Relying on one income source nowadays can sometimes be hard and may seem not enough with a lot of factors to consider (i.e. inflation, growing family, deteriorating health). Even if combining two incomes as a couple, it still seems hard to budget everyday expenses. While this may seem true, there is no excuse in actually looking for something that could give you chances to earn an additional income without affecting your performance as an employee or even by managing your own business.

Here comes another type of additional income option in which you actually don’t do much legwork (ex. Selling to individuals, marketing to individuals, collecting payments) in order to earn. Commonly known as passive income options, these types of extra income generators will let your money work for you, and not the other way around.

In looking for another source of income, there are actually a number of options to choose from – you can sell, you can market products (to earn commission), you can invest or even lend your extra money with an interest in return. There are a lot of them, but not all of them are for you or does not fit your personality.

The below passive income options are one of the effective options that can yield additional income, with minimal investments needed. Each of these options were actually tried and some of them have actual earning realizations over the past year. To learn more of these passive income options, read on further and choose what best fits you:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Overview

This is a type of additional source of income in which you have the possibility of earning commissions from each sale generated from your “marketing”. This can be in the form of sharing links and are usually spread out on social media.

How to

Register on becoming an affiliate on a platform of your choice. There is no special requirements for you to be approved.

Pros

Online selling apps / websites normally provide such commission based arrangements. In this regard, the power of the Internet and social media could play a very large part of earning more through affiliate marketing programs. After all, most of your friends and family have social media accounts and in one way or the other they are buying stuff online, so might as well make the most out of it.

Cons

It is still selling and marketing so if this is really not your niche, then this should be a challenge for you.

Notable platforms to look into: Amazon, Lazada

2. E-book publishing

Overview

E-book publishing is basically the virtual counterpart of printed book publishing. However, due to the technological advances, publishing books (E-books) has never been easier than ever, and almost anyone can actually publish one. The rising popularity and ease of publishing E-books has led to a revolutionary situation for this type of income generating platform as more and more people use this to get their reading fix, right at their mobile phones, tablets or even a dedicated E-book readers that are actually handy.

How to

Write (or come up with an idea) your book, convert it to E-book format (ex. Epubs), publish it on platforms, then market them using the power of the Internet.

Pros

This is a possible passive income generator if you do it right (write good content, market it well) in which you won’t need to do anything at all after you have done it properly.

Cons

If you are not a writer, it will be hard for you to do this. But sometimes if you aren’t but you are a marketer, you can make a work-around on this, but at an additional initial cost to spend.

Notable platforms to look into: Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Lulu

3. Insurance policies (new and revamped)

Overview

Gone are the times of Life insurance plans in which you are tied up in paying premiums until you reach 60 or even until you die. Kudos to our insurance companies who have realized that dilemma and have actually diversified their insurance policies wherein one can be able to have an insurance plan that will have a set time frame of premium payments, has a maturity, can be pulled-out at almost anytime and most of all, earning interest.

How to

There are a number of Insurance companies out there offering such insurance policies that could benefit you and your loved ones. Choose what’s best fit your needs and ensure that you can get out of the policy if you really need or want to without heavy financial burden.

Pros

Double purposed insurance policies are always welcome to anyone, of course.

Cons

Monthly premiums tend to be a little bit burdensome because you have to always set aside a certain fixed amount from your funds. This is not recommended for people who do not have excess funds on a regular basis as you might end up losing your policy.

Notable platforms to look into: Sun Life, PRU Life UK

4. Dividend credits on stocks

Overview

This is a stock option wherein you buy stocks from reputable and reliable public companies who have established consistent revenues year by year. In this regard, these companies voluntarily share their revenues to their shareholders by way of dividends, which are paid yearly or quarterly, at the company’s prerogative. This is a way for these companies to somehow give gratitude to their shareholders and making them feel they are actually partners.

How to

Sign up for a conventional or online account for stock trading and look for companies that have historical records of providing dividends. Preferred shares, though relatively higher priced compared to common shares have higher tendency to provide dividends.

Pros

Surefire passive income wherein there will be a set of income that will come in on a regular basis.

Cons

Cannot be relied upon as a source income most specifically if you are just starting out and do not have enough funds to buy a lot of initial shares. Also, dividends are not on a fixed rate per constant number of shares as they are purely at the company’s prerogative on how much they will issue dividends or any at all.

Notable platforms to look into: BPItrade

5. Stock Trading

Overview

As initially stated previously, companies that are publicly listed offer shares to get in partnership with individuals or other investors who voluntarily take part in buying certain number of shares to become some sort of a “partner” with these companies. These shares can then be used to gauge the performance of a company by way of the costs of its shares, which is almost always varying. These variances against the original price bought per share will signify losses or gains in stock trading.

How to

Sign up for a conventional or online account for stock trading. Starting with blue chip companies (regarded as such based on the stability of the company) to get the feel of trading. To get a higher return but definitely higher risks, you can trade on non-blue chip companies. The timing of buying and eventual selling of each stock is key and may or may not require technical analysis, research or simply through a calculated hunch.

Pros

Expect higher returns – if you did your analysis, research or your calculated hunch. If you are in this for a long run (years to be exact, not just a year), you could reap a lot of benefits.

Cons

Requires additional time to do the analysis, research, etc. If you don’t have time for it, this is strongly not suggested specifically if you don’t want funds sitting in for a long time.

Notable platforms to look into: BPItrade, BDO Nomura

6. Forex trading

Overview

The exchange of foreign currencies all around the world is conducted 24/7. There is a discrepancy in buying and selling prices of these currencies. In this regard, the discrepancies will be the projected amount of profit in the foreign exchange currency trading game. Make it or break it as they say, but Forex trading is definitely exciting. Aside from the buying / selling, a country’s current state or worldwide situations will also be a factor, so be wary of these situations as well.

How to

Very similar with stock exchange trading, this requires technical analysis, research and also speculations for forecast purposes. As a start, look for currency pairs that have patterns or history of patterns – this way you can easily analyze / predict on when to buy and to sell and vice versa.

Pros

If done right with corresponding leg work, earnings will be great.

Cons

Same with Stock trading, not recommended if you cannot find time to do the analysis and among other things

Notable platforms to look into: Avatrade

7. UITF

Overview

This is a type of investment in which you can choose which type you are investing on depending on the risk you are willing to be in. These types of trust funds normally have higher interest rates compared to normal bank deposit accounts which you could have higher chances of earning more, and even faster. On the other hand, this is also a safer investment type compared to others such as stock trading as returns can be predicted as well.

How to

If you are willing to have higher returns, be prepared for higher risks which could affect the initial amount you have invested. Opt for conservative types of UITF wherein you can be able to earn regularly (but of lower %) without risking the initial amount you have invested. There are several platforms that you can invest into such in conventional banks, online banks or even mobile app platforms. Just look for secured and regulated platforms to ensure you get the best bang for your buck.

Pros

A very nice option for a passive income as you actually just need to invest an initial amount, and let it slowly earn income if you want it that way.

Cons

Not a good passive income source if you don’t have that much source of funds.

Notable platforms to look into: BPI, BDO

8. Micro-Lending

Overview

Lending money is actually a business way before, but they are usually offered by banks. Nowadays, there are quite a number of lending platforms in which individuals can take part in funding, in how much they can, to complete the needed loan amount of an individual or entity. Before, banks (as a whole) will loan a certain amount to an individual, but now, a borrower could have multiple lenders through these new platforms.

How to

After choosing a reputable platform, choose a loan amount that best fits your needs then take part in contributing to complete the loan amount. Be wary of the interest rates as well as the risk grades, in which they are heavily dependent on your projected profit and at the same time the risk of losing it.

Pros

Very passive income. Lending platforms will do all the legwork specifically collecting payments from borrowers. You can do loan funding anonymously too.

Cons

No one gets jailed for not paying their loans / money borrowed so there is a strong tendency to lose some, if not all of the funds you pledged from borrowers who do not pay.

Notable platforms to look into: Fundko

These are just some known passive income options that are available for you. They do actually work, but it won’t work if it does not fit your personality or if you don’t do the needed legwork that is required in order for it to generate income. They may seem to earn not as much as you want to, but they can definitely be used as a start of something that will lead you to financial freedom in the long run. It is totally up to you whether you work something out to get more income options, or just sit around wondering why you cannot meet ends. The above options are given to you, it’s just a matter of time and effort to know more about them. Happy investing!