blap: how a ‘regular person’ can make passive income

  • Dennis · 2 years ago
    I don't know if calling rental property passive income is entirely correct. If you are responsible for maintaining the property and ensuring that the tenants pay rent (essentially, a property manager) then there is some work involved in that each month.

    I think that investing or creating a self sustaining website (like a forum or wiki) with paid advertising is more along the lines of passive income.
  • Lazy Man and Money · 2 years ago
    I don't think I've been compared to such famous people in my life... Thank you very much for the mention.
  • Flexo · 2 years ago
    I'm not sure whether a blog should be considered passive income or "earned" income as you put it. Stop posting and promoting your website, the visitors will dwindle and advertising will dry up. That's probably not the same for all types of websites... but I think continuous promotion is the key. And that takes time, and while you're not getting paid for that time, you wouldn't get paid without putting in that time.

    On the other hand... income from investments is truly passive because once you make the deposit, you can just sit back and enjoy the interest without any maintenance.

    The same way, income from rental properties only becomes passive when someone else is managing the properties for you. If you have to be a landlord, find tenants, and fix sinks... your trading your time for money.
  • bripblap · 2 years ago
    Flexo, fair comment. In a sense almost there's very little true passive income. Almost any type of income requires some effort at some point - even winning the lottery requires that initial $1 investment.

    I guess my take is that some of it has the ability to continue long after that initial investment of time/energy/money, whereas earned income stops the second you stop working. If I write a book, it may take 10 years, but if people keep buying it for the next 50 years I'll still receive some income. You could very easily argue that's just deferred compensation, though.

    But you're right - I'm certainly not counting on writing 15 posts and then never posting again hoping that the timeless wisdom of this blog will draw people for years :) That might be a tad bit optimistic...
  • ajc · 8 months ago
    Creative Income, potentially leading to licensing/royalties and other 'back end' deals SEEMS to be passive, but of course is really are earned - hence active - income, as I explained to Scott who is a prolific inventor, known actor, and documentary maker:

    http://7million7years.com/2008/09/08/if-its-not...