The Best Passive Investments in 2021 (and Beyond)

Passive investments are a great way to get tour money working for you. Why are they so great? Because once you’ve invested, you can be very hands-off and start earning money even while you sleep.

If you’re thinking of making some passive investments in 2021, you’ll want to take some time to pore over the options and choose the best investments for you. In order to help you with that, we’ve put together a list of some of the best passive investment opportunities for 2021…

Online courses

One of the first watts to make passive income on the internet is still one of the best. If you have an area of knowledge that other people would like to gain for themselves, you can potentially make a lot of money passively by creating and selling your own comprehensive course online. Obviously, you’ll need to put some significant time and effort into creating a course or paying someone else to do it for you, but once you’ve done that, you can post your course online, where it can conceivably stay and earn you money forever. Of course, if there are new developments in your niche, you may need to freshen up your course content now and again, but for the most part, this really is one way you can earn money as you sleep.

Real Estate

Real estate is always going to be one of the best investments you can make passively or otherwise, After all, everybody needs a place to live or work or vacation in, and if you have the money to purchase homes, office buildings, and the like, you can always make money from rental income. 

Although not quite as hands-off as some of the other ideas in this post, renting real estate is still pretty low effort. If you don’t want to deal with tenants and handle their issues yourself, you can employ a rental management company to do all that for you.

As well as providing you with regular rental income, when you own property, there is a good chance it will appreciate over time, so you can make money that way too, which is why real estate is such a popular investment at any time.

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Another real estate-based investment option is the Real Estate Investment Trust. REITs, as they are often referred to, are ideal for those of you who want to invest in property, but who do not want to have to maintain said properties.

How do they work? A bit like mutual funds, only with properties, primarily commercial properties like office buildings, hospitals, apartment complexes, and malls. You invest whatever money you have to spare in part ownership of these properties and you’re paid dividends from the net income they produce. You’ll also benefit front eh appreciation in any of the real estate properties you’ve invested in, so it really does mean you get all of the perks of real estate ownership without any of the downsides.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherum can be pretty volatile, but so far they have been doing pretty well in 2021, and if you know what you are doing, investing in them could be a good way to see a return on your money. With cryptocurrencies, it’s best to play the market for the long-term, so you should be able to commit to that, but once you’ve bought your coins, you can simply let the market do its thing, and as long as you stay informed and sell at the right time, that’s really all you need to do to potentially see a decent return. 

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Peer-to-peer lending is becoming increasingly popular and it’s not surprising given that it is an excellent way to make your money work for you while helping other entrepreneurs to reach their dreams, start their own businesses and grow successful companies.

How do they work? Basically, you lend your money directly to consumers who are looking for personal or business loans to start their own ventures. They will pay you back plus interest, and because you’re a private individual rather than a bank, you can ask for more interest to be paid. Typically, loans are split between investors, so you will only be lending part of the requested sum with other investors making up the difference, and can be for sums of up between 5 and 25 thousand dollars but this will vary depending on the platform you use.

Intermediate Bond Funds

Intermediate Bond Funds are a great investment option in 2021 because they pay way more interest than the banks or the Treasury right now. Of course, they aren’t exactly risk-free, but like cryptocurrency investing, if you know what you are doing, you can make significant income from them. 

One thing you need to know about IBFs is that they typically take 10 years to mature, so these are no get-rich-quick solution, but it is that very fact that also makes them far less likely to be affected by changes to interest rates and much easier to make you money in the long-term. Perhaps think of them as a retirement fund investment option.

Robo-advisors

Robo-advisors are the ultimate in passive investments. They’re literally automated digital platforms that will creator a diverse portfolio of investments and manage them for you. You will have to pay a fee for this service, but it is so low that you’d really be foolish not to take advantage of them. Simply add money to your account, and the Robo-advisors will do the rest, Technology is a wonderful thing.

Investing your money in passive income earning schemes is a great way to grow your money without having to do too much hard work, but whether you’re investing in property or a share portfolio, it’s really important that you think very carefully, consider your options and only invest money you could conceivably afford to lose. Investments always come with some risk and it would be foolish not to take that into account.