One of the easiest ways to create an asset is to buy stock in a publicly-traded company. There are literally thousands upon thousands of companies that allow you to buy stock in them. And thanks to today’s technology, if you already have an online brokerage account, you can buy stock in a company in as little as 10 seconds using your computer or even your cell phone.

Even if you’ve never bought stock in a company before, I’m sure you’ve still heard the phrase “Buy Low, Sell High” at least once in your life. “Buy Low, Sell High” means that when you buy a stock, you buy it at a low price with the hopes that in the future, the stock price goes up so you can sell it for more than you paid for it, making a nice profit. That’s just one way to make money with stocks. Another way is to buy stocks that pay dividends.

People who own shares of stock in a company are referred to as shareholders. Some companies distribute their earnings to their shareholders in the form of stock dividends. Companies like Verizon, McDonald’s, Walmart, AT&T, Boeing, and Kraft Foods all pay dividends to their shareholders. To put it simply, these companies pay you money just for owning shares of their stock. To show you how dividends work and how they can provide passive income, let’s take a look at Verizon.

Verizon trades under the ticker symbol VZ. At the time this article was written, Verizon’s stock price was $29.90 a share. If you go to the Yahoo Finance page for Verizon, you’ll see all kinds of important statistics and information such as Market Cap, P/E Ratio, EPS, Volume, and so on. But for the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus solely on the “Div & Yield” part. This is where you’ll see what Verizon’s current dividend is per share, and what the current dividend yield is based on the stock price.

As of this writing, the Yahoo Finance page for Verizon shows that the current dividend is $1.90. This means that over the course of a year, Verizon pays you $1.90 for every share that you own. So if you own 1000 shares in Verizon, then you’re total dividend payments over the course of a year would be about $1,900, which is $1.90 (the dividend Verizon pays shareholders) * 1000 (the number of shares you own). Just like a stock price though, dividend payments do fluctuate, they can go up or down. However, unless a company’s financial situation changes dramatically in a short period of time, dividend payment amounts don’t typically change much often.

If you take the $1.90 dividend that Verizon pays and divide it by the current stock price of $29.90, you get 0.0635. Multiply that by 100, and you get 6.35. That’s the current dividend yield for Verizon, 6.35%. The dividend yield is the magic number you want to look for when choosing a dividend-yielding stock to invest in. Compared to the average savings account rates of .50% to 1%, 6.35% is much more attractive. Dividend yields vary from stock to stock. There are a lot of stocks that pay no dividend, so they have no dividend yield. Then there are other stocks, like REIT’s, that have dividend yields of 12% to 18%. As attractive as those high yields are, make sure to research the financial health of the companies offering those dividend yields before making an investment.

So now you’ve learned a little bit about dividends. But, how exactly are those dividends paid to you? Well, most companies distribute their dividends quarterly. Let’s use Verizon as an example again. If you divide the $1.90 by 4, you get $0.48. So every 3 months Verizon sends you a dividend of 48 cents. That money is usually deposited directly into your brokerage account, which you can then withdrawal as cash. Or, you have the option of having your dividends automatically buy more stock in that company, resulting in more dividends. Buying more of the same stock with it’s dividends is called Dividend Reinvestment, and most brokerages offer this service for free.

Every new business starts with an idea. Most people strain for years to think of a good business idea. But, if you’re like me, then you probably have business ideas pop into your head on an almost daily basis. Unique business ideas pop into my head whether I’m in the shower, cutting grass, driving on a long trip, or just trying to fall asleep. If you’re an entrepreneur at heart, than you know exactly what I’m talking about. New business ideas just never stop coming!

When I come up with a new idea for a business, I write it down in my “secret” business idea notebook, that I keep in my desk. I write it down as soon as possible, because if I don’t, I’ll probably forget about it. Then when I have free time, I elaborate on my business ideas in my notebook. That way, if I ever decide to take action on them, I’ll have a general idea of what I want to do with them.

However, with the hundreds of business ideas I’ve had in the past few years, I’ve learned a very important lesson. And that lesson is this:

If you think you have a great business idea that could make you millions (or even billions!) of dollars, than you better act on it fast. Because chances are, someone, somewhere in the world has the same exact business idea that you have, and the race is on to see which one gets started first.

I learned this very important lesson about 6 years ago, when I had a great idea for a brand new product. In my house, it seemed that all of the wall outlets that were controlled by light switches weren’t anywhere near I had my lamps. So I ran extension cords from those lamps to those switch-controlled outlets so that I could turn them on and off with the light switch. Then I thought to myself, “I should invent a wireless light switch that you can just stick on a wall and control any outlet with.”

So I wrote the idea in my little business idea notebook, and even drew a couple of prototype drawings of what I thought “my” new invention would look like. But that was the furthest I got with the idea, because I didn’t have the technical know-how to actually build a prototype.

Then, a couple of years later, I was out Christmas shopping for my family. I’m a horrible shopper, so to get gift ideas I just walk around a store until I see something that someone in my family might like, and then buy it. Well, I was in a a little store called Boscovs, and was just browsing around, and that’s when I saw it. Someone had brought “my” wireless light switch idea to fruition. I was standing face to face with a product called, The Handy Switch! It was exactly how I had imagined my product idea! I literally stood there staring at The Handy Switch with my jaw wide open for a good 25 or 30 minutes. I know the other shoppers must have thought I was crazy, but I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The idea that I had in my head just a few years ago was staring me right in the face. Someone else came up with the same idea I had, but they were getting rich because they choose to take action on it!

After I saw the Handy Switch in the store, it seemed like every time I turned on the television I would see a Handy Switch commercial. I would say about 5 curse words to myself, and then change the channel. I got lazy with myself and missed out on an incredible opportunity. But after a while I realized that I had just learned the very important lesson I mentioned a few paragraphs above.

So if you have what you think is a great idea for a new business, a new product, or a new website, then you better jump on it, and fast! Because chances are, somewhere in the world, someone has the same exact business idea that you have, and the race is on to see who can get rich off of it first!

Have you ever drove past a really huge house and thought to yourself “Man, I wonder what they do for a living so they can afford a house like that!” Well Ryan D’Agostino, author of Rich Like Them: My Door-to-Door Search for the Secrets of Wealth in America’s Richest Neighborhoods, wondered the same thing. He found a list of the 100 wealthiest zip codes in America and decided to visit those towns, and knock on the doors of the biggest houses he could find to see how the homeowners had acquired enough wealth to be able to afford such huge and magnificent homes. D’Agostino was basically acting as a door to door salesman, but instead of pitching a product, he pitched the idea of his book to the homeowners to see if they would share their story of wealth so that he could write about it and hopefully inspire others in their quest for wealth.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s not a “How to get rich” Book. It’s a “How THEY got rich book”, and it just proves one of the points that I try to make on PassiveIncomeInfo.com, and that is that there’s an infinite number of ways to acquire wealth. I have to give praise to D’Agostino for having the guts to just walk up to those homes and make his pitch to whoever answered the door. Most of the houses he went to, no one answered the door. Others that he went to, maids or housekeepers answered the door and said that the owners weren’t home. Some homeowners answered the door, but said that they weren’t interested in his book. But then D’Agostino would find someone willing to invite him in, and share his or her story with him.

The stories that D’Agostino had collected for his book very interesting. He writes about how he knocked on a door and met Bob Grosnoff, who became a stockbroker in 1969 and became wealthy by helping big-money clients invest their money in safer alternatives than stocks while the stock market was swinging wildly up and down. He also writes how he met Frank Heurich, who became wealthy by helping an inventor named Gregor Jonsson lease out his shrimp-peeling machine to shrimp businesses all around the world. D’Agostino also writes about his friend Scott Zdanis, who revolutionized the credit-card processing industry at 23 years old and bought a Ferrari less than a year later. Those are just a few of the stories that D’Agostino writes about in his book. Other stories involve people becoming rich with real estate, art, and even produce (yup, fruits and vegetables).

Rich Like Them is an inspiring book, and I recommend it for inspiration to those who are on their quest of becoming rich.

Kiosks and carts are just about everywhere to be found. They can be found at major sporting events, inside malls, out on boardwalks, outside office buildings, and on busy street corners. However, there is still room for you to make a killing in the kiosk business. Kiosks and carts have very little expenses, and produce large amounts of profits for their owners.

How they produce passive income: Once the kiosks or carts are setup in a great location, they basically sell themselves. Of course an employee must be at the kiosk at all times to handle the transactions and make sure people don’t steal your products. That will be how your kiosks will generate passive income for you. Your employees will do all the selling. You can either do the bookwork yourself, or hire someone else to do it. Kiosks generally produce about $2,000.00 to $5,000.00 a week in revenue for each kiosk. The key to getting into the kiosk business is not to just own one, but to own many.

How to create this asset: A typical kiosk business will only need four things in order to start generating cash. The first things needed are the kiosks or carts themselves. They can range in prices from $3,000.00 to $20,000.00, depending on the needs of the kiosk business. If you plan to operate a kiosk business in the mall, they generally lease out their kiosks for about $500.00 to $600.00 per month to business. Some malls may also require that you pay a small percentage of your sales to them as well. Malls are great places to operate kiosks because they already have the traffic. You just have to present good products on your kiosks.

The second thing you’ll need is a business license. They typically cost about $15.00 to $75.00 depending on which state you live in, and they need to be renewed annually. They are pretty easy to obtain if you know where to go. A helpful website from the Small Business Administration is listed in the “For more information” part of this section. Also, if you plan to sell food at your kiosk or cart, you’ll need to obtain a permit from your local department of health. Getting this particular type of permit requires time because you must attend classes on how to handle and serve food properly.

The third thing you’ll need to run your kiosk business is a good product. Most kiosk businesses sell the latest toys and gadgets. You can sell just about anything your heart desires. However, it is best to only sell items that sell for less than $50.00. Here are some examples of items that are great for the kiosk business:

The forth thing needed for a kiosk or cart business is employees. They will be the money makers of your business, so treat them well. A good way to find employees for your kiosk or cart business is to advertise in the local newspaper, or put up fliers around local colleges in your area.

People who are relocating or simply don’t have enough room in their house need a place to put stuff. This is where self storage facilities come in. A person who needs his or her belongings stored in a secure place will rent out a storage unit in a self storage facility for a monthly fee. That person is able to use his or her own lock to lock the storage unit, and is free to put items in the unit or take items out during business hours. Self storage facilities require few, if any employees, and the only inventory that needs to be tracked is space. Also, if a person does not pay the rent for his or her unit, you are entitled to sell his or her belongings.

How they produce passive income: Depending on the size of the storage unit needed in the self storage facility, the monthly rents for each rental unit fall between $50.00 for small 5′x5′ units, to $275.00 for 10′x30′ units. Expenses for self storage facilities are extremely low. Most self storage units have only one employee, and pay about $600.00 a month for all utilities.

How to create this asset: Creating a self storage facility is no easy task. It involves a lot of research and a lot of work. It all pays off though after the self storage facility is created, because they are very easy to manage. The first step in creating a self storage facility in your area is to research the market.

You must find out if there is a need for a self storage facility in your area. If not, where is there a need that you can fulfill? Also, you must research prospective places in which you can build a self storage facility, and if you’ll have to compete with other self storage facilities. Call self storage facilities in the area where you plan to place one and see what they charge for units. This will give you a good idea of current rental prices per unit, so you can decide how much you can charge per unit.

After doing your market research, you’ll have to write a business plan. A business plan is required if you wish to seek financing from the bank. An internet link to a sample business plan of a self storage facility is located in the “For more information” part of this section. A bank needs to see that you have thoroughly researched your self storage business, and you know how to make it profitable.

After securing financing and purchasing the land you’ll need, it is time to get the self storage unit’s built. There are many different companies out there that build pre-engineered self storage units. Look in a phone book for companies that build steel buildings. Some storage unit builders are listed in the “For more information” part of this section.

Hire a lawyer to write up different contracts for your self storage facility. Each person that rents a unit should be required to sign the contract. This is to protect you from any lawsuits, and it also would give you the right to sell the persons belongings if he or she does not pay the rent for his or her unit. The information of the customers should be kept in a database on a computer, such as Microsoft access. Some software companies have designed software specifically for the use of self storage facilities. A few of those companies are listed in the “For more information” part of this section.

If you don’t have the time to manage your self storage facility, then hire a couple of managers. The managers would work during business hours (typically 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). They assist customers in renting a unit, entering the customer’s information into the database, bill the customers that need to be billed, and also sell the belongings of the delinquent renters.

During the summer time you can’t ride anywhere without seeing an inflatable bounce house (also called moonwalks) setup in someone’s yard. Kids love them, and they provide a great and easy way to keep kids occupied during picnics, family reunions, or even for a kid’s birthday party. Two people can easily setup them up, and then take them down after the party is over. Not only are they easy to handle, but they are big money makers.

How they produce passive income: Moonwalks are typically rented for about $150.00 per hour, and $25.00 per hour after the first. They cost about $4,000.00 each, so they pay for themselves with just a few rentals. You pay employees to setup and take down the moonwalks, and you’ll also pay someone to answer phone calls and make appointments. Your employees will do most of the work and you’ll get most of the profits.

How to create this asset: Before starting a moonwalk business, lots of research needs to be completed. There are different rules and regulations in each state about how a moonwalk business can be operated. Some states require someone to operate the moonwalk during the rental, and others don’t. Here are some items that should be researched before starting a moonwalk rental business:

Where am I going to buy the moonwalks? – Would it be better to buy used moonwalks off of Ebay.com, or buy brand-spanking new ones from a respected manufacturer?
How am I going to pay for the moonwalks? – Do you plan to finance the moonwalks yourself, or seek financing from a bank or local investors?
Who is the target market? – Find out what the most common type of people who will be using your business. A target market could be stay-at-home moms with an average annual household income of $70,000.00 or less and are planning a birthday for her child.
Who is the competition? – Is the moonwalk rental business saturated where you live? States like California and Florida contain many well-established moonwalk companies, and it may be hard to compete. Other states like Delaware and New York don’t have much competition in the moonwalk rental business.
What should I charge? – A typical strategy to win over the competition is to find out what they are charging, and charge less. Would it be easier to charge a one-time rental fee for the day, or charge a rental fee per hour?
Do I need to have insurance? – Some states do not require having insurance for moonwalks. However, there is always a risk of lawsuits because children can get hurt inside of moonwalks. It’s best to purchase liability insurance for your own protection.
How many employees would I need? – A business that has three moonwalks can be operated just by yourself and one other person. The more moonwalks that are owned, the more employees are needed.

After doing all of the necessary research, A few different forms need to be created to legally protect yourself and your business. A link to examples of those types of forms is provided in the “For more information” part of this section. Also, it is wise to contact a lawyer before opening for business, just to make sure all of the necessary legal precautions are in place.

After purchasing your moonwalks, practicing how to set them up and take them down, it is time to open for business. Advertising with mail out fliers and in local newspapers is very effective.

How they produce passive income: How much money you make depends on how many people use the ATM machine. The more people who use your ATM machine, the more money you will make. It is possible to generate anywhere from $300.00 to $2000.00 per month in net profit per machine. This money is made off of the ATM surcharges. You basically charge the person using the ATM an “access fee”. Typical surcharges are from $1.50 to $2.00 per transaction. The money that was withdrawn, plus the surcharge fee, is deposited into your bank account automatically in less than two days.

How to create this asset: In order to create this asset, you must first do some good research before buying your first ATM machine. You’ll want to brainstorm where you can place them. ATM machines can be placed in places such as convenience stores, night clubs, movie theaters, arcades, small grocery stores, and bowling alleys. Then, contact the owners or managers of the locations you brainstormed, and see if they would be interested in placing an ATM in their business.

ATM’s not only make you money, but they make the business owner money too. Almost $14.00 of every $40.00 that is taken out of an ATM is spent back into the store. You can use that as sort of a sales pitch.

If the business owner or manager agrees to place the ATM machine in his or her store, create a contract and have the owner or manager sign it. Your contract doesn’t have to be long and very technical. Your contract should include items such as the business owner’s commission, how long the ATM is to remain in that location, if the owner is responsible for any damages, and who to contact if the ATM machine is down.

After creating the contract, it is time to purchase the machine. Here is where you have two options: You can either pay cash for the machine, or lease it. New ATM machines with the best security features cost around $3500.00 a piece. If you don’t want to pay monthly payments, then paying in cash is what you should do. If you don’t have the $3500.00, then you should lease the machine. The company that you purchase your ATM from should install it, and teach you how to use it. From there, you’re in business. You’ll need to fill your ATM’s about once a week with cash, and also get them repaired by the ATM company if needed.

Vending machines are very big money makers. You buy a machine that sells products itself. They accept money, give the correct change if necessary, dispense the product, and then the next customer comes along. Some vending machines, like the ones that dispense gumballs, don’t even require electricity!
Although not typically used by the rich, they can help you get started in acquiring the cash you’ll need to purchase larger assets.

How they produce passive income: Small gumball machines can make about $20.00 to $50.00 per machine, per month. Larger soda and snack machines can make anywhere from $200.00 to $500.00 a month.

How to create this asset: To start earning money with vending machines, you must first decide which vending machines you would like to operate. Do you want to have a couple soda and snack vending machines? Or do you want 20 or 30 tiny gumball machines? Soda and snack vending machines can be purchased for about $600.00 to $3,000.00 a piece while the gumball machines (which can also dispense small candy such as Skittles™ or Runts™) can be purchased for a little over $100.00 a piece.

After purchasing the vending machines, you’ll need to find locations for them. Finding locations for the small gumball machines can be pretty simple. They can be placed in many different places such as local restaurants, waiting rooms, hotel lobbies, employee break rooms, and supermarkets. Just casually walk into the place where you would like to put your gumball machine, and ask the manager if they would be willing to let you place a gumball machine in his or her store. There are two ways to get locations quickly and easily. The first is to offer the store a percentage of the profits, say like 20%. The second is instead of giving the store a percentage, you donate a percentage of the profits to charity. Managers usually don’t have a problem allowing a gumball machine in the store if it’s for charity.

To find locations for larger soda and snack machines, you’ll have to call around, and offer the business a percentage of the profits. Soda and snack machines do well in school cafeterias, employee break rooms, office building rooms, laundry mats, and in hotels.

After securing your location you’ll have to maintain the vending machine. Gumball machines only need to be filled up about once a month. Gumballs can be purchased in bulk at your local Costco or Sam’s Club. In total, each gumball costs about one cent, and are sold for twenty five cents. Soda and snack machines need to be filled about once a week, but do not have good profit margins like the gumball machines. You can buy the soda and snacks for your machines at your local Costco and Sam’s club as well.

The goal of almost everyone is to become “Debt Free”. They just can’t wait for the day that they don’t owe someone money! But the rich look at debt in a different way. To the rich, debt is a good thing! The rich are always looking for more debt because they know how to take on Good Debt, and reduce their Bad Debt.

What is Bad Debt? – Bad Debts are loans that you have on items that do not make you money, such as your car, your house, big screen T.V., etc. Because these items do not make any money for you, you have to pay off those loans with money from your own pocket. The rich pay cash for almost all of their items, instead of taking on Bad Debt.

What is Good Debt? – Good Debts are loans that you have for assets that make you money. Getting a mortgage for a rental property is taking on Good Debt, because the tenants of the rental property are basically paying off the mortgage for you. No money comes out of your pocket to pay a Good Debt. Another example of Good Debt is getting a loan to start a business, and have the income from that business pay off the loan.

The rich take on Good Debt to buy income producing assets. The income from those assets pays off the debt. The poor take on large amounts of Bad Debt, and have to pay for the bad debt using money from their own pocket.

Like the P/E Ratio, the PEG Ratio is used to get a better understanding of whether or not a company’s stocks is overpriced, underpriced, or just right. The PEG Ratio uses the P/E Ratio of a company, and compares it with that company’s annual growth rate. If a company’s stock is fairly priced, then it’s P/E Ratio should equal it’s annual growth rate.

How to calcualte the PEG Ratio – To calculate the PEG Ratio of a company, you’ll first need to know the P/E Ratio of that company. I wrote an article called “The P/E Ratio Explained” which shows you how to calculate or find a company’s P/E Ratio. After you have the P/E Ratio, you’ll need to find the company’s annual growth rate. The annual growth rate will be in percentage form, and you can find it in the company’s annual report. But thanks to the internet we don’t have to calculate the PEG Ratio ourselves. Just go to Yahoo Finance, type in the ticker symbol of the company you’re researching, and within seconds you’ll see a whole bunch of ratios for that company including the PEG Ratio.

How to use the PEG Ratio – The PEG Ratio of a company will be between 0 and 5. The lower the PEG Ratio, the better. A PEG Ratio of 2 or below is considered excellent. A PEG Ratio of 2 to 3 is considered OK. A PEG Ratio above 3 usually means that the company’s stock is over priced. As with the P/E Ratio, never make a decision to buy a stock based soley on the PEG Ratio. Always throughly research a stock before making the decision to buy.