Income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.
Some examples of passive income are:
- Earnings from a business that does not require direct involvement from the owner or merchant.
- Rent from a property.
- Royalties from publishing a book or from licensing a patent or other form of intellectual property, software, etc .
- Earnings from internet ads.
- Dividend and interest income from owning securities, such as stocks and bonds, is usually referred to as portfolio income.
- Pensions, retirement payments.