Anyone here into passive investing (of their time)?

[Poker Player]

Active investments require work and follow-up in order to yield results. A day trader needs to be actively buying and selling to make money, while a buy and hold trader invests in a more passive way.

In the world of cryptocurrencies, someone who buys or sells trying to guess whether the price is going up or down makes a more active investment while someone who buys Bitcoin not to sell until at least the next cycle makes a more passive investment.

We can apply this not only to investments, but to work as well. A lawyer or surgeon, no matter how much they earn, depends on their work to earn money, while someone who writes books, invests his time in a more passive way: once the book is written, he has invested some time, but the book continues to sell for a long time afterwards (assuming it is successful).

There are ways that are neither black nor white. Someone who has a YouTube channel or a blog with some success, the old videos or posts continue to get views and generate money even though he no longer spends time on them, but he has to actively continue to update the channel or blog so that it doesn't decline.

I used to follow a blog a while back that had a lot of views and was monetized. The author suddenly stopped updating the blog without explanation (not sure if he died or what), and it continued having visits and generating money but little by little, with the passage of time, the visits were declining and I guess that today will be close to 0.

I have relatively passive investments like buying stocks or Bitcoin to hold, but in terms of time invested, in terms of work, I've always done active work.

I've been thinking about in the future starting some project that can bring me passive income once the work is done and so I'm curious to see if some of you do such work and/or what ideas you have about it.

Normally the problem with work that can bring you passive income in the future is that you have to be working for 0 for a some time to possibly monetize it in the future, so it is better to be focused on a topic that you are passionate about and do not mind devoting free hours because you may spend a year or more on the project and end up monetizing nothing or very little.

[1714242762]

1714242762

[1714242762]

1714242762

[1714242762]

1714242762

[jackg]

In case of Youtube, a lot of people do well or better when they become notable enough to do collaborative videos with others who are also big in their area (or a different one).

For written content such as websites, I imagine blogs do a lot better when they have a large back catelog to be picked up by search engines (essentially, they've written a lot already and have a lot of articles).

Good investments with crypto normally happen when you've been around the space for a long time, know what to look out for and then find something interesting you decide to research (this is normally what I've experienced). Both a lawyer and a surgeon have to take a lot of time to perfect what they're doing so they don't mess up and end up ruining someone else's life, the same could be true of investing if you invest more than you can afford to lose, don't understand what you're doing or are trying to chase large returns from the promises of a medium article or a dev team who says their coin will do well...

[Zlantann]

Building a lasting passive income stream needs hard work, perseverance, and patience. This is because you might not earn anything from the investment for up to five years and more. I have a full-time job and I am also considering starting up an enduring passive income source.

For now, my focus is the agricultural sector. I intend to get land and plant some cash crops, in my case I am focusing on oil palm trees. These plants have a lifespan of more than fifty years. It will take about five years to mature and start producing. But once it starts, I will be able to get a passive income stream that could last for forty years. The beauty of the plan is that you don't need to be on the farm all the time to maintain the trees. These trees can also be leased to local palm oil producers.

[Yatsan]

Passive income in this industry I guess is through long term holding which means an investor would disregard any decline on the market prices and will only focus on futuristic price potential. Outside this industry is through other investments such as owning a business wherein you could hire professionals to run it for you to not be required of moving an inch to generate profit. Others could be some sort of staking wherein the price is expected to increase for a long run. In either of these cited examples won't save you from risk. Wether it is a passive or active income, risk will always be involved. No passive income I believe has consistent profit growth.

[Hydrogen]

I'm curious to see if some of you do such work and/or what ideas you have about it.

I'm still searching for methods of passively investing in agriculture.

Preferably in items that will be deflationary in supply over the long term. Or which are likely to grow in demand. To an extent US markets have witnessed this with chicken and egg shortages. Where a passive investment in chickens or eggs could reap rewards if deflationary trends continue.

"Demise of globalisation" trends are shifting production towards local sources. Over the long term, this could make stockpiling of aluminum cans and plastic (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles more profitable than they have been in past eras.

I have big plastic containers outside that are around 12 square feet each. All of the weeds and random bushes I pull go into the plastic containers. Where they will passively decompose into potting soil. I have thought about posting advertisements to do free pick ups for cut down trees, leaves, bushes and plants. To mass decompose cubic yards of waste, into compost or potting soil, as a passive process. I will have to see how my initial tests go to get an idea of the proportion and quality of soil I can expect to produce from a certain cubic yardage of waste.

Agriculture is a decent approach for my area. I guess which modes of passive investment work best do trend towards being regional specific. Unless we're talking about side hustles and internet investments, which could be on declines considering reports of youtuber revenues being cut.

[EarnOnVictor]

Your article is good and challenging at the same time as I believe that anyone that is not satisfied with their earning needs passive income. Truthfully, how many people are satisfied with their earnings these days? So, many need this but the nature of their primary job matters in the choice of the passive income they can do, especially if they do not want to do away with that job.

For now, the best passive means of income are trading/investing, authoring books, freelancing, blogging, problem-solving, creativity and many more. One could choose the ones that are good for their person and go for them during their free periods.

As for me, trading/investing and book writing are my own, and I hope I will forever benefit from them even beyond my hope.

[NeuroticFish]

I used to follow a blog a while back that had a lot of views and was monetized. The author suddenly stopped updating the blog without explanation (not sure if he died or what), and it continued having visits and generating money but little by little, with the passage of time, the visits were declining and I guess that today will be close to 0.

On the internet you need visitors and hits. And for that, even if the content is useful (blog), if it stops getting updated the search engines will pretty much bury it.
So a blog may not be what you need. Maybe a forum, since people will keep posting there as long as you've built the right community.

I'm still searching for methods of passively investing in agriculture.

In theory the nature gives a lot for free, but in reality it doesn't do it at a constant rate and imho this makes agriculture risky.
There can be great years and there can be years with extreme drought, or floods, or hail, or whatever and the business has expenses and no income.
Zootechny/growing animals can be risky because of diseases (I've heard of pig farms where 30k animals had to be burned).
If there are ways to properly overcome (or insure against) all of these then yes, it can be a good option.

[aseev]

There are not many genuinely passive ways to earn income. You have to put in a lot of work to establish your business or side hustle and then put in work to keep it alive. Otherwise, like in your example the income eventually goes to zero. The only truly passive income that comes to my mind right now is investing in productive assets (non-crypto), like stocks that generate revenue.

I owe several blogs and YouTube channels and can tell you that these income streams will dry off if you abandon them. However, it happens gradually and you can consider it passive income until it dries off.

What works for me is doing something I enjoy so it doesn't feel like a job so there is a lesser chance that I abandon it. You mentioned it as well and I think that's the ticket.

I can suggest some projects in which you can invest your time and earn without directly exchanging your time for money. Let's call them semi-passive ways to earn money:

- Investing in mutual funds - this is the closest to passive income you can get.
- Real estate rental properties - people call it passive income, but it is still a lot of work.
- Royalty-based businesses - selling your photos, videos, music, etc. This is great if you have a passion or a creative talent.
- Selling digital products, such as e-books or courses, can generate passive income if you put lots of time up-front.
- Affiliate marketing - you can earn a commission on sales if you have some kind of following, on social networks or a readership on your blog for example.

[Hydrogen]

In theory the nature gives a lot for free, but in reality it doesn't do it at a constant rate and imho this makes agriculture risky.

If people have a yard, its normal for them to cut their grass. Rake the grass clippings and dispose of them in a landfill.

Its not a significant departure from cultural norms to store grass clippings, leaf and weed waste inside a plastic bin to allow it to decompose naturally into compost or potting soil(which can be passively generated). And so not much risk, funding or work is involved. It is also better for the environment to dispose of e-waste naturally, rather than have it build up inside a landfill where it will generate methane and greenhouse gases.

Also agriculture is good exercise. Which is something I have been neglecting and somewhat need.

[dothebeats]

It's hard to find a lasting passive income. Most of them are good for only a couple of months before you have to do some recalibration in order to stay profitable. Sometimes, recalibration on these can also affect your profits heavily, and we don't want that to happen. While stocks, precious metals, and crypto are already great passibe investments, they are still susceptible to fail, or not post a lot of great returns. You need to keep up with the trends and the news in order to know the next move, making it not so passive at all. But for starters, they're good passive investments, just not something that will stay passive for a long time.

[xSkylarx]

Passive income is very difficult to find, and if you find one, it takes a lot of effort. The only thing that can really apply in my life is having a monetized website to post things like blogs or contents on, which for sure generates passive income, and also having a subscription-type business that gives you money every month, though I don't have any of this as I am more focused now on my work. But having passive income is the best, which is why some of the people I've known recommend going into business since it could be passive income if your business is already going well and we'll manage it.

[mk4]

Passive income through blogs are quite difficult. Imagine working months and months writing articles, without knowing if it will end up actually yielding you any results at all in the end.

It can definitely be hella rewarding if you end up hitting a home run on the SEO side of things though. Nothing more satisfying seeing your website earning you money on the daily with you doing little to no work after all the initial work.

[Captain Corporate]

Honestly? This was something I considered for a long time, I have this story in my mind, an epic so to speak, something that could be as long as 300 or even 400 thousand words, of course, split into a few books, and even though I know my English is not that good, I think working with a professional editor who does this as a job, could make it a lot more polished after it is done, and that is probably the only thing I would need. I have written some stuff before and even though it had little traction, it was a test attempt and had some good imagination level. I realized at that moment that I could definitely write a book, or at least write an outline for one, but then actually writing itself takes a lot of talent to be good, what you write matters but how you write it matters even more. This is why I gave up, it was a good 6 months to learn how to be an author, but it is something beyond my talents, and I can't do it, maybe way down the line when I am much older.

[Plaguedeath]

There are actually many active jobs that can be turn into passive income if it's successful, but it mostly about monopoly or centralized company.

The most simple example is KFC, McDonald, Subway etc where the owner doesn't need to control and work every of his store, he only need to hire a head department and then he will take full control over the store. You as the owner only have few meetings with all of the head departments to discuss about the next development, profit/loss etc. It doesn't really make you not working at all, but at least you only work for few hours.

You can also create a Business to Customer site where you're become a third party which make money from the fee of each transactions made.

[NeuroticFish]

Its not a significant departure from cultural norms to store grass clippings, leaf and weed waste inside a plastic bin to allow it to decompose naturally into compost or potting soil(which can be passively generated). And so not much risk, funding or work is involved. It is also better for the environment to dispose of e-waste naturally, rather than have it build up inside a landfill where it will generate methane and greenhouse gases.

This is a good point, just:
* I'd guess that there will be some... odor... near the decomposer
* this can work only on the hot (or less cold) months, unless you live in some place with no winter
* if you get others too give you their grass clippings you may end up with unwanted waste/garbage too in there (at least branches, dog toys and poo...)
* unless you have your own garden you may not gather enough material to actually monetize it

So it's not a bad idea, but it may not work just alone, you may need some more steps to it (eg your own veggie garden).

Also agriculture is good exercise. Which is something I have been neglecting and somewhat need.

This is something I cannot argue with.
Plus, if world's people would spend doing agriculture (and other kinds work that only needs their energy) for the time they spend at gym the world would be better (but you won't convince them do that because they are afraid they get dirty).


Back on topic: one idea for passive income is to invent (and patent!) something everybody will get to use.

[Poker Player]

Building a lasting passive income stream needs hard work, perseverance, and patience.

In the end, what I think is that if you are not sure what business or activity to start that ends up being passive, the best thing to do is to save some income from your active work and invest for passive income.

I'm still searching for methods of passively investing in agriculture.

Preferably in items that will be deflationary in supply over the long term. Or which are likely to grow in demand. To an extent US markets have witnessed this with chicken and egg shortages. Where a passive investment in chickens or eggs could reap rewards if deflationary trends continue.

It seems to me that we don't have the same idea of what a passive business is. Nor of agriculture either from what I remember from your previous posts. Chickens, and the eggs they lay, require active labor, and if you want to take it as a business activity even more so. The only form of passive labor I can think of in farming is typical of large landowners. Buy a lot of land and pay people to farm it for you, checking in only once in a while. 

Truthfully, how many people are satisfied with their earnings these days?

Well, actually, I am quite satisfied, but, without obsessing, I always think of ways to earn more because I believe that earning money honestly is good, and it gives you more options in life.

On the internet you need visitors and hits. And for that, even if the content is useful (blog), if it stops getting updated the search engines will pretty much bury it.
So a blog may not be what you need.

I put the blog as an example, but I don't think it's the best time today to start a blog. Maybe it was ten years ago.

In theory the nature gives a lot for free,

Not really. If you want weeds or stones, a lot. But if we are talking about products that people demand and of good quality, they require a lot of capital investment, time and work.

There are actually many active jobs that can be turn into passive income if it's successful, but it mostly about monopoly or centralized company.

Yes, the cases you mention are jobs that were first active and then became passive for the owner.

The typical example is a business that you set up, in which you actively work, and when it is successful you decide to franchise it.

Also agriculture is good exercise. Which is something I have been neglecting and somewhat need.

This is something I cannot argue with.

I can. This is only said by those who have not had to earn their wages in agriculture. Having a small farm where you plant a couple of things to entertain yourself and get some exercise from time to time is cool but if you have to make a living from it you're going to get fed up to the gills.

And it is not passive work, which is the subject of this thread, unless you are a landowner as I have commented above.

[NotATether]

In case of Youtube, a lot of people do well or better when they become notable enough to do collaborative videos with others who are also big in their area (or a different one).

For written content such as websites, I imagine blogs do a lot better when they have a large back catelog to be picked up by search engines (essentially, they've written a lot already and have a lot of articles).

Both of these are active investments, not passive - take it from someone who's been churning out blog articles for two years without any real result.

A book would be a better example, however you'd have a much better chance of making it work if it was non-fiction related to a topic you are knowledgeable in.

[D ltr]

I am not talented in the world of blogs and YouTube, even trading in the stock market. I prefer to make my passive income by selling food that is loved by children.
the food that I make I leave it in the school cafeteria, for the last 2 years I have been doing it, I have gotten a better income than I have made articles

[Gozie51]

I've been thinking about in the future starting some project that can bring me passive income once the work is done and so I'm curious to see if some of you do such work and/or what ideas you have about it.

Your post is giving credence to natural skills that can be monitized unknowingly and without conscious effort. I understand it that way because some people are natural writers and working on newspaper houses gives them an edge as they are working on what they naturally have flair on like hobby while they still get paid for it, and in this regard talking about having passive income , they can publish books that they unintentional write because they have that natural ability to do so. This kind of passive income will not even been classified as such because they continuously have royalty paid to them in cash and recognition. What we call passive may not be so for some people and if you have someone who natural likes talking going into MC jobs or comedy, they are paid for what they like doing already. I think the best is when you build a future where you can earn even in your absence, dead or alive is more fulfilling and you can only achieve that by being independent and working by yourself doing what is passive for you and earning royalty from it.

[kryptqnick]

I've tried active buying and selling of cryptos in the past. I soon realized that to me, it's not worth the effort, I wasn't very good at it, and I had other priorities. But I had saveral very successful passive investments by buying a crypto early on and waiting for it to rise. I believe that in the current situation, it's best to just hodl Bitcoin. Of course, the difference between active and passive here is that active can bring regular profits if a person is good at it, whereas long-term hodling can easily have months when it's unreasonable to withdraw anything because it will be at a loss.
If you mean something outside cryptos, having an extra flat you can rent to someone else is a good passive investment (at least, in my country), and it comes with regular profits too. But that also requires having the kind of money neither me nor the majority of people have.