Creating passive income doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, literally by definition it shouldn’t be. Passive income is the income you create when doing absolutely nothing. Going grocery shopping, travelling – heck, even sleeping. You should still be making income.
How is that possible? Some still think creating passive income would require renting out properties. However, that’s also not true. Owning a physical property means looking after it, and the tenants inside. That’s hardly passive at all.
So what is passive income? It’s where you can find an opportunity to create income, with very little leg work to start it up. Furthermore, there will be pretty much next to zero leg work after that. And there are two ways to do this for major financial rewards.
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Rent it out
One of my favourite ways of creating passive income has to be renting out items or space. You can do several if you have the means! But I recommend looking up what’s in high demand where you’re living. If you have a lot of small business owners looking for storage space, consider renting out your garage, shed, or attic. If you have a high demand for parking, rent out your parking spot!
The key is looking at what you have available to you, and undercutting the competition. In urban areas, for example, you can pay a fortune in parking downtown. Providing even a small discount should send people running. Same with storage space! Just make sure you do your due diligence for insurance purposes.
If you were to rent out a parking spot and storage unit (even an apartment storage space will do), this could bring in upwards of around $500 per month. That’s $6,000 per year! But it gets even better.
Invest for even more income
If you want more income, consider investing in a top-paying dividend stock. One such example is First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: FCR.UN). First Capital stock isn’t like the other real estate investment trusts (REIT) struggling out there. The REIT invests in mixed-use properties, such as grocery chains and industrial spaces.
These two real estate markets, in particular, are noteworthy, as they provide not just steady but growing need in Canada. That’s why it’s a great time to consider First Capital stock while REITs like this one are down. Shares of First Capital are down about 18% year to date with a dividend yield at 6.05% as of writing. That drop in shares is despite the company seeing growth in its net operating income, occupancy, investments and rental rate year over year.
How much passive income you could create
If you were to invest that $500 you receive from storage and parking, that would be $6,000 invested each month. Let’s say you invested today and saw your shares return to former 52-week highs. Here are the returns you could walk away with, and the total cash you would have created from doing absolutely nothing.
| COMPANY | RECENT PRICE | NUMBER OF SHARES | DIVIDEND | TOTAL PAYOUT | FREQUENCY | TOTAL PORTFOLIO |
| FCR.UN | $14.15 | 424 | $0.86 | $364.64 | monthly | $6,000 |
| FCR.UN – 52-week highs | $18.65 | 424 | $0.86 | $364.64 | monthly | $7,907.60 |
Add in dividends, and you’re looking at a total of $8,272.24! That comes to $689.35 each month. And that’s from just providing some space, and clicking a button every month. Not bad, right?
