Are you looking for a real way to make passive income in Canada? Passive income is the sliced bread of making money online. It’s when your time and money are put toward something that will continue to generate revenue even after you stop contributing it.
If you want to earn an extra $1000 per month via passive income, this article is for you. Below, we outline the 7 best ways for beginners to earn passive income in Canada.
What is passive income?
Passive income is a type of earning generated by up-front investment rather than actively trading time for money. It’s called passive because it doesn’t require any additional input to keep money coming in.
You can create passive income by investing time, money, or a combination of the two.
It’s worth noting that many people wrongly refer to things like blogging as passive income. Because a blog requires ongoing content creation and other upkeep, it is not truly passive unless you consistently outsource all of the work.
How to generate passive income in Canada
Passive income can be generated in many ways, which we will separate into five main categories:
- Renting property or possessions
- Investing in stocks, bonds, or crypto
- Investing in real estate or businesses
- Commissions from affiliate marketing
- Revenue from product sales
Now let’s take a detailed look at each of these categories, and the best ways to make passive income with each of them.
Renting property or possessions for passive income
One of the easiest and most common ways to generate passive income is to rent out property or possessions. This could include anything from a spare room in your house to an RV you only use a couple times a year, or even your main vehicle.
While not everyone has a living space to rent (or even a car), most people own something of value that others would be willing to pay to use. This can include:
- Computer or video equipment
- Sound/recording equipment
- Vehicles
- Living space
- Small appliances
- Tools
This list is just a start; there are many other great ideas out there. Think about the items you spent the most on. Chances are, someone else may be willing to offset your investment by renting those items from you.
How to rent property and possessions in Canada
Whether you’re looking to rent out a room, a house, a flat, or a whole apartment building, there are ways to make money online by renting out things you own.
The trick is to find the right marketplace for renting your property or possessions. One way is to list your items on a website like Kijiji, Facebook, or Craigslist, and hope the right people find them.
If you’re renting a room or rooms, you might consider joining AirBNB, which can be extremely lucrative and comes with a revolving door of renters.
Passive income from financial investments
Investing is one of the most popular ways to generate passive income––and for good reason. It’s a tried-and-true method that can result in a consistent stream of cash flow, without you having to do much work.
There are many different types of investments you can make, each with their own risk/reward profile. The key is to find an investment that fits your risk tolerance and financial goals.
Here are some of the most common types of investments people use to generate passive income:
- Index Funds: Index funds are a type of mutual fund that tracks a specific market index, like the S&P 500. They offer diversification on autopilot, and can be a great option for passive investors.
- Bonds: Bonds are debt securities issued by governments or corporations. When you buy a bond, you’re lending money to the issuer in exchange for regular interest payments and the return of your principal at maturity.
- Stocks: You can purchase shares of stocks through a brokerage account with your bank or using an app such as RBC Direct Investing. This will give you partial ownership of a company, which may entitle you to dividends and/or a share of the company’s profits.
- Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrencies are digital money that use cryptography to secure their transactions and to control the creation of new units. Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency, but there are many others including Ethereum and Dogecoin.
- NFTs: NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are digital assets that are unique and cannot be replaced. They’re often used to represent things like artwork, collectibles, or in-game items.
Investing in index funds
Index funds are a powerful way to get some of the benefits of investing in the stock market with a reduced amount of risk. For example, the S&P 500 is an index of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States.
When you invest in an index fund tracking the S&P 500, you benefit from its typical growth while being protected from losses that may slow down individual companies. The easiest way to do this on autopilot is by setting up regular contributions from your Tax-Free Savings Account.
Investing in bonds
Bonds are debt securities issued by governments or corporations. When you buy a bond, you’re lending money to the issuer in exchange for regular interest payments and the return of your principal at maturity.
Bonds tend to be less risky than stocks, but they also offer significantly lower returns. They can be a good option for investors who want to generate passive income without taking on too much risk, and a good way to diversify an investment portfolio.
Investing in stocks
Stocks are a type of investment that represents ownership in a company. When you buy shares of stock, you become a partial owner of the company, and are entitled to dividends (a portion of the company’s profits) and/or a share of the company’s value if it is sold.
Stocks can be a good way to generate passive income, but they are also more volatile than other types of investments, which means there is a higher risk of loss.
Investing in cryptocurrency and NFTs
Investing in crypto assets has the highest risk/reward profile of any investment. While it is possible to earn massive amounts in short periods of time if you invest in the right asset, there are many scams in the crypto space that can steal your hard-earned capital.
The world of cryptocurrency and NFTs is still a “wild west” of sorts (even more so than the rest of the internet), so tread carefully when entering this domain.
How to start investing as a beginner
If you’re new to investing, the best place to start is with a simple investment like index funds. Index funds offer diversification, stability, and predictable growth without requiring work or research on your part beyond deciding which fund to invest in.
Want to experiment with other forms of financial investment? Then you should likely start by studying, studying, and studying some more. Remember that every stock exchange and crypto exchange is a marketplace filled with experts who know much better than the average beginner.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get into stock or crypto investing, but the more preparation you’re able to do, the better your chances of success will be.
Passive income from tangible investments
Tangible investments are those you can see and touch. They can be more stable and predictable than intangible assets, but they also tend to offer lower returns.
Investing in tangible assets can include anything from buying real estate to providing businesses with startup capital, to buying great works of art. As long as you put your money into something that will appreciate in value over time, it can be considered an investment.
Investing in real estate
One of the most popular ways to invest in tangible assets is through real estate. When you buy an investment property, you become its owner and are entitled to rent payments (or other forms of income, like parking fees) from the people who use the space.
Real estate can be a great way to generate passive income, but it can also be risky. Make sure you do your research before buying any property, and always consult with a qualified professional to get the most accurate information.
Investing in businesses
Another way to invest in tangible assets is to provide startup capital for businesses. This can be a riskier investment than buying property, but it can also offer the potential for greater returns and it’s a great way to help out entrepreneurs.
If you’re thinking about investing in a business, make sure you perform due diligence towards understanding its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Consider both the business’ history and the histories of the major decision makers.
How to find potential tangible investments
Tangible investments can be found in a number of places, but are most commonly found through real estate agents, business brokers, and angel investor programs.
Affiliate marketing and recurring commissions
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online by promoting other people’s products and services. When someone you’ve referred buys something, you earn a commission on that sale.
Recurring commissions are the best compensation model for affiliate marketing. It means you earn a commission on every sale made by a customer you’ve referred for as long as they remain a customer.
Many companies attract affiliates with high-ticket affiliate programs that focus on a single upfront commission. While this seems good in the short term, it doesn’t generate any passive income.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing where a company rewards affiliates or “partners” for each visitor or customer referred.
There are multiple different structures for compensating affiliates, including CPA (cost per acquisition), CPL (cost per lead), and recurring commissions.
While CPA and CPL can be tempting because you can earn big commissions just by making a sale or generating a lead, focusing on recurring commissions over the long term can result in a profitable and sustainable business.
What are recurring commissions?
Imagine you’re promoting a SaaS (software as a service) product that costs $100 per month and pays out 30 per cent in recurring commissions. That would mean that, for every customer you refer, you’d earn $30 per month for as long as they keep paying.
This illustrates the value of recurring commissions. There are many products and services you can promote that cost $100+ per month and offer 30 per cent recurring commissions or more.
How to start affiliate marketing
The best way to start affiliate marketing is by finding a product or service you’re passionate about and signing up for the company’s affiliate program. This may give you access to marketing materials and training designed to help you succeed.
You’ll also get your own unique affiliate link with a tracking code embedded in the URL. Anyone who follows your link and makes a purchase will result in a commission as long as the tracking works properly.
Recurring revenue from product sales
If you’ve created a product or service that people find valuable, it’s possible to create a recurring revenue stream by selling it, especially if you use a subscription pricing model.
This can be a great way to ensure a steady income stream and can also help you build your brand and customer loyalty.
While creating your own product and setting it up as a source of passive income takes a lot more work than getting started with affiliate marketing, there are advantages to having an eCommerce business that you control entirely. .
In most cases, it’s also easier to promote your own products, because you can customize your marketing to speak directly to your target audience without worrying about another company’s rules.
How to create or choose profitable products
There are a few key factors to consider when creating or choosing products to sell:
- Is the product in demand?
- Is the product high quality?
- Does the product solve a problem or fill a need?
- Is it an easy sell?
- Will people recommend the product to others?
While your product doesn’t necessarily have to fulfill all of these criteria, it would be beneficial to think carefully about most of them. Ideally you should research other similar products as well as the overall market you plan to sell to.
For example, even if you create a great product, if it’s in a saturated market filled with similar products that are all competing on price, you may struggle to stay profitable.
How to sell online with no startup cost
The beautiful thing about doing business online is that, these days, you can get started for $0. While most people gravitate towards setting up a Shopify store or an Amazon vendor account, those are much more expensive and time consuming than other options.
For example, one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to start selling a product from scratch is with a free sales funnel software like Systeme.io. With this platform, you can sell products or services online and build an email list of up to 2000 people––all for free.
Even as little as five years ago, that kind of technology would have cost at least $97 per month. Now it’s available for free, and there’s nothing stopping you from using it to generate passive income online.
The main barrier to generating passive income in Canada is lack of action
There are a variety of ways to create passive income, and we’ve outlined some of the most common and profitable ones for Canadian entrepreneurs and individuals.
If you’re just getting started, it’s important to think carefully about which method will work best for you in your current financial situation. With a bit of effort and planning, you can set up a passive income stream that will provide you with long-term financial stability.
This article offers general information only, is current as of the date of publication, and is not intended as legal, financial or other professional advice. A professional advisor should be consulted regarding your specific situation. While the information presented is believed to be factual and current, its accuracy is not guaranteed and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author(s) as of the date of publication and are subject to change. No endorsement of any third parties or their advice, opinions, information, products or services is expressly given or implied by RBC Ventures Inc. or its affiliates.