It’s pretty difficult for many Canadians to even start thinking about investing these days. Higher inflation is still affecting many, and rising interest rates don’t look like they’re about to come to a halt. Which is why passive income streams that cost nothing to start up have risen in popularity.
However, many of these passive income streams sound too good to be true, and they are. For example, certainly you could make money from drop shipping. But buying a bunch of cheap products may mean you end up with hundreds invested in a cheap product no one buys.
So today, we’re going to go over a passive income stream that actually works. And it’s one you can start right away.
Earn royalties starting now
If you’ve taken a picture or a video ever, it could be purchased by companies looking for stock photos and videos and used on websites. There is a never-ending need of stock photos, and the more you upload, the more royalties you can claim.
The key is that you want high quality images to use in this case, and then you can upload them to companies such a Shutterstock, Ampli, and more. You can upload at no cost, receiving a percentage of a fee for every photo that you upload.
If you’re a creative type, you can take this one step further. There are many music and soundscape applications out there. Your sound files also be sold online for royalties through companies such as Soundscape. However, you could also feature these songs on a YouTube channel. YouTube also pays out royalties if your sounds are listened to a certain number of times.
How much could you make?
The start up effort could be considerable, making it so that you may have to spend time uploading lots of photos. But if you focus on high-quality images, especially from hard-to-reach locations, these could certainly bring in income sooner than you even imagine.
At first, it’s likely you’re going to bring in anywhere between $0 and $500 in a month. However, once your images become used and more known, those numbers can start climbing. In fact, there are some who make a full-time living from stock photography alone! Though it took a few years to get it underway.
What’s great here, however, is that once you’ve started it up, there isn’t really a need to add more photos. That being said, add more and you earn more! And as you receive more demand, you can also charge more per photo, video, song or sound.
Then, invest it!
Now during this time of startup, you’re going to need to invest that income to create more passive income. As mentioned, it could be quite small, but let’s say you start making $250 per month. That’s a fair amount of income you can invest over time to create more long-term passive income.
Simply create automated contributions towards a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), for example, or every time you’re paid transfer it directly into your account. Then, choose a simple stock that you can feel confident investing in again and again.
A great choice these days would be a company such as BCE (TSX:BCE). BCE stock is the largest of the telecommunications companies, with a 6.82% dividend yield as of writing. It’s been around for over 100 years, and on the market since the 1980s. Therefore, there’s decades of growth behind it, and even more in the future. Especially as 5G+ continues to roll out across the country.
Bottom line
If you were to invest that $250 each month, creating a total of $3,000 over the first year, here is how much passive income you could make.
| COMPANY | RECENT PRICE | NUMBER OF SHARES | DIVIDEND | TOTAL PAYOUT | FREQUENCY |
| BCE | $55 | 54 | $3.87 | $211 | quarterly |
That’s like adding another whole month to your stock photo work! This method of earning income is therefore lucrative and easy. Perfect for young investors looking to get started today.
