Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - 5 Passive Income Side Hustles You Need To Know About

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

Today, Nicole explains five opportunities to build passive income, the benefits of these five income streams, and what to watch out for. All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of pri...ncipal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Brokerage services for alternative assets are offered by Dalmore Group, LLC, member FINRA & SIPC. Brokerage services for treasury accounts offering 6-month T-Bills are offered by Jiko Securities, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Banking services are offered by Jiko Bank, a division of Mid-Central National Bank. Securities investments: Not FDIC Insured; No Bank Guarantee; May Lose Value.  Brokerage services for Regulation A securities are offered through Dalmore Group, LLC, member FINRA & SIPC. Risks at public.com/disclosures/alts-risk-and-conflict-of-interest-disclosure See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your
Starting point is 00:00:29 money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. it's time for some money rehab. Who wants passive income? We all do, right? Well, here's the hot take. Passive income, also known as mailbox money, is a little bit of a scam. It is so hard to truly find passive, passive income as we usually think of it, where money just falls out of the sky with
Starting point is 00:01:25 little to no work on our end. But there are some ways you can build passive income streams for yourself. And the operative word here is build. For passive income streams to be truly successful, some heavy lifting is involved in the beginning, but it can be a lower lift over time once you get to the point where you can just rinse and repeat. But instead of me just telling you that, let me show you how. Here are five popular side hustles with minimal upkeep. Number one, renting your home. Renting out your home or even a spare room can be a lucrative way to generate passive income, especially if you live in a touristy place or if you travel frequently so your house sits empty a lot. While you probably won't need to invest money up front in order to rent your home, although you can if you want to make some snazzy upgrades, it will take some time to set up the
Starting point is 00:02:09 framework for your rental listing. For example, in order to put your house on a platform like Airbnb or VRBO, you're going to need to take photos of the space. While some people like to have those professionally taken, others might not find it necessary. But taking the extra time to make your home look extra rentable will set it apart from other rental properties in your area. Income from renting your house is subject to income tax, but you can deduct expenses like mortgage interest, property taxes, utilities, maintenance, and even depreciation. And there's a lovely loophole that allows you to rent your home for less than two weeks a year, totally tax-free. Yes, of course it is legal. It's called the Augusta Rule. It allows you to rent your house for 14 days or less without having to declare that income to the IRS, and therefore, you don't have to pay
Starting point is 00:02:54 any taxes on it. So if you're interested in renting your house on a small scale, taking advantage of the Augusta Rule is a must. I'd call this a pretty passive income stream because you only have to list your house once and then it will be set up for renting. And assuming you're paying a mortgage anyway, renting your house won't necessarily involve recurring extra expenses. However, you will need to deal with renters themselves, which can be not so passive depending on whether or not your renters are a pain in the butt. And unless you include cleaning fees in your booking price, you'll either have to cover that cost yourself or just do it yourself. If that sounds not passive enough for
Starting point is 00:03:28 you, then think about number two, real estate crowdfunding. Real estate crowdfunding allows you to invest in real estate projects with relatively small amounts of money. You've probably heard of companies like Kickstarter, where founders can invite users to invest in their companies in small amounts, real estate crowdfunding is the same idea. Real estate crowdfunding platforms pull money from a bunch of investors to finance properties. On these platforms, you'll find opportunities to invest in new construction of buildings designed to be rentals, multifamily apartment renovations, industrial properties like warehouses. The potential upside for investors is that you can earn a share of the rental income or profits from sales. On some platforms, you can start with as little as $10,
Starting point is 00:04:10 which to state the obvious is a whole lot less than it would cost you to buy a rental property. To get started, you'll want to choose a trustworthy real estate crowdfunding platform. Investopedia and NerdWallet have good lists on these types of platforms that can help you decide which one you want to use. Once you pick the platform, you'll want to review the projects that are available there. Just like an investment in the stock market, you'll want to select the real estate investment that aligns with your investment goals and, of course, your risk tolerance. And also, just like the stock market, I wouldn't focus your energy on finding just one property that you think is going to be a big winner and putting all of your money in there.
Starting point is 00:04:43 I'd look at making multiple smaller investments so you can diversify across different types of properties and different locations. While you do have to put in some work to determine which properties would be good investment opportunities for you, this becomes a passive way to benefit from real estate. And as I mentioned a second ago, you don't have to do any of the communication with renters or cleaning out spaces between short-term rentals that you would have to do if you're listing your home on Airbnb. Also, you're going to pick up quickly on the theme here, which is taxes. And yes, there are tax implications for real estate crowdfunding. Rental income and capital gains from real estate investments can be subject to taxes. And while the amount you can invest in
Starting point is 00:05:20 real estate crowdfunding can be much lower than what you'd have to put into your own rental you don't get any sweet augusta rule-esque tax breaks however there are also possible deductions and benefits to investing in real estate like depreciation when you're exploring real estate crowdfunding opportunities you'll be able to see the information on tax implications and depreciation in the description of the investment opportunity, so be sure to look over those details before deciding to invest. Number three, selling stock photos. If you have an eye for a good photo, selling stock photos online can be a great way to earn passive income, and it really isn't that complicated once you get it up and running. Websites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images allow you to upload and sell your images to a global audience. If you don't have a camera, you're definitely going to need one. You can't just take photos
Starting point is 00:06:08 on your phone and expect Adobe Stock to come knocking on your door. So this is one opportunity where the startup costs could be heftier than monetizing what you already have. But the cool thing about selling stock photos is that once you're set up on the marketplace and you're available for purchase, your work is done. Well, with that photo anyway. One photo can potentially earn you money over and over again for as long as it's available on the photo marketplace. Before going all in on this side hustle, you'll want to do some market research and figure out what kinds of keywords you'll need to use when uploading your photography to make them super discoverable in that marketplace.
Starting point is 00:06:44 You'll also want to figure out which niches are in the most high demand. If nature shots, when uploading your photography to make them super discoverable in that marketplace you'll also want to figure out which niches are in the most high demand if nature shots for example are in high demand that's pretty easy go for a walk call it a day but if it's editorial shots of people posing in studios you're going to need to pay models rent studio space which adds to the list of startup costs unfortunately there is no aug no Augusta-type rule for photos. You will be taxed on the income that you make selling stock photos, but you can deduct expenses related to photography equipment, software, even travel, which is a great excuse to take a dream trip and let Uncle Sam give you a discount. Number four, listing your home as a film or photo shoot
Starting point is 00:07:20 location. This is one of my favorites because you'll be surprised how much you can make by listing your home as a location for film or photo shoots. Production companies and photographers are always on the lookout for interesting locations for shoots. This actually happened totally serendipitously to our executive producer Morgan. She came home to her apartment in Brooklyn one day to find a flyer on her door from a location scout from Law & Order asking her if they could vet her apartment as a potential place to film a portion of an episode. She agreed to the visit, and the location scout came over to see if her apartment would work for that particular episode. When it came to the question of compensation, the location scout did tell her that she could expect to be paid over $1,000 every day that her apartment was used. As part of the
Starting point is 00:08:04 visit, they took a ton of photos of Morgan's apartment, which is totally normal. But also, saying you're a location scout would be a perfect ruse to case an apartment for a burglary. So in retrospect, Morgan told me that she probably felt like she could have done a little more due diligence beforehand and checked out the location scout's IMDB page, let's say, before agreeing to the visit. She did check the IMDb page later, and luckily the Location Scout was legit and not a thief in disguise, but probably would have made more sense to do the research beforehand. To get started with this side hustle, you can register your home with location agencies or
Starting point is 00:08:39 listing websites that specialize in this kind of thing, like Peerspace. In order to stand out from the crowd, you should take professional photos of your home highlighting unique features. You'll also need to know what your local regulations are and the permit situation for filming, so this isn't necessarily turnkey. Income from renting your home for filming for photo shoots is taxable, but you can also deduct the related expenses. Same story here, income from renting your home for filming or photo shoots is taxable, but you can deduct related expenses. And last but certainly not least, number five, dividend investing. Dividend investing involves buying stocks that pay out a portion of their earnings to shareholders on a regular basis. This can be a great way to generate
Starting point is 00:09:21 income with minimal effort and make money from your investments without having to sell shares. The upfront resources here, once again, time and money. You'll want to look at what are the best dividend paying stocks at the moment. Big popular ones are Verizon, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson. And then, of course, you'll need to buy the actual investment, and that's cash that you need to have tied up for as long as you want to be earning dividends. And when you do invest, if you really want to focus your investment strategy for that particular stock on maximizing dividends and you're in it for the long haul and you don't need that dividend money right away, you're going to want to opt into reinvesting your dividends to compound your returns. Again, dividends are typically taxed at a lower tax rate than regular income, but again, we can never get
Starting point is 00:10:04 away from our bestie, the taxman. So please be sure to understand the tax implications and keep good records. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you're really into the idea of rental properties and are even considering buying a rental property, there are websites completely dedicated to helping you project how much rental income you can make on Airbnb based on the zip code you're looking to buy in. One website is AirDNA. This is not an ad at all. I just find it so fascinating because this is really niche, but also really helpful. So if you're dreaming about buying a property and you want to figure out if it could be a lucrative rental someday, use this website for your research.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at moneynews and TikTok at moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.

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