Passive Income Ideas

[james.hendrickson]

Guys

Just showing up with an update here - SMBX is still going strong for me. I've gradually reinvested and added additional funds as I have spare cash available.

I like the small business bonds because they're likely not highly correlated with stocks or corporate bonds, and they're a good chance to do some direct investing in local businesses you know.

Plus I find getting emails notifying me of bond payments quite satisfying.

[QuarterMillionMan]

[james.hendrickson]

Forums community - just bumping this up. I'm still in SMBX and its performing just fine.

I checked my email this morning and saw a nice stream of modest payments. So far the default rate has been really low - only 2 or so of the 60 plus bonds I've choosen to invest in.

[james.hendrickson]

All,

Just throwing in some commentary here - totally unrelated to the last ten or so posts.

I've been selling my spare bandwidth and personal data online. Its been working, all be it at a low level.

for those who haven't been following my other threads, here is what's working for me in the last year and a half:

Datacy = sells your browsing data. Pays about $30 every three months.

Earnapp = sells your browsing data, pays about $2.49 per month

Honeygain = sells your spare internet bandwidth, $20 every 4 months.

Nielsen Mobile Panel = This is the digital version of the Nielsen TV panel. It pays about $5 per month

So, all of these have low dollar payouts, but they do work and they're mostly passive if you want some extra money.

[disneysteve]

I’ve been doing similar with t-bills - buying at auction and holding to redemption - and am a fan. Don’t believe that’s an option for me (or for many folks) in their 401ks (noting as well that during accumulation phase, conventional advice would be to hold bonds in tax advantaged rather than brokerage accounts).

That's true regarding 401k plans. I don't think they typically have a brokerage option to buy your own securities. In that case, a bond index fund is your best bet if you feel you need fixed income in there. Personally, my 401k is 100% invested in a 60/40 balanced fund.

[srblanco7]

I think buying individual bonds (and CDs) is a much better way to go. Lock in a rate you’re happy with and hold til maturity. Rinse and repeat.

I’ve been doing similar with t-bills - buying at auction and holding to redemption - and am a fan. Don’t believe that’s an option for me (or for many folks) in their 401ks (noting as well that during accumulation phase, conventional advice would be to hold bonds in tax advantaged rather than brokerage accounts).

[disneysteve]

Agreed that it's been a lousy investment of late. Could you view buying it now as a contrarian play as I'd expect its NAV to increase as the Fed starts cutting rates?

I think buying individual bonds (and CDs) is a much better way to go. Lock in a rate you’re happy with and hold til maturity. Rinse and repeat.

[srblanco7]

VBTLX has a YTD return of -3.20%. You would have been better off leaving that 5K in your settlement fund earning 5.27%. Even better, you could have put that 5K toward the CC debt you mentioned in another thread.

FTR I also own VBTLX but it’s been a lousy investment lately. I sold off about 26K worth last week in fact. I’ll probably unload more soon.

Agreed that it's been a lousy investment of late. Could you view buying it now as a contrarian play as I'd expect its NAV to increase as the Fed starts cutting rates?

[disneysteve]

All - sharing a passive income win.

I picked up about 5,000 worth of the vanguards total bond market index and picked up a nice payment this month. It was just $15, but it’s better than nothing. Plus, I get the added safety and portfolio diversification of holding bonds.

VBTLX has a YTD return of -3.20%. You would have been better off leaving that 5K in your settlement fund earning 5.27%. Even better, you could have put that 5K toward the CC debt you mentioned in another thread.

FTR I also own VBTLX but it’s been a lousy investment lately. I sold off about 26K worth last week in fact. I’ll probably unload more soon.

[james.hendrickson]

All - sharing a passive income win.

I picked up about 5,000 worth of the vanguards total bond market index and picked up a nice payment this month. It was just $15, but its better than nothing. Plus, I get the added safety and portfolio diversification of holding bonds.

[bjl584]

Another passive income idea: billboard rentals. Buy one of those suckers and rent it out.

Not sure how passive that is.
Maintaining that structure and managing the lease to have it on someone's property seems like a fairly active endeavor.
There could be some barriers to entry there as well.

To flip this one around, if you own property near a highway or intersection, then shopping for a company to put a billboard on your land could earn you some decent side income.

[james.hendrickson]

Another passive income idea: billboard rentals. Buy one of those suckers and rent it out.

[james.hendrickson]

Another day, another $10.42 in passive income.

Small drips will soon become trickles, then trickles streams.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It's also my neighbor is a children's book author. She has royalties on her early books but her "advances" were $5k. So making that up to the publisher is easier. But when advances are now $50k getting that back in royalties takes a lot longer.

But my musician guy who writes a lot of music, teaches, plays in bands has regular royalties from commercials, etc. But his are small and they do build but he's almost 70 and comes from a family of musicians. He's inherited royalties from his grandparents who made their money writing music for horror movies. So any scary music in a movie he has a royalty. Not flash but it's like $5-6k/year. It does add up but if you aren't "famous" you need to be building it long term.

[kork13]

The best form of passive incomes are those that actors & singers make everytime their song is played or TV show is aired. I don't know how much money they make but someone like Ed O'neil or Ariana Grande must get checks every week from their previous work. Must be nice.

Keep in mind that it isn't as rosy as you think. I read a bit about royalties when the recent SAG-AFTRA strike was going on. It's true that folks who worked on a TV show or movie or whatever get royalties, but they often also get paid next to nothing up front. It's not like they made a fortune when they did the work and then have money continue to flow in. In many cases, they made very little when the job was done and the hope is that the royalties provide the income down the line, but it's tough to live that way. Not the case, I'm sure, for big names like Ariana Grande, but for all of the other folks behind the scenes, that's the case.

The royalties also fade away over time. I've got a friend who had a minor role in the original (2007) Transformers movie (the focus of one scene & had a few lines) -- he told me once that he got royalties from the movie which were sizeable at first (~$1k/mo), especially while it was in theaters ... but the amount varied significantly, and after a few years, they dwindled to where the checks were almost comical .... $20-$30/mo. That conversation was back in ~2011 (4yrs after release). The same goes for authors -- they get a royalty with every book sold, but the amounts are hard to predict, and tend to fade over time (unless there's a sudden resurgence for some reason).

So yeah, royalties are one of the truest forms of passive income ... but they're hard to rely upon, unless you're very prolific (many & new movies or books that are constantly pulling in new royalties). That's part of why many/most actors stay active well past their prime -- the royalties dry up, so unless they were smart with their money while they were earning them, they can get to be in a bad spot. I mean, why else do you think the Fonz was still doing TV commercials and off-prime shows in his 70s?