In the last 2-3 years I have started to build up a few different sources of income. In this post I would like to share my experience with passive income.
Attention: This article is not investment or financial advice, but refers purely to my experience.
First of all, what is passive income?
By passive income, roughly speaking, we mean income that does not directly consist of „trading time for money.“ Employment in a company is not passive income. You get paid for the time you work. Likewise, my work as a self-employed web designer/developer is not passive income either. Because I get paid money from my clients for the time I spend working. So I exchange my time for money.
Therefore, I have been doing a bit of research on passive income and my plan is to build up multiple income streams to earn money passively.By passive income, roughly speaking, we mean income that does not directly consist of „trading time for money.“ Employment in a company is not passive income. You get paid for the time you work. Likewise, my work as a self-employed web designer/developer is not passive income either. Because I get paid money from my clients for the time I spend working. So I exchange my time for money.Therefore, I have been doing a bit of research on passive income and my plan is to build up multiple income streams to earn money passively.
But it is not quite that simple!
Earning money while you’re not working sounds pretty good! But stop – unfortunately it’s not that simple. In most cases, you still have to invest time first to develop passive income.
You have to be aware of that: Invested time, in which one earns at the beginning only times 0€!Earning money while you’re not working sounds pretty good! But stop – unfortunately it’s not that simple. In most cases, you still have to invest time first to develop passive income.You have to be aware of that: Invested time, in which one earns at the beginning only times 0€!
In my view, there are two ways to get passive revenue:
- Invest time to generate income in the long term later.
These are for example advertising income via blogs, Youtube, affiliate - Investing money that increases gradually.
This involves investments that generate income on an ongoing basis. These can be investments in ETFs, cryptocurrencies, real estate or P2P loans.
As said, you have to invest time or money first to get income from it in the long run – and passively at a later stage.
What’s the point of building something like that if it’s going to take time anyway?
The goal is to turn one-time invested time into a long-term revenue stream.
As an example: You create an online course, which you build 1x, film and put online. This can then be sold several times and you then have no more time expenditure, but continuously receives income through sales.
(of course, there are also now and then expenses such as for marketing).As an example: You create an online course, which you build 1x, film and put online. This can then be sold several times and you then have no more time expenditure, but continuously receives income through sales.(of course, there are also now and then expenses such as for marketing).
Another example would be Youtube. With Youtube you can earn money in several ways. You create your videos, upload them and if you qualify for the affiliate program, you get paid money from Youtube when ads are shown. This means that you are sitting in the restaurant and get income without selling time at that moment.
But be careful: You should not underestimate how much time it takes to script, record and edit a good video.Another example would be Youtube. With Youtube you can earn money in several ways. You create your videos, upload them and if you qualify for the affiliate program, you get paid money from Youtube when ads are shown. This means that you are sitting in the restaurant and get income without selling time at that moment.But be careful: You should not underestimate how much time it takes to script, record and edit a good video.
Therefore, in general, in the beginning the income will not be very high and you will have to invest a lot of time until your invested time becomes a passive source of income.
My passive sources of income
Now to the real topic: my passive income sources.
I have decided on a mix of financial investments, as well as sources of income, which should also bring some income in the long term. I must also say here that not all of these sources of income are 100% passive. Here I’m still at the beginning and therefore a few of these incomes are rather only partly passive.Now to the real topic: my passive income sources.I have decided on a mix of financial investments, as well as sources of income, which should also bring some income in the long term. I must also say here that not all of these sources of income are 100% passive. Here I’m still at the beginning and therefore a few of these incomes are rather only partly passive.
ETFs and cryptocurrencies
In 2020, I got involved with investments for the first time. The reason for this was actually that a building savings contract was paid out to me, and I was rather disappointed with the low interest rates. Therefore, I was looking for other ways to invest my money somewhere else and started investing in ETFs and Bitcoin. Since I invested at the Corona crisis, these courses had performed very well in 2020 and 2021.
However, these two investments did not bring me any income in 2022. Due to current events such as the Ukraine war and the economic crisis, I don’t think I need to mention that all prices have gone down. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because these are long-term investments for me, so these prices will go up again.
Peer-to-peer loans
In 2021, I started investing in various P2P loans, which have brought me income on an ongoing basis over the past year.
Peer-2-Peer loans are, very roughly explained, the connection between people who need a loan and people who make loans.
Bondora Go&Grow
On the one hand, I have always invested small amounts from time to time on the Bondora „Go&Grow“ platform.
Here I now get 86 cents per day – so about 25€ per month.
Yes, sure – now you can say, that’s not very much. But for the fact that I only put the money there and have no further expenses with it, my money increases there by itself. And this 25€/month is already a lot more than I got for the same amount at my bank. And of course, the more you invest, the more you get out. That’s why I invest a small amount there every now and then, when I have it „left over“.Here I now get 86 cents per day – so about 25€ per month.Yes, sure – now you can say, that’s not very much. But for the fact that I only put the money there and have no further expenses with it, my money increases there by itself. And this 25€/month is already a lot more than I got for the same amount at my bank. And of course, the more you invest, the more you get out. That’s why I invest a small amount there every now and then, when I have it „left over“.
💥 Small tip: 5€ GIFTED!
If you also want to build up a passive income source at Bondora, then you can get 5€ for free* with this link (Prerequisite: At least 50€ investment).
EstateGuru
One of my other passive income sources is investing in real estate loans on the EstateGuru platform.
The platform has been around for a few years now and has made a name for itself. Most of the properties for which loans can be granted are located in Estonia, Latvia, Spain, but also many other countries and also in Germany or France. The interest rate here is usually 10-12%, which in my opinion is quite high. For comparison. With ETFs, one assumes an average return of about 6-7% over several years. So 10-12% is quite a bit more. The advantage: The interest rate does not fluctuate like ETFs or stocks. And the property itself also serves as security. In my opinion, therefore, a fairly safe form of investment, with which I have made very good experiences so far. Here is my other article about EstateGuru.
💥 0.5% extra on your first investments!
EstateGuru also offers you a bonus: If you register with THIS LINK* (or enter the code EGU99030 when registering), you get 0.5% extra for all your investments in the first 90 days for free!💥 0.5% extra on your first investments!EstateGuru also offers you a bonus: If you register with THIS LINK* (or enter the code EGU99030 when registering), you get 0.5% extra for all your investments in the first 90 days for free!
Rendity
Since my experience with EstateGuru has been so good, but I would like to diversify my investments – i.e. spread them over several platforms – I looked for a platform from the German-speaking countries to invest in real estate projects and their loans in order to earn interest there as well.
On average, interest rates on the Rendity platform are around 7%.
💥 25€ free!
When you sign up with Rendity using this link* (code: „uL07“), you’ll get $25 off your first investment!
Affiliate-Links
Another passive source of income are affiliate links. Affiliate links are links that I put on various media like on this blog or on my Youtube channel, which bring some income if you register on the page after the link. The person who clicks on these links has no disadvantage by doing so – often rather the opposite: as in the links above, you even get a bonus or discount with it.
What is important to me: I only recommend products or platforms where I have had good experiences myself.
As an example: I created a video about my experience with the protective film for my Google Pixel 7 (Click here for the video), uploaded it to Youtube and posted a link to the mentioned protective film on Amazon under the video. Every time someone clicks on the link and orders the film, I get a small commission – which in my case is currently mostly just a few cents, but in total it is then a few euros that remunerate my work for the creation of the video. Okay, it’s a very bad hourly rate when you think that it took me a few hours to make this video – but I make the videos mainly because I enjoy it and I want to impart knowledge. If a few euros come around in the process, that’s pretty nice. And the nice thing is that months after making this video, there’s always a few more euros coming in. Therefore passive income.
Another example of another passive income through affiliate is recommending products that I use myself.
I’m gradually expanding my workspace setup and since I like the products, I like to report on them and if I’m happy with them, I recommend them to others. For example, I created a video about my height adjustable standing desk and put a link to Flexispot under the video. If someone now gets lost on my Youtube channel ;), watches the video about the experience with the high table and then orders a table through the link, I get a small commission from the manufacturer for it – so to speak as a small support for the creation of the video and recommendation of the standing desk.
With this type of passive income, however, I’m talking more about only partial passive income. Because the creation of many blog articles or videos on YouTube also costs a lot of time. Since the rather small income is only a small thank you.
If you are interested in the platforms I’ve mentioned, I would be happy if you would go there via these links and thus support me in my content creation work!
Do you have any passive income streams? Let me know in the comments!
