19 Best Income-Generating Assets [Invest in Cash Flow, 2023]

When thinking of the best ways to establish a financial cushion and overcome reliance on any one income stream, it is advantageous to diversify your income sources. This means having several streams of income coming from different investments or assets that make money.

By avoiding living on any single financial resource or stream of payments can benefit you over the long-term by providing benefits through diversification. In fact, many successful people choose to do this by utilizing income-generating assets, or assets which generate cash flow.

Let’s discuss what these assets are and then do a review of some of the smartest income assets available to you. These might be the best assets to invest in for 2023.

Best Income-Generating Assets to Invest In—Our Top Picks

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What Are Assets that Generate Income?

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The definition of an income-producing asset is an investment which generates consistent, recurring revenue, cash flow or income over time. Assets that generate income require various amounts to get started. Some are investments which require little to no money to begin, while others require significant amounts of capital to grow and maintain the investment over time.

Further, cash-flow assets are not only a resource for experienced investors, but also for anyone who wishes to make money while you sleep. With proper research, planning, and some initial money, anyone can diversify their income streams through investing in passive income activities.

Now, let’s review some of the best income-generating assets, or the best assets to buy.

Best Income-Generating Assets / Assets to Buy

1. High-Yield Savings Account (Step)

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High-yield savings accounts are a type of federally insured savings account which aim to earn interest rates much higher than the national average. In recent years, they’ve not paid much to account holders.

But that’s starting to change.

Depending on where you look and the prevailing market interest rates overseen by the Federal Reserve, high-yield accounts can earn around 3.00% APY or more. As a comparison, the national savings account average interest rate comes to 0.07% APY … a far cry from the most competitive offers in the market.

All things equal, if you hold your money in an account that pays a higher interest rate, your balance will grow faster without any additional effort on your part.

To illustrate the effect of holding money in a high-yield savings account compared to one offering a far lower rate, consider the following comparison: After one year, a savings account balance of $10,000 would earn $10 in an account with a 0.10% APY. If this money had instead been placed in a high-yield savings account offering 3.00% APY, your money would have earned 30x more, or a total of $300.

As no depositor has lost a single cent in federally insured funds since 1933, balances of up to $250,000 are encouraged to be held in high-yield savings accounts or one of the following two short-term investments for young investors, depending on your liquidity needs.

Save With Step

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Step, made popular by its unique “hybrid” Step Visa Card, has expanded its offerings to include a powerful high-yield savings tool.

Users earn 5% annually—compounded and paid monthly—on up to $250,000 saved in their Savings Goals, calculated using the average daily balance in your Savings Goals. Like with your average savings account, Step’s savings yield can change depending on movements in the Federal Funds Rate, but if that happens, Step will give you 30 days’ notice before it happens.

To qualify, the user must have a direct deposit of at least $500 per month, and the benefit extends for as long as the direct deposits continue. (Other perks of making qualifying direct deposits? Bonus points on dining, food delivery, charitable donations, specific merchants—and you can get paid up to two days early.)

And remember: When you sign up with Step, you also get their Step Visa Card—a spending card that functions like a debit card, but also boasts some of the features of a Visa credit card—including the ability to build your (or your child’s) credit history. You can’t spend money you don’t have, eliminating the fear of overdrafting. The card can be used to withdraw money fee-free at more than 30,000 ATMs, and it’s protected by Visa’s Fraud Protection and Zero Liability guarantee.

Users age 13 and older can also buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin. Sign up for high-yield savings with Step today.

Read more in our Step Banking review.

Related: 10 Best Free Debit Cards for Kids & Teens [Earn, Save & Spend]

2. Dividend Stocks and Stock Funds

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Dividend-paying stocks are a great way to receive consistent earnings throughout the year. Usually, these stocks are from more mature and established companies who are able to part with their cash flow more easily. This occurs because there are fewer opportunities to invest and grow the company and the best manner to use these funds would be to return the cash to shareholders.

No two companies are the same and therefore the percentage rate for your dividends (dividend yield) varies by company. Quality companies which have consistent earnings and pay shareholders dividends regularly are commonly referred to as “blue-chip stocks.” They tend to carry less risk than growth companies, all things being equal.

Often, these are the companies many investors target when learning how to start investing money with the best stock trading apps for beginners. Investors also choose major equity index funds like VTI and VTSAX because they pay regular dividends.

Investors tend to invest in blue chips because these companies’ underlying assets, which generate income for shareholders, have more market certainty and do not need to take significant risks to continue as a going concern. Exceptions to this certainly exist but by and large, their size and maturity often result in less risk-taking on the part of investors.

Today’s best financial apps offer the ability to invest in these high-quality companies. Finally, dividend paying stocks tend to be reliable, even when the economy struggles. You can pick individual shares to invest in if you want. Alternatively, you can invest in index funds that specialize in high-yielding dividends, such as:

Dividend-Focused Mutual Funds:

• Vanguard Dividend Growth Investors Fund (VDIGX)
• T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth Fund (PRDGX)

Dividend-Focused ETFs:

• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG)
• Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index (ONEQ)

If you have the desire for living off dividends as a major source of income, you might also be delighted to know they can act as a tax-advantaged investment if they count as qualified dividends.

For reference, for a dividend to be considered qualified, generally it must be paid on stock or index funds you have held more than 60 days during the 121-day period that began 60 days before the ex-dividend date. This is the first date new investors are not entitled to receive the stock’s next dividend. If the dividends meet this requirement, you would only need to pay the passive income tax rate on them, lowering the amount you would need to pay to Uncle Sam each year on your income-generating assets.

To invest in dividend-paying stocks, you may consider using Plynk, a great investment app for beginners. The investment app doesn’t charge trading commissions, has no account minimums and even comes with a chance at free stocks for opening an account and taking certain actions.

Related: Best Robinhood Alternatives [US & Non-US Stock Trading Apps]

3. Bonds and Bond Index Funds

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Stocks and bonds are talked about together as often as macaroni and cheese. Bonds are essentially a loan you give to the government or a corporation. These are very stable (as compared to stocks) and you’ll know exactly how much money to expect back when you invest in a bond.

Longer-term bonds tend to carry higher interest rates as a means for compensating you for holding their debt longer. However, you can choose to invest in bonds of different terms based upon your personal investing objectives and goals. You might prefer some shorter-duration cash flowing assets and therefore opt for shorter-term bonds set to mature in the coming few years.

Compared to stocks, bonds have a smaller return, but are also lower-risk. Depending on the type of bond and the current financial climate, interest rates vary. Usually, bonds yield between 1-8%, depending if you wish to purchase governmental debt, investment grade corporate debt, or high yield (junk) bonds. If you’re looking for one of the more stable income-producing assets, bonds might be a fitting path for you.

Alternatively, you might avoid investing in individual bonds and opt for bond index funds, either as a mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF). This is a more stable high-yield investment. This diversifies your risk from holding just one bond and instead provides you a diversified portfolio which tracks a broader bond index benchmark.

Some popular examples include:

Bond Mutual Funds:

1. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX)
2. Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade Fund (VFSTX)

Bond ETFs:

1. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)
2. Fidelity Corporate Bond ETF (FCOR)

As a useful application of bond investing, consider the circumstances of what potential home buyers want to do with the liquid assets while saving money for a down payment. Depending on the timeline set for having enough to afford a down payment, these investors might wish to have some mix of bonds and stocks to limit their downside, earn some income, and also have potential for some upside as they save more and near the purchase date.

If you want to consider short-term bond funds as part of your broader portfolio for savings like these, you might consider using one of the best financial apps and using an investing service like Plynk. This investment app allows you to invest money into bond ETFs and bond mutual funds.

You might wish to invest money in the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and the Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Index ETF (VCSH). These funds carry respectable yields north of 4.04% and 4.96% (as of January 2023) and represent low risk since most of the assets are Treasuries or corporations with high credit ratings, respectively.

You can use Plynk to build a portfolio of these ETFs and have your future contributions automatically go toward the allocation you choose. Alternatively, you can have these payments come to your bank account for your cash flow needs. If you choose to reinvest, this might match your investment goal of investing in bonds as income-generating assets while also building your down payment fund.

Further, Plynk doesn’t charge trading commissions, so you don’t need to worry about those types of investment expenses eating away at your hard-earned money. The app is free to use, though certain features may cost $2 per month in the future.

If you want to do some more due diligence to decide which bond funds will handle your needs best, have a look at the best investing websites to screen for the best-rated bond funds.

Related: Best Investment Apps and Platforms

4. Certificates of Deposit (CIT Bank)

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Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are offered by most banks and credit unions and are easy to open and understand. CDs are risk-free and insured in the United States for up to $250,000.

They are another savings instrument like savings accounts but come with longer-term commitments, varying from three months to five years or more.

They work by having you lend money to a bank for a set amount of time (the “term length”), with longer term lengths typically involving higher interest rates.

Much like any interest-bearing asset, the longer the term length or commitment, the higher interest rate and return you can expect to earn in exchange for losing access to your money for longer.

During the term length, you gain interest on the principal at a rate usually higher than that of a high-yield savings account.

If you take money out during the term length, you’ll have to pay a penalty, so it isn’t wise to invest money you anticipate needing in the near future. The penalty can vary by institution and can range from as little as 90 days’ worth of interest but up to 18 months or more. You’ll need to read the fine print to understand how much you’d have to pay if you terminated your CD early.

Keep in mind that some CDs might have a lower interest rate than inflation and if that happens you may lose money.

Depending on your current financial objectives, holding money in a risk-free CD might be one of the best investments for young adults who have short-term financial goals they need to meet.

Related: How to Get Free Money Now

5. Money Market Accounts (CIT Bank)

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Money market accounts are similar to online high-yield savings accounts, meaning that they earn interest and are FDIC insured. This covers them with the obligatory $250,000 in insurance against assets held in the account in the event the depository institution fails.

Despite not carrying additional risk, they tend to pay more than a traditional savings account. Different than CDs, which can charge penalties for early withdrawals, you can close a money market account at any time.

Further, you usually also carry the ability to withdraw money from the money market account each month through a checkbook or with a debit card. However, some may come with a limit to the number of withdrawals you can make in any given month or specific period of time. Make sure you read the fine print on any account when you open it to be sure of the terms and to avoid any penalties which might trigger as a result of excessive withdrawals.

Of final note, most money market accounts carry account minimums, especially if you want to earn the best rate.

Consider opening one with CIT Bank, an online only bank that pays some of the highest interest rates on the market.

Related: Best CD Alternatives to Capture Interest Income With Low-Risk

6. Real Estate Crowdfunding

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It might come as little surprise, but numerous types of real estate investments appeal to many people for multiple reasons:

• the tangible nature of the investment
• low-correlation with the stock market
• multiple return components (assets that appreciate in value and also yield rental income)
• tax advantages.

However, the hands-on factor of owning, renovating and maintaining your property as well as acting as a landlord deters many people from getting started.

Thanks to the advent of fintech, or the use of technology to enhance and automate certain financial transactions and processes, many companies now offer the opportunity to invest in real estate with or without owning property.

Currently, one of the leading (and easiest) ways to get started with real estate investing is through crowdsourced lending or purchasing.

Several online platforms cater to this investor demand by providing various levels of service, investment options, and different points of investment in the real estate value chain.

This results in you avoiding any aspect you might not wish to participate in, such as owning or managing properties but still gaining exposure to these alternative investment options.

Depending on the type of investment you wish to make in real estate crowdfunding ventures, you have multiple options available to you.  Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options available and how they differ from one another.

FundRise → Investing in Real Estate Portfolios

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $10
• Type of Real Estate Investment: Commercial and Residential Real Estate
• Type of Investor: All Investors

Fundrise allows you to focus on investments in real estate portfolios, or several properties in one investment. In theory, this diversifies your investment risk while providing you access to several properties simultaneously.

To date, Fundrise is the most popular real estate investment platform offering a portfolio approach. This investment platform provides several options for you to review and invest your money.  Their available portfolio options include:

• The Starter Portfolio – This option allows investors to start investing in real estate with as little as $10.
• Core Portfolios (Supplemental, Balanced, and Long-Term Growth) – Each of these “Core Portfolios” comes with a higher minimum investment of $1,000 and targets a different investment objective.  Supplemental aims to provide additional passive income from real estate investing on the Fundrise platform, Long-Term Growth invests money for the primary goal of capital appreciation, while Balanced focuses on both of these investment objectives. By offering these investment portfolio options, investors can choose which investment objective best aligns with their financial goals.

Related: 6 Ways to Invest in Apartment Buildings

EquityMultiple → Investing in Commercial Real Estate

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $5,000
• Type of Real Estate Investment: Commercial Real Estate
• Type of Investor: Accredited Investors Only

EquityMultiple allows you to invest in individual properties, specifically commercial real estate.

Investments in the commercial real estate space typically hold low correlations to stocks and bonds, offer attractive historical risk-adjusted returns and have less historical volatility than stocks.

EquityMultiple carries a minimum $5,000 initial investment and comes with a limitation on the type of investors who can participate.

Namely, EquityMultiple only allows its individual commercial real estate projects to receive investments from accredited investors.

For those interested in learning more about EquityMultiple, consider signing up for an account and going through their qualification process.

Related: Best Brokerage Account Sign-Up Bonuses, Promotions and Deals

EquityMultiple’s Alpine Notes → Investing in Short-Term Notes

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $5,000
• Type of Real Estate Investment: Commercial Real Estate
• Type of Investor: Accredited Investors Only

Are you an accredited investor looking for a short-term investment with attractive returns? Meet EquityMultiple’s Alpine Note series.

Alpine Notes are a savings alternative with competitive rates of return on three-, six-, and nine-month notes, providing another means of conservative diversification and short-term yield. Compared to the commercial real estate crowdfunding platform’s other investment offerings, these notes are extremely short-term in nature, and thus an optimal choice for EquityMultiple users who want better liquidity.

While the notes aren’t as liquid as a savings account, they do offer maturity dates that tend to be shorter than your typical CD—and significantly higher rates of return. While this product isn’t FDIC-insured, EquityMultiple does add a degree of protection by assuming the first-loss position in case of default. That means EquityMultiple will purchase a small portion of the aggregate notes issued in a series and will only receive payments after all other investors receive their total principal and interest. Such an arrangement puts their capital at risk, adding skin in the game and aligning their interests with yours.

In case you’re wondering what EquityMultiple does with your funds that justifies paying you such a healthy return, the platform takes the capital you provide and uses it as a line of credit to sponsors who bring real estate investments to EquityMultiple’s core investment platform. The credit allows sponsors to receive surety of funding on initial closing, thus attracting more high-quality investments from high-quality sponsors.

With EquityMultiple’s Alpine Note, you’ll need to be both an accredited investor and have at least $5,000 to participate. If you’re interested in accessing higher yields than traditional CDs or money market accounts, the Alpine Note series is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to take advantage of EquityMultiple’s real estate investment opportunities without tying up your money long-term.

Related: Apps That Give You Money for Signing Up

7. Alternative Investments

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Alternative investments have become increasingly popular as fintech services open up once closed markets to the individual retail investor. These opportunities have democratized numerous markets and unlocked previously-inaccessible cash flows to pad your income from assets.

YieldStreet → A Wide Bucket of “Alts”

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $2,500
• Type of Investor: All Investors

Yieldstreet is one such platform leading the charge to provide access to income-generating assets in a number of asset classes.

Yieldstreet is an alternative investment platform that provides you with income-generating opportunities. These investment opportunities come backed by collateral, typically have low stock market correlation and span across various asset classes. Such asset classes include:

• art finance
• real estate
• commercial finance
• legal finance and more.

Yieldstreet has been in business since 2015, and has returned over $600 million to their investors since its founding.

Their yields range from 7%-15% historically and have predefined payment schedules (i.e., monthly or quarterly payments) or pay principal and interest upon the occurrence of certain events (e.g., case settlement within a legal finance investment).

The durations of investment opportunities range from 6 months to 5 years and have investment opportunities starting as low as $2,500.

Learn more by opening an account now for access to passive income-filled returns on your investments.

 

Other Top Investment Opportunities to Consider

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Check out some of these other investment options for a complete listing of every FinTech-enabled investment opportunity popping up. They might represent some of the best assets to buy for your portfolio.

8. Real Estate Investment Trusts (Streitwise)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: ~$5,000
• Type of Investor: All Investors

Some people consider Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to be the mutual funds of real estate. REITs are a collection of properties operated by a company that uses money investors give them to buy and develop real estate.

You can choose to invest in trusts that build condos, apartment buildings, business complexes, or other facilities.

REITs pay you dividends. These are a fitting income-producing asset for people who want an easy way to get involved with real estate investing without having to purchase property themselves.

One avenue to explore for investing in REITs is by investing through Streitwise.

Streitwise is a new era of real estate investing. With capital raised by qualified investors, the company leverages the best-performing property investments into professionally designed portfolios.

The returns then get distributed and serviced through an online REIT- with your income as their mission.

If you’re looking to generate passive income while conserving cash on hand, Streitwise provides the perfect opportunity for both accredited and non-accredited investors and offers one of the lowest fee structures around.

The company has provided an 8.4% annualized return due to its superior property selection and low fee structure, far outpacing comparable Public REITs or bonds.

Qualified investments include properties stretching largely across America from the Midwest to the West Coast and leveraged based on Streitwise’s analysis.

By placing $5 million of their own money in these investments Streitwise places a good deal of skin-in-the game for all sponsors and 100% incentive alignment between sponsor and investor interests at all times.

The service has a minimum investment of ~$5,000 to begin investing in commercial real estate properties. The company provides REIT offerings federally-registered with the SEC and offers them to both accredited and non-accredited investors.

Investing through an investment vehicle like Streitwise’s REIT offers a great source of passive income, recurring cash flow, higher returns, portfolio diversification and inflation protection.

With an 8.4% annualized return and a low fee structure, Streitwise provides one of the best opportunities for passive income in real estate investing.

It outpaces comparable REITs and has delivered an annualized dividend return of at least 8% for the last 17 quarters, with an average annual rate of 9.44%.

Despite Covid’s effect on the general real estate market, Streitwise met return targets through employing strong credit tenancy (100% contractual rent obligations met in 2020), conservative underwriting (51% loan to value, LTV), and a low / transparent fee structure.

All dividends quoted are net of fees, with fees already taken out. Consider exploring Streitwise for your real estate investing needs today.

 

9. Private Credit Investments (Percent)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $500
• Type of Investor: Accredited Investors Only

Percent is an investment platform designed for accredited investors who are interested in accessing private credit (non-bank lending).

You can diversify your portfolio with investments such as …

• small business lending in Latin America
• U.S. litigation finance
• Canadian residential mortgages
• merchant cash advances

Percent has built a way for retail accredited investors to access a wide range of private credit opportunities with a clear view into their performance through its innovative tools and comprehensive market data. That allows investors to make better-informed decisions, source and compare opportunities, and monitor performance with ease.

This platform also provides access to an alternative investment that’s a little more liquid than other alts, with some debt investments only lasting nine months, with liquidity available after the very first month in some cases.

The service targets annualized returns on unsecured notes between 12% to 18% on average and up to 20%. And while investment minimums vary, many Percent opportunities require only $500 to invest.

If you’re interested, visit Percent’s site to learn more or open an account.

 

10. Royalties

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When people think of royalties, music is the first to come to mind, but royalties can apply to other creative products, such as art, natural resources, and more, as well. You don’t have to be the musician or artist who created a song or piece to profit from it.

In the world of art, you can invest in royalties and receive payment every time your product is used. An easy way to get started is to check out Royalty Exchange. This website allows you to buy music royalties from musicians.

And if you’re looking to invest in art for capital appreciation instead of just as assets generating income for your financial needs, consider investing in art with MasterWorks.

The platform allows you to invest in “blue chip” art and profiting when the company sells this art for a higher value than it was acquired.

 

11. Farmland (FarmTogether)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Minimum Investment to Start: $10,000
• Type of Investor: Accredited Investors

There are other types of real estate you can invest in outside of residential and commercial properties, such as farmland.

Historically, farmland investing has only been available to the ultra-wealthy. However, with the introduction of crowdfunding platforms like FarmTogether, this high-barrier to entry has been significantly reduced, and the asset is widely accessible to investors of all kinds for the first time.

As one of the best passive income ideas for investment, farmland typically offers a steady, reliable return on investment, low correlation to traditional assets like stocks and bonds, and a hedge to inflation.

Over the past several decades, farmland has consistently yielded returns over 10%; after all, the primary use for the land is food, and people will always need to eat.

This also makes farmland real estate particularly well-suited to appreciate over time. In fact, over the past ten years, American farmland has risen in value by more than 6% each year.

 

12. Land Rentals

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You don’t need to rent out buildings. Another option is to rent out land. Depending on the size, location, and characteristics of your land, there are various options for how you can rent it.

If you have fertile soil and an expansive enough plot of land, you can rent it to farmers.

You can do this privately or through a matching service, such as Shared Earth. If you don’t have enough land for a farm, you can rent it to someone who wants a garden.

14. Car Rentals

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Cars are a depreciating asset, but it’s still possible to turn your vehicle into an asset which generates cash flow by renting it out. You can choose when to rent it out so that you always have it when you need to use it.

A website such as Turo will let you list your car for rent and set the time frames.

You could also make a deal with someone you trust who would like to use your car to drive for Uber or Lyft. Your car’s value will depreciate faster the more miles that are put on it, but if you’re making income more quickly than the depreciation rate, it can still be worth it.

Be aware: This may run afoul of insurance coverage policies and result in loss of coverage or lack of a claim being honored if something should occur. Check your policy to see what terms apply.

Often, car insurance carriers require a special type of insurance policy for ride-sharing to honor any claims made against policies. It is not recommended if this places you at risk for liability. Carefully consider this decision before moving forward.

13. Mineral Rights

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In my first job out of college, I worked for an oil and gas firm which specialized in purchasing mineral rights from landowners who wished to cash in upfront on the oil and gas located beneath the surface of their property.

The company mapped hot spots for drilling activity across the U.S. and targeted landowners who held property in actively-producing regions or in areas the company thought drilling might target in the near future.

The company built a portfolio mixed with currently-producing properties and non-producing properties to provide a current income return and potential upside down the road.  When properties came online, the cash flows added incremental value to the portfolio’s overall return.

Once exhausting the available funding from the company’s investors, the company sold the portfolio to a firm based in Dallas, TX, which would securitize the assets and sell them to institutional investors.

Over my 3 years with the firm, they made purchases of nearly $100 million in properties, netting substantial returns during this period on top of the profits made when sold to the securitizing firm in Dallas.

This type of income-producing investment carries inherent risk from oil price movements, production potential, available resources, willing landowners and many more factors.

During my time with the company, I learned a substantial amount about net present value analysis, negotiation, marketing, and how to account for these assets on financial statements.

14. Websites

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Cash flow assets can be digital as well. You’ve likely heard of people who “flip” houses by buying them and reselling them at a higher price. You can do the same thing with a website, but with a lot less work.

Basically, someone researches upcoming popular topics or news, gets domains they expect others will want to own, and sells it to them at a higher price than it cost to buy.

Much like a fixer-upper, you can take a website with minimal traffic, build it up and then flip it for a profit if you find a lucrative niche an investor would want to target with affiliate marketing.

Likewise, you can build up your site and maintain it to earn those ongoing cash flows.

Because content is king in internet marketing, you’ll need a website complete with in-depth reviews, discussion and information for potential site visitors.

15. Owning a Traditional Business

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In business, cash is king.  This provides financial flexibility to meet your obligations, expand your business, fund your operations and much more.

Many businesses generate significant amounts of cash from their operations, providing ample room to reinvest in the business or pocket the cash yourself.

Not every business needs to be groundbreaking to become a great income-generating investment.

In fact, Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff teach a class at Harvard Business School which promotes the idea of buying an existing small business for the right price and running it yourself as the CEO.

Many business schools preach the need to become managers in existing companies and drive them to even greater success.

These professors suggest going the opposite route: starting small by purchasing an existing small business and managing it toward financial gain.

By purchasing an established business with developed customer lists, operations, staff, and processes, you de-risk much of the uncertainty around business formation and starting up.

If done well, you can generate cash flow freely and either grow the business further or pay yourself a handsome salary from your profits.

Some common examples include:

• Car washes
• Laundromats
• Pest removal services
• Specialty cafes and bistros
• Commercial building window-washing businesses
• Private ambulance services
• Medical testing clinics
• Chemical supply businesses
• Electrical utility equipment supply businesses
• Pool repair and supply businesses
• Boat and RV storage facilities

16. Short-Term Rentals

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Rather than investing in creating buildings, another income-producing asset is renting out property that already exists.

The basic idea is to own a house or apartment, rent it out to tenants, and make money off of the rent checks each month.

However, investor beware: this can be a lot more complicated than it initially seems and it’s possible to get tenants who don’t pay and you can’t legally make leave.

A safer option is to do short-term rentals of a house, or even just a room, through reputable services, such as Airbnb.

In eligible countries, Airbnb’s Host Guarantee program gives you protection up to $1,000,000 in damages to covered property in the event of guest damage.

Depending on your location and the type of accommodations you’re providing, Airbnb can be very profitable without the headache of badgering tenants for rent.

My wife and I hosted an AirBnB in a lock-off unit in the rear of our house for two and a half years.

With payments from these short-term rental guests and long-term tenants in the adjacent unit, we managed to have these renters pay for our entire mortgage.

While flipping the room between guests at first took a considerable amount of time, once we established a routine and segregated duties between ourselves, the task became considerably more efficient and worthwhile.

By the end of the first 6 months, we had a set routine and flipping the room took less than 20 minutes (not counting laundry).

We created a short-term rental checklist for tasks which needed to be done between guests and this covered every cleaning task, inspecting for damage or needed repairs, and left no remnants of the previous guest who stayed.

We quickly earned tens of 5-star reviews and averaged north of 4.8 stars, earning Superhost status for several quarters before we decided to move to California.

The experience helped us to save for a down payment quicker by covering our living expenses.

17. Owning an Online Business

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Similar to owning a traditional business, owning an online business can generate income for your investment as well.

Commonly, this involves earning income from display advertising, affiliate marketing, course offerings, training, services, and many other inventive ways for making money online. You can even be a financial content writer.

The key is to find a niche audience with problems you can uniquely address.  Once you build this audience around your online business, you can have a dedicated audience who come to you directly to resolve their problems.

By earning these users’ trust, you can develop a lasting business which both earns you money and helps people.

18. Annuities

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Annuities act as a contract between an investor and an insurance company where the former makes a lump sum investment or series of payments over a period of time in exchange for regular income payments beginning now or some agreed-upon point in the future.

These investments are popular with retirees who want a guaranteed income during their retirement.

Contributions made to annuities accrue on a tax-deferred basis, and like contributions made to retirement plans like a 401(k), investors can only withdraw these funds after age 59½ without incurring a penalty.

When investors consider purchasing an annuity, they can customize many aspects to their specific needs. Further, investors may elect between purchasing a lump-sum annuity or making a series of payments to the insurer.

After purchasing the annuity contract, the investor has the ability to choose when to annuitize (or convert into a series of payments received over time) the contributions made.

When you purchase an annuity which begins paying immediately, these are referred to as an immediate annuity.  For annuities which pay at a later date, these are called deferred annuities.

Related: Can I Retire at 60 with $500k?

19. Writing Covered Calls Options Contracts

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For interested investors who wish to pursue a lower-risk alternative to investing in the market for investment returns can consider writing covered calls. This approach is the most conservative method for trading options and can also produce income with your portfolio, regardless of whether the stock you own rises or falls (assuming you position your trades appropriately).

To understand a bit behind the process, we should first explore what an option contract is. At its most basic definition, a single option contract represents 100 shares of an underlying stock. This can be as a put or call option and also referred to simply as a round lot.

From a buyer’s perspective, call options are considered bullish because they aim to lock in a lower price point for purchasing a stock now or at some future date.  Investors who purchase a call option have the belief the underlying stock will rise from current levels. Because they want to lock in this entry point, they opt to pay a smaller amount now (called an option premium) than they would for the full stock order purchase.

Likewise, investors can also sell a call option (act as an option writer) and collect a premium from another investor who believes the price will rise. This premium, in exchange for selling the call option against stock they own (called writing a covered call), gives the call writer some added income if the price of the underlying stock does not rise above the strike price + option premium.

→ Covered Call Example

For example, Investor A owns 1,000 shares of Alphabet, better known for its Google (GOOG) subsidiary, which has an example market price of $1,450.

Investor A thinks the stock price for GOOG will not rise significantly any time in the near future and decides to sell a $1,500 call to profit from this forecasted price direction.

Investor A sells one GOOG call option (representing 100 shares of underlying stock) for a $100 premium to Investor B and has this set to expire in three months. For writing this call, Investor A receives $10,000 ($100 option premium * 100 shares) and Investor B pays $10,000.

Now, Investor A has the obligation to deliver the stock at $1,500 to Investor B should Investor B choose to exercise the option between now and the option expiration.

In the event the stock price remains the same or declines, Investor A pockets $10,000 and has no obligation to Investor B.

However, if the price rises to $1,600, Investor B would choose to exercise the option, forcing Investor A to deliver these shares, effectively making Investor A cost neutral.

Any price between the strike price and the strike + premium would result in Investor B exercising the option and reducing the loss for buying the call option from Investor A.

As an example, if GOOG stock rises from $1,500 to $1,550, Investor B would exercise the option to receive 100 shares of GOOG stock at $1,550, thus cutting the loss from paying the option premium from $10,000 to $5,000.

Writing covered calls can be another way to generate income from assets you hold.

Consider using a free stock trading app like Webull, which offers free options trades and comes equipped with useful stock analysis tools to inform your decision-making.

 

What Are the Best Assets Can I Buy with Little Money?

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It can be difficult to find an income-generating asset that is a good investment. You want something that will generate income for years, but you don’t have tons of cash lying around to invest in the right assets.

In this article, we will talk about some great income-generating assets that you can buy with little money and how you go about accumulating these valuable investments over time.

With the growth of FinTech apps and competition amongst financial companies, the cost of entry into profitable investments has never been easier.

That means low or no investment account minimums and commission-free trading in many instances.

• Online stock trading.

This is one of the easiest ways to invest in income-generating assets with little money. The minimum account size for Webull, Robinhood, Acorns, Plynk and M1 Finance are all $0 – $20.

Investing in stocks is a way that people invest small amounts of money into assets without having a large amount invested in their overall investment portfolio.

Exchange traded funds are assets you can buy with little money and provide instant diversification in many instances if you invest in passive index funds.

• Buy some real estate.

Houses tend to be expensive but you can buy a single family home or condo unit from as low as $25,000-$50,000 if you’re willing to live where it’s located and commit yourself to fixing up any needed repairs.

You can also invest through crowdfunding apps like Fundrise with minimums as low as $10. This buys you a portion of a commercial property that the company aims to pay you with free cash flow and then possibly flip to an outside buyer for a profit.

What Are the Most Profitable Assets?

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The most profitable assets are often those that can generate income in some form. In many cases, these are assets you buy with little money to diversify your investments and provide instant investment returns on the purchase price.

Having a high price tag doesn’t automatically qualify it as one of the most profitable assets. In fact, trading apps allow you to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, some of the most profitable assets of the last five years.

While these virtual currencies can carry some extreme volatility, they’ve rocketed into the market mainstream recently, bringing outrageous returns to early investors who’ve held on for the ascent. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and even Dogecoin have climbed significantly in recent years, making them some of the most profitable assets to hold in your portfolio.

If you want to trade crypto but don’t know where to start or unsure of how to do it, consider signing up for an Robinhood account.

Clearly, this is a risky proposition and it squarely places your capital at risk. Be mindful of the risks involved and whether this makes a suitable investment for you. But don’t let cryptocurrencies be the only thing making this qualification, stocks have been a fantastic investment over many years as well.

On average, the S&P 500 has returned around 10% per year over the last 8 decades. While that might not compare to the 10,000% returns you might see in cryptocurrencies, that’s some serious growth for long-term capital.

Let Income-Generating Assets Diversify Your Financial Resources

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Make your money and property work for you by turning them into income-producing assets.

The phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” can apply to income streams as well so it’s a financially literate idea to diversify your income and see how to build wealth for long-term financial security.

Before proceeding with purchasing or investing in any of the above methods for acquiring assets which generate income and cash flow, make sure you carefully consider the amount of risk you’re willing to take. These best income-producing assets can help you to reach financial independence if you use investing strategies wisely.