Passive income: Ways to earn extra money while you’re off the clock

Michael Talerico is a father of two. The North Strabane man has worked as an opera singer and a restaurant sous chef. He’s now the food and beverage manager at a Washington County hotel.

But as his kids get older, he’s thinking about paying for two college educations.

“We’re trying to do everything we need to get there, but you look at it and you’re like man--- how expensive it is nowadays. I feel like you need that something else,” said Talerico.

That’s why Talerico joined the millions of Americans who have at least one additional source of passive income, money that comes into the household budget with little or no extra work involved.

“It’s a very attractive idea of not having to work for your money. I can’t think of a better goal than that,” said Stephen Kates, an analyst with financial publishing company Bankrate.

Kates says the first step to consider is making the money you already have-- work harder by putting some in a high-yield savings account.

“Instead of getting half a percent or one percent, you can get three or four percent very easily at a lot of online banks,” said Kates.

Many American adults, 53%, have what they consider “passive” income. For some, it’s a side business, or two.

“Doing little odd jobs, or being a freelancer, through Fiverr, or other companies like that,” said Kates.

There are other low-effort ways to bring in more money; Carvertise, for example, pays you to turn your car into a rolling billboard. If you have design skills, you can sell your creations on a platform like Cafe Press or Zazzle.

For Talerico, it was Turo, an online company that allows you to rent your vehicle. He started with one car, and now owns a fleet of eight.

It’s not completely work-free. Talerico needs to clean and maintain the vehicles after each rental. Right now, Talerico says he earns an extra $1,500 a month, but he’s planning to ramp that up.

“You could probably make five, six, seven-thousand dollars a month if you had cars paid off completely. The sky is kind of the limit,” said Talerico.

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