I'm always looking to earn more, so I asked experts for 4 passive income streams that bring in 6 figures a year (2024)

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• Passive income streams are a great way of mitigating your financial risk and earning extra income.
• I talked to financial advisors and accountants about lucrative passive income streams they've seen.
• Owning a parking lot, real estate, blogging, and online courses can generate over $100,000 a year.

I run my own company. To help mitigate personal financial risk, I try to create as many passive income streams as I can. That way, I don't have to just rely on making money from my business.

Over the years, I've built multiple passive income streams for myself including courses, e-books, and selling merchandise. I'm always looking for new ways to bring in money, so I decided to ask financial advisors and accountants to share unique passive income streams they've come across that can generate significant earnings.

1. Buy and run a parking lot

One way to find new ideas for passive income is to look at businesses and services you see operating every day. Financial advisor Chris Nddie suggested that people should look into owning parking lots, for example.

Depending on the location of the parking lot you want to buy, you can find some property for as low as $10,000 using websites like Loopnet.According to How to Start an LLC, the typical monthly expenses for a small, outdoor parking lot can be around $5,000, but gross profits of a lot with about 20 spaces can reach around $28,000 per month.

2. Invest in real estate properties

A popular way of making passive income is through real estate properties, whether commercial or residential (or via one of the best real estate investing apps). Financial planner Brent Dickerson recommends people invest in real estate properties, such as office buildings or retail centers.

"Many large real estate ventures are owned by several investors through a Tenancy in Common Arrangement," said Dickerson. "This allows for multiple owners to own an unequal share of a property, such as an office building or retail center. As payments are made by the lease tenants, the owners of the property receive those payments as income."

Dickerson added that the amount of income one receives is determined by the percentage ownership in the property, so the more you invest, the more passive income it will generate. You can start with $1,000and build up from there.

3. Become a blogger and use affiliate links

For someone with a strong personal brand, blogging can be a great source of passive income according to Olivia Tan, a CPA.

"Blogging has helped countless entrepreneurs earn passively through affiliate links, courses, sponsored posts, products, book deals, and more," said Tan.

While Tan acknowledges that starting a blog requires a lot of upfront work in order to be successful, she added that: "It's one of the most sustainable ways to generate an audience through organic and social traffic, or by building an email list."

While much of this income is based on how much traffic you can get to your website or social media channels, it's possible to make money without having a large audience. You can do research to set your personal rates, or follow the common advice of charging $100 for every 100 subscribers you have.

4. Start an online course

One of my personal favorite ways of making passive income is through the creation and sales of online courses. Financial advisor Sanchit Taksali said that this is a great route for anyone who has specialized knowledge to share, or is an expert in a certain topic.

Depending on the topic of your course and how big your potential audience is, you could follow in the footsteps of people like this copywriting expert, who made $1 million in 2020 selling a course.

This article was originally published in December 2021.