What's Happening
10 minutes ago

Dow Jumps Over 300 Points Following Recent Inflation Data; Investor Sentiment Improves, Fear & Greed Index Moves To 'Neutral' Zone

benzingabenzinga.com
10 minutes ago

Palo Alto Networks, Moderna And 3 Stocks To Watch Heading Into Friday

benzingabenzinga.com
11 minutes ago

TikTok Returns To Apple And Google App Stores After A Month-Long Hiatus

benzingabenzinga.com
11 minutes ago

Prediction: 2 Stocks That'll Be Worth More Than Bank of America 10-15 Years From Now

foolfool.com
13 minutes ago

US Stocks Set For A Volatile Start: Analyst Dismisses Chances Of 20%+ S&P 500 Gain For Third Year In A Row, But Says 'Investors Should Be Optimist...

benzingabenzinga.com
18 minutes ago

Should You Buy Nvidia Stock Before Feb. 26?

foolfool.com
18 minutes ago

Here's How Many Shares of Enterprise Products Partners You Should Own to Get $5,000 in Yearly Dividends

foolfool.com
18 minutes ago

Stock-Split Watch: Is Meta Platforms Next?

foolfool.com
31 minutes ago

The Ultimate Healthcare Stock to Buy With $500 Right Now

foolfool.com
38 minutes ago

Sony's Outgoing CEO Kenichiro Yoshida Calls This $4 Billion Deal The 'Most Impressive' In Company History

benzingabenzinga.com
43 minutes ago

Think American Express Is Expensive? This Chart Might Change Your Mind.

foolfool.com
48 minutes ago

Will the "Trump Put" Save Nvidia?

foolfool.com
56 minutes ago

This Is the Average Social Security Benefit for Age 67

foolfool.com
58 minutes ago

Will This 1 New Catalyst for Solana Be a Game Changer?

foolfool.com
59 minutes ago

Is Now a Good Time to Buy the Dip in Dogecoin?

foolfool.com
1 hour ago

After Selling 30,000 EVS, Hertz Is Now Chasing Fleet Rotation To Reduce Losses

benzingabenzinga.com
1 hour ago

Why Airbnb Shares Are Trading Higher By Around 14%; Here Are 20 Stocks Moving Premarket

benzingabenzinga.com
1 hour ago

Warren Buffett's 4th-Quarter Trades Will Be Revealed Today, but Won't Show His Favorite Stock to Buy. Here's Why.

foolfool.com
1 hour ago

This Looming Catalyst Could Boost XRP, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu

foolfool.com
1 hour ago

Is Estée Lauder an Undervalued Stock Right Now?

foolfool.com

These 3 Moves Could Set You Up With Passive Income in 2025

A person holding a bunch of dollar bills in front of their face

Image source: The Motley Fool/Upsplash

If you’re looking to boost your income in 2025, you have options. You could pick up a side hustle and see what it pays you. Or, you could take the easier way out and set yourself up with passive income.

But it’s important to be realistic about the amount of money each option will pay you. If you’re hoping to see your income increase by $300 to $500 a month, you’re going to need a side hustle unless you happen to have a lot of money to work with already.

But if you’re happy with a small income boost and you value your free time, then you may want to go the passive income route. Here are three moves to look at in that regard.

1. Get a better rate on your savings

Your savings account probably isn’t going to make you rich. But the more interest you earn on the money you have in savings, the more passive income you get to enjoy. And even if it’s a small amount, hey, money is money.

Right now, a lot of top savings accounts are paying around 4% APY. The tricky thing, though, is that savings account rates aren’t guaranteed, and they could fall in the new year.

But let’s say you have $10,000 in savings and those 4% rates stick around. That means you could end up $400 richer at the end of 2025 with the right bank account. So if you’re only getting 2% or 3% on your savings now, shop around for a better rate.

And even if you’re getting close to 4%, you never know if you might be able to do better. Check out this list of the best high-yield savings accounts to get started.

2. Open a CD

The nice thing about savings accounts is that you can withdraw your money at any time. With a CD, you have to commit to the term you sign up for or else face a penalty, the exact amount of which depends on your bank.

But unlike savings accounts, CDs do allow you to lock in an interest rate on your money. So if you have $10,000 to put into a 12-month CD and you’re able to snag a 4.5% APY, you’re looking at earning $450 in passive income. If you like the sound of that, click here for a roundup of the best CD rates available today.

3. Start investing

Today’s savings account and CD rates are pretty strong. But they pale in comparison to the S&P 500’s average yearly return over the past 50 years, which is about 10%. So if you open a brokerage account and start investing, you could set yourself up with a much larger amount of passive income over time.

To be clear, though, investing is something you need to do on a long-term basis to make money. You may luck out and see your portfolio value increase in 2025 if you start funding it now. But that’s not guaranteed to happen.

So while a brokerage account might earn you some passive income in 2025, you shouldn’t count on it. Instead, you should plan to hold your investments for many years so they’re able to gain a nice amount of value over time.

If you put $10,000 into a stock portfolio and leave it alone for 20 years, you could end up with a little over $67,000 if you’re able to earn a 10% return in your portfolio during that time.

If your goal is to bring home hundreds of dollars extra per month in 2025, then passive income may not be the way to get it. But if you’re happy with a small boost in the course of the upcoming year (or longer, in the case of investing), then it pays to explore these passive income streams that reward you for doing basically no work.

Alert: highest cash back card we’ve seen now has 0% intro APR into 2026

This credit card is not just good – it’s so exceptional that our experts use it personally. It features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, a cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee!

Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.

We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
Motley Fool Money does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from Motley Fool Money is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Related Posts

The average retirement age in the U.S. was 62 in 2023, but that number’s been slowly ticking up over time. Rising life expectancies and rising

While the stock market is still thriving, some investors may be feeling wary about the future. Spiking inflation could cause the Federal Reserve to shift

There are plenty of ways to become a millionaire, like starting a successful business, being a professional athlete, or becoming a movie star. For most

Sadly, a lot of people go into retirement with minimal savings. But if you’re gearing up to retire this year, you’ve hopefully managed to amass