

If you don’t have an IRA or 401K, then not only are missing out on a great opportunity to earn passive income, but you are likely paying way more in taxes than you should be as well. By opening an IRA with Betterment, you can save up to $5500 of income without having to pay income taxes on that money. Betterment will then automatically invest that money for you using their proven investment strategies.

I rent out two single family homes. You need to learn about how to analyze your return on investment, get the places rented, and deal with repairs, problem tenants, among other things. If you don’t do your research, you could easily lose money. I have to spend a few days a year managing things, checking up on the properties, finding new tenants, but it is effectively passive. I buy in areas near big universities with stable real estate markets so there is always a fresh crop of new people moving into the neighborhood.

In many instances, a business project consumes far more resources than meets the eye. Assume you are running a dog grooming business from the first floor of your two-family house and that your daughter is helping you over the weekends. The business is making $50,000 per year and you want to know whether this represents a positive or negative residual value. In this case, you must deduct from $50,000 all opportunity costs which include the money you would make if you rented the first floor of your house to a business; how much you plus your daughter would earn if you invested the same amount of time and effort into a regular job; and how much the total assets owned by the business would return every year if they were sold off and the cash proceeds were held in a bank account.
Residual income is different from a salary, or linear income, which is paid out strictly based on the number of hours a person works. Someone who works on a salary is often said to work “paycheck to paycheck.” This is because he pays all of his bills with his first paycheck and then must wait until he gets paid again to have more money. Ideally, someone will work hard building up a business so that he can enjoy the residual income once his goals have been met. Then he can work on additional projects while still earning money from his business.