I was browsing internet and found this image as a promotion of some financial freedom book. Apparently there are 26 passive income ideas according to this book, and this book is gonna make some retirees very happy!
Honestly, first look at this, and you would know the severity of the scam, the fakeness and the falsehood people are selling to make some money. Whats worse is, they are selling bad Financial Education, to less financially educated folks, demotivating' them even further with all these honey traps.
Dividends (Stocks / ETFs)
Out of the 26 in the image above, only the first one is truly a Passive Income idea, which let's you earn monthly/quarterly/bi-annually or annually some sort of income after you land your money into a good mix of dividend paying portfolio. This type of investment is not only self-sustaining, but also investor-sustaining. It grows in value while keeping the family fed in form of dividend payments.
The rest?
Most fall under these categories:
🎭 Semi-Passive or Active
Semi-Passive
Rental Property, STRs, Storage Units, House Hacking: They all Require upfront capital like dividend portfolio + ongoing management, maintenance, or dealing with tenants (even with a property manager).
Active
Amazon FBA, Drop-shipping, eCommerce, Online Courses, YouTube Videos, Blogging, Authoring eBooks, they are all Passive after major effort. You need to be a social media sensation, a super star, and only then you can sell your content. These require significant creation, marketing, and sometimes customer service efforts.
💵 Capital-Based but Not Effort-Free
REITs, Bonds, HYSA, P2P Lending, Creator Fund, they are more passive, but may have risk management, platform choice, and lower returns.
HYSA and Bonds for instance are passive, but returns are minimal — barely beat inflation.
P2P Lending has risk and risks of default and management of default rate.
🏦 Business — Lite Passive
Vending Machines, Laundromats, ATMs, Car Sharing: Physical operations mean logistics, refilling, customer issues, repairs, maintenance, and theft!
Affiliate Marketing: Passive only after building a traffic engine (site, audience, social following).
🤯 Mindset & Info Products
Courses, Blogging, Stock Photos/Videos: these are advertised as “build once, sell forever.” But content creation, marketing, platform updates keep it from being truly passive. The constant need of keeping the content coming, and having fresh perspective is absolute necessity.
🖥️ Volatile, less-reliable
Crypto Mining: Its Expensive and in most cases, not even profitable, and its volatile, and it requires tech setup + electricity costs + hardware maintenance.
What's your take on it?