25 passive income ideas to help you make money in 2025

Whether you're running a side business or simply looking for a little more cash flow each month, passive income might be a terrific method to help. This is especially true as consumers are feeling the pinch of increasing pricing. When things are good, passive income can help you make more money. It can also help you get by if you suddenly lose your job, take a voluntary leave of absence, or your purchasing power is steadily declining due to inflation.

With passive income, you can earn money while working at your regular job. If you can establish a steady source of passive income, you may wish to take a brief vacation. In any case, having a passive income adds security to your life.

Additionally, creating wealth through passive income is a tactic that may be appealing to you if you're concerned about having enough money saved for retirement.

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What is passive income?

Passive income includes regular earnings from a source other than an employer or contractor. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says passive income can come from two sources: rental property or a business in which one does not actively participate, such as being paid book royalties or stock dividends. While legally that’s true,.

“Many people think that passive income is about getting something for nothing,” says financial coach and retired hedge fund manager Todd Tresidder. “It has a ‘get-rich-quick’ appeal … but in the end, it still involves work. You just give the work upfront.”

Passive income is not …

• Your job. Generally, passive income is not income that comes from something you’ve been materially involved in such as the wages you earn from a job.
• A second job. Getting a second job isn’t going to qualify as a passive income stream because you’ll still need to show up and do the work to get paid. Passive income is about creating a consistent stream of income without you having to do a lot of work to get it.
• Non-income-producing assets. Investing can be a great way to generate passive income, but only if the assets you own pay dividends or interest. Non-dividend-paying stocks or assets like cryptocurrencies may be exciting, but unless you’re staking your coins, they won’t earn you passive income.

Passive income ideas for creatives

1. Write an e-book

Writing an e-book can be a good opportunity to take advantage of the low cost of publishing and even leverage the worldwide distribution of Amazon to get your book seen by potentially millions of would-be buyers. E-books can be relatively short, perhaps 30-50 pages, and can be relatively cheap to create, since they rely on your expertise.

You’ll need to be an expert on a specific topic, but the topic could be niche and use some special skills or abilities that very few offer but that many readers need. You can quickly design the book on an online platform and then even test-market different titles and price points.

2. Sell photography online

Selling photography online might not be the most obvious place to set up a passive business, but it could allow you to scale your efforts, especially if you can sell the same photos over and over again. To do that, you might work with an organization such as Getty Images, Shutterstock, or Alamy.

To get started, you’ll have to be approved by the platform, and then you license your photos to be used by whoever downloads them. The platform then pays you every time someone uses your photo.

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