Some examples of passive income are:
• Earnings from a business that does not require direct involvement from the owner or merchant;
• Rent from property;
• Royalties from publishing a book or from licensing a patent or other form of intellectual property;
• Earnings from internet advertisements on websites;
• Residual income, repeated regular income earned by a sales person, generated from the payment of a product or service, that must be renewed on a regular basis in order to continue receiving its benefits;
• Dividend and interest income from owning securities, such as stocks and bonds, is usually referred to as portfolio income, which may or may not be considered a form of passive income. In the United States, portfolio income is considered a different type of income than passive income;
• Pensions
Patents or Royalties. Speaking for most of us – I was not blessed with the cerebral horsepower to create something truly unique enough that it would warrant any type of patent. And even if I did – simply having a patent doesn’t guarantee it is marketable, or provide the ability for me to actually make a living from my invention or idea. Few of us ever will – so sitting at Starbucks every morning trying to “think” or “create” my way to generating millions of dollars in passive income doesn’t appear to be a good use of my time.
Residual Income – Ditto. I haven’t invented or created something that someone can buy from me over and over again. Few can and few can make a living doing this. If you’re one of the fortunate ones, then congratulations! You can stop reading this right now and go out and do it again – repeatedly.
Earnings from Internet advertisements on Websites. – Yeah, if I mastered items 1 and 2 above, then I suppose I could make money by advertising on the internet. Or, if I created a website with a lot of traffic and visitors – so much traffic that other people wanted to advertise on it – then I suppose this could add to my income, but could I make a living at it? Don’t get me wrong, this strategy isn’t impossible, or unattainable. I do know of a few people who are actually making a decent living on the web. But trust me – they are working at it! It’s not passive by any means. And they’ve paid a lot of money to earn that “passive income”.
Dividend and interest income from owning stocks and bonds. Yes, this is passive, but unless you are Warren Buffett, or truly have a knack for cracking the code on Wall Street – this again is gambling that you can “beat the house” in an environment with uncontrollable volatility and a HUGE amount of risk. I have personally lost over $300,000 in the stock market and vowed I would never give them another dime. I also know of countless others who have lost their entire retirement portfolios – which they thought would provide years of passive income at the end of their careers. The last 3 stock market crashes and subsequent recessions have destroyed that dream of passive retirement income for most of us and proving again it’s not worth the risk of investing your hard earned money with companies in which you have never met the owners, their board of directors, or any of their staff who have been given the responsibility of caring for it. Quite honestly, I’m still shocked that the American Public continues to do this.
Having tried virtually all these sources, we now will address Rent from Property – Self Storage in particular. This is my investment of choice to earn true, sustainable Passive Income. Sure I’ve made a few bucks from my books and Home Study Courses, but 99% of my wealth and passive income has come in the form of the rents received from my Self Storage Facilities. They are the proverbial “Geese that lays the Golden Eggs”! I buy the facility, hire a manager or management company to run it, and enjoy a lifelong, sustainable stream of income, with very little management on my part.
Why Self Storage? Because unlike ALL the other forms of rental Real Estate – There are no Tenants, Toilets, or Trash! Heck, some of our properties are even run with a kiosk eliminating the need for us to even have a site manager! And now, I have the privilege of helping other people change their lives by sharing our strategies on how to create massive amounts of passive income with Self Storage, which is probably why you’re here.
So welcome, enjoy, take in all the free information at your fingertips, and I look forward to meeting you some day at one of our Self Storage Academy™ Live events.
Scott Meyers, CSSM© is the President and Owner of Indianapolis Based Alcatraz Storage™. He is also a national speaker and trainer in the field of Self Storage Investing through his company SelfStorageInvesting.com. To reach him, or to invite him to speak, call 866-693-5999; e-mail Scott@SelfStorageInvesting.com |
