29 Passive Income Ideas To Get You Off The Hamster Wheel

How’d you like to see my secret stash of an untapped list of the best passive income ideas to make money online in 2021?

What do you think passive income is? A lot of people imagine that passive income means earning residual income without much work.

That’s not true at all and the best passive income ideas are ones that you work on and refine over time to truly escape the rat race.

Do you want to someday be *able* to quit your 9-to-5 job and earn passive income and your time back?

There are so many ways people can earn passive income in their free time, here are some of my favorite passive income ideas.

29 Ways to Make Passive Income Online

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You apply for a loan through the Zippy Loan site, if approved they send your loan application to one of many loan providers.

You review the loan details and e-sign if you like what you see. No risk in checking what offers you’ll get. You can borrow between $100 and $15,000 as soon as tomorrow.

Loans service up to 60 months.

ZippyLoan connects borrowers to lenders through their network of lenders. They’ll find you the lowest interest rate and is one of the best no credit check loan. You can visit ZippyLoan here.

If you want other ways to earn, check out the best passive income ideas below.

The first of these? Investing!

1. Score cash taking surveys.

Here are some trusted survey companies that pay you in cash via PayPal to make your extra money fast:

Vindale Research: Get paid to take online paid surveys with Vindale Research. Here, you’ll take surveys for money about products created by some of the world’s most famous companies – including Disney, Volkswagon, Amazon, Nike, Samsung, and more. For each survey you complete, you’ll earn money. They pay you straight cash. You don’t have to convert your points into cash, you can see your earnings on the dashboard. Payout is through Paypal or check. To get started, simply create your free account. It only takes a couple of minutes, and you’ll receive a nifty $1 signup bonus when you do.

InboxDollars: Earn cash, not points. InboxDollars pays members to read emails, take surveys online, play games, and search the web! Overall, Inbox Dollars is super easy to navigate. I’ve tried other paid survey sites and just end up overwhelmed. It also does a nice job of breaking down the offers into categories. And you’ll always see the amount of money you’ve earned at the top your window, which is exhilarating! Right now they are offering a $5 cash bonus just for joining.

MyPoints: This survey company made it on our list of best survey sites for 2019 as it rewards its members for online activities such as reading emails, playing games, online surveys, printing out coupons among other things. They pay their members using their own currency known as “Points”.  These points can be redeemed for online gift cards, cash via Paypal, and travel miles, etc. The minimum payout amount for most rewards is $10; however, PayPal payments start at $25. Redemption times for your awards vary. When you redeem your points for cash via Paypal, the request is usually processed within 4-5 days. For other prizes, the wait time varies.

2. Download the Nielsen app and collect $50 per year.

How’d you like to see one of my secret passive income ideas that many people don’t know about? Well — here it is.

This is an easy way to make money, passively. By using the internet as you do every day, Nielsen invites you to make a difference – and you can make money too. You don’t even have to do anything other than registering your computer or phone.

Nielsen will pay you $50 a year keep their app on your favorite internet browsing device and they also give away $10,000 each month. 

So you can possibly make more than $50 for no effort at all.

3. Get paid to take surveys online.

Taking online surveys to make passive income is a no-brainer!

You definitely won’t get rich or make hundreds of dollars per day with survey alone, but you won’t waste much time, and you can make some money the easy way. Here is my favorite (and highest paying) survey site:

Survey Junkie: This is a free survey app for your phone that pays you to take online surveys, participate in focus groups, and try new products. And, I really mean free all around – free to join and they don’t charge anything to be a member (they will actually pay you in cash via PayPal). You can get a free registration bonus for free when you join through this link.

4. Score a $5 bonus from this company.

Swagbucks is another great survey site to make some extra money in your free time. As a new member, you can earn up to $35 per survey! They are known for giving out fun, top-paying surveys. And you can also get paid to play games and watch TV!

It’s similar to Survey Junkie, but there are also a few other ways you can earn money as a member (including a $10 bonus just for signing up).

Swagbucks is conveniently offering a $10 bonus just for signing up through this link, so act fast.

5. Get lower prices on your monthly bills.

Trim boasts that new users are eligible for up to $30 in cash-back deals as soon as they sign up. The free app, Trim, saves you money with automation and within a few days, I saved an extra $100 within the first few days.  I simply linked my accounts and Trim went to work. It found ways to lower my bills and cancel subscriptions, analyzed my spending habits, and more. The app is free and worth the 1-minute download as it can potentially save you hundreds. More people should be using this app.

6. Earn money passively by reading emails.

Earn extra cash by evaluating products and services. Get up to $50 for each completed survey, product and service reviews. Plus earn up to $.50 for every email you read. Free to Join! MindsPay compensates its members to test out products, services and give feedback on those tested. It’s free to sign up and only requires a small amount of information.

Click here for a registration bonus after confirming your email address.

7.  Use cash back apps to earn on everyday spending.

The Drop cash back app is a simple way to earn rewards for not much work. The app tracks your purchases when you link up your credit card and debit cards to the free app.  Then, it automatically adds Drop points to your account when you spend at certain merchants you’ve picked from their list. It’s simple. When you reach a certain threshold, you can redeem Drop points for gift cards to popular retailers, like Amazon, Dunkin Donuts, Whole Foods, JC Penney, and many more. You can download it for free here.

8. Get passive income for not deleting your emails.

If there ever was an app you should have in your life, it should be Paribus.

Here’s why: I bought Keurig cups online from Target the other week.  The price of the Keurig cups I purchased dropped in price, after the fact.  I effortlessly got refunded the price difference without doing a thing.

…I didn’t have to do anything, other than originally sign up for Paribus. 

This free app will scan your emails for any purchase receipts from dozens of online retailers. You don’t even have to know about the price drop in order to get your refund. It’s 100% free and will save you a lot of money. I pocketed around $50, in the first few weeks of signing up. Remember, it’s 100% free.

9. Earn by stop paying high-interest debt.

If you’re serious about saving money to make extra money, then you should know about balance transfers. If you’re paying only monthly minimum each month then you’re subject to paying money in interest alone and not even the principal balance.

An example is: If you have $2,000 on your VISA card, and it has an 18% APR, then you’ll be paying $400/year in interest alone if you only pay off the monthly minimum each month. That’s $400 down the drain.

You can avoid this by signing up for American Express Blue Cash Everyday. AMEX Blue Cash Cash Everyday is a card with no annual fee, and you can transfer your current debt from any type of credit card (all with no fees), and pay 0% interest for 12 months on your current debt amount. With no interest for 12 months, you can steadily pay down your balance with your savings from the other steps, which will save you a great deal of money in most cases

10. Get paid to lose weight.

HealthyWage offers people the opportunity to earn cash for losing weight. Earn cash for losing weight? Sounds too good to be true, but you read it right. The company was founded in 2009, and its HQ is in New York, and part of its mission is to provide ways to have a measurable impact on the growing obesity epidemic in the US. They do this by legitimately offering cash prizes to make weight loss more fun and effective. Since HealthyWage was founded they have been featured in literally hundreds of newspapers, magazines, TV shows, blogs, and websites.

How can you make money with it? You essentially bet on yourself and how much weight you can lose. Since they are promoting ways to be healthy, your winnings depend on how much weight you lose and how much you bet. It’s a great way to make money and be healthy at the same time.

11. Get paid to play games.

For this best passive income idea, all you need to do is play games and watch videos. Given how easy it is to lose yourself in a never-ending cycle of YouTube videos, this one couldn’t be easier. The catch here? The videos include ads. While they may annoy you while browsing YouTube, you also don’t get paid to watch them. At InboxDollars, you do. Who wouldn’t watch an ad or two if they were getting paid? You can just leave this playing on your phone and collect money, this is referred to as phone farming.

12. Acorns give you free money to invest in stocks.

Yup, it’s true!  There are several companies out there that will give you free money to invest in stocks (talk about passive income). One of the most popular ones is:

Acorns: CNBC calls it “the new millennial investing strategy.” Once you connect the app to a debit or credit card, it rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and funnels your digital change into an investment account. Sign up to try it risk-free with a $5 sign up bonus.

13. Deliver food in your car and earn.

If you’re free nights and weekends, you can earn extra money delivering food for fellow citizens around your city. It’s easy to deliver food with DoorDash and Postmates – if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra cash whenever it’s convenient for you. A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this on the side and make extra money by delivering food with Uber, and be on your own schedule.

14. Get free money from this company.

Looking for more passive income ideas?  Then you should learn about Vindale. Vindale is the secure, reliable and free survey site for anyone who wants to earn money online. Vindale asks for information about you so that they can match you with fitting surveys. At up to $50 a pop for some surveys and a free $2 just for signing up, it pays to check in daily to see which ones are available to you. They’ve already paid out $6,955,991+ to members. You can get access to hundreds of paid surveys at Vindale.  Cashouts are through PayPal.

15. Earn cash for scanning receipts with your phone.

This is one of the easiest passive income apps there is (this list has a lot of them). The app you should know about is Ibotta. This cell phone app is available for iOS or Android phones, helps you make money off your grocery receipts. Yup, for real! You use it after you go grocery shopping and use your receipt.

It’s basically a rebate app, so you can earn anywhere from 50 cents to $5 off everything you buy. It’s not brand specific either, you can scan any brand of cheese for 50 cents off, for example. If you do regularly coupon, you can still use the app and get a rebate. You can essentially get grocery items for free if you’re really into couponing. It’s free and all you have to do is scan your receipt and you’ll get free money back. The best part? Sign up here and you will receive a $10 cash bonus.

16. Teach English online from your computer.

Still wondering, how to make passive income? Well, have you considered teaching English online (pick your own hours too)? All that is required is that you are fluent in English, have a bachelor’s degree, and have some tutoring experience. You can see some more detailed VIPKID requirements on it’s website. This a great way to earn money from home and already 30,000+ use VIPKID to teach English from home.

You’ll make $12-$22 an hour, and Forbes ranked this company #1 on it’s 2017 “Top 100 Places Work From Home Companies” Since this is a legitimate way to make extra money, the application process pretty detailed.

With an opportunity to make $650 a month, just from one hour out of your day, may be worth looking at. You can learn more about teaching English online on VIPKID’s website.

17. Rent out your car to strangers and earn passive income.

Did you know that you can rent out your car when you’re not using it? And that you can bring in a lot of extra cash in your wallet by doing so?

Do you plan on heading on a vacation soon while your car sits unused at your home? Do you sometimes not use your car on the weekends?  If so, renting out your car while you’re not using it could be an easy way to make passive income. A well-known company, Turo, which has signed up nearly 5 million users to its website, according to Bloomberg, lets you do just that.

It’s also really simple to do (and free). Listing your car is quick and easy and takes less than 10 minutes to set up. According to a recent Turo review, somebody listed their car for 5 days every month and made $3,496 in a year. Sounds pretty good to me. Oh, and they also protect your car against physical damage, so you’re fully covered. You can sign up here and start making money with your car.

18. Earn passive income by renting your spare room.

Like Uber did for Taxis before it, Airbnb is fast revolutionizing the holiday and travel accommodation industry, and you’re set to profit from it!

It is an online marketplace for people with space, rooms, or even entire houses to spare, Airbnb lets you list your place for rent just like a hotel or motel.

Maybe you’re traveling overseas yourself and want to make the most of your empty place while you’re away? Perhaps you have a spare room that currently houses nothing more than empty boxes? With Airbnb, you fill that empty space in your home and fill that empty spot in your wallet with more than a little spare change.

19. Start a low-risk drop shipping business online.

Oberlo allows you to easily import products from AliExpress directly into your Shopify store and ship directly to your customers – in only a few clicks. It’s very simple to open a shop on Shopify and drop ship items in order to create a business without too much risk.  You can literally start and set up a drop shipping business without any type of product in one afternoon with minimal risk as Shopify has a 14-day free trial and Oberlo is completely free. This is an excellent and one of the best passive income ideas you can set out to try without must risk.

20. Make passive income lending to borrowers.

LendingClub is a website that offers investment opportunities for you but with a twist – you are investing in actual people rather than some faceless organization. You can make money lending your money to borrowers who pay you payments (with interest) which you collect monthly. That makes this a very rewarding and worthwhile investment prospect. The process is called peer lending, and this is one of the largest marketplaces that connect borrowers and investors. best passive income ideas

21. Make money with this free game app.

If you like games, then you should definitely try Long Game out. As you keep playing the games on there, you’ll stand to win rewards like cash as well as crypto tokens without any risk to your savings whatsoever. They are FDIC insured, which means additional peace of mind.

22. Save $1000’s By refinancing your home.

If you are a homeowner, then this one of the smartest things you can look into. I currently work as a Business Analyst at Freddie Mac, so I know a thing or two about the mortgage market. If you own a home and have not yet taken advantage of historically low refinance rates, you probably are spending way more than you should be on your mortgage.

LendingTree could help you refinance your mortgage at a significantly lower interest rate – Let’s say you can lower your rate by around 1%, on a $200K mortgage, can save you over $100/month and over $40,000 in total over the course of your 30-year loan!  best passive income ideas

Fundrise allows individuals to invest in commercial real estate online through an eREIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). Their crowdsourcing model sets them apart from a traditional REIT allowing the average investor to participate in deals for as little as $500. The interesting thing about Fundrise is that it lets investors buy into private commercial and residential properties by pooling their assets through an investment platform. Since the eREIT is sold directly to investors cutting out middle-men, they can have fees lower than 90% of the competition. Here are some quick facts about Fundrise:

• Diverse portfolio of private real estate deals
• Minimum investment of $500 to $1,000
• Management and advisory fees add up to about 1%, but be aware of other fees
• Click here to learn more about Fundrise

24. Make greater returns (money) out of your 401k.

You should know about blooom if you have a 401k. Blooom will analyze your 401k for free.

26. Make money with live trivia on your phone.

Have genius level IQ and looking to test it out? Well, we’ve got just the thing for you. SwagIQ gives you the option to satiate your thirst for trivia and also win cash prizes. You’ll win Swag IQ’s digital currency which you can then use to redeem for cash via PayPal off their website.

27. Save on your student loans.

Refinance your student loans, like now. Sometimes you can make extra money just by finding new ways to save. A big one that many people fail to remember is that you can save around $300/month just by refinancing your student loan debt.

Interested in refinancing your student loans right now? Below are the top 4 lenders (get estimated savings in under 2 minutes):

28. Download passive income apps that really pay.

You’re not going to get rich by downloading mobile apps that pay you, but you can use these to earn a passive income every month. Money making apps can be a simple way to pad your bank account in your free time.

You probably know these apps aren’t my favorite way to make extra money, but I make an exception for it when you’re just hanging out — e.g. watching T.V., riding the metro, during your break at work, or in the back of an Uber. Might as well click a few buttons and make some money while you’re at it.

Here is our favorite list of the best money making apps if you wanted to give them a shot. best passive income ideas

29. Earn $5 for just linking your card.

Download Dosh, the app that gives you automatic cash back when you shop, dine & fuel up. With 1000’s of stores in the app, earn up to 10% cash back every time you shop. All you need to do is link your card to the app (and get $5 instantly) and then use the linked card at thousands of supported stores and restaurants for a hassle-free cashback credited right to your account. You also get paid $5 per referral to get more cash into your account. Download it for free here.

30. Get free food for taking customer satisfaction surveys

Many companies give free coupons or send out advertising and deals to their newsletter subscribers which contain free coupons. They’ll also give you a free treat if you fill out their customer satisfaction survey. best passive income ideas

So head on over to your favorite store’s website and simply give them your email address or take their customer satisfaction survey for a chance of free coupons or a free meal.

Here are some good places to start:

• Panda Express Feedback: Free Meal with Panda Express Survey
• TellSubway.com: Take TellSubway® Survey — Get a Free Cookie
• DQFanSurvey ― Take Official DQ® Survey Now ― Get Free Dilly Bar
• LittleCaesarsListens.com – Take Little Caesar’s Survey & Win $15K
• DGCustomerFirst.com – Dollar General Survey For Chance to Win $100
• TellTheBell.com – Take Customer Satisfaction Survey (Chance at $500)
• DunkinNation: TellDunkin.com Dunkin Doughnuts Survey (Get a Free Donut)
• WendysWantsToKnow.com — Take Wendy’s Survey, Get Free Sandwich

Ready to Make Money with the Best Passive Income Ideas in 2020? Go Get It!

If you went through this list then you should have found a passive income idea or passive income app that you could probably earn with.

Thank me later. best passive income ideas

Enjoyed these best passive income ideas? Then be sure to come back as I will continue to update this post often.