12 Ways Retirees Can Make Money Through Passive Income

3. Rent your tools and gear to others

That Chicago homeowner I mentioned earlier didn’t just rent bedrooms. Her property has a former stable that’s been converted into a handful of car stalls, so they also brought in a tidy sum from neighbors who wanted off-street parking.

Don’t have a big garage? Well, use your imagination. Maybe you have a ladder, stroller, surfboard, bicycle, boat, camera equipment or a great selection of power tools. Perhaps your scenic property would be a great place for a wedding, or your historic home has awesome interiors that would be great for a movie shoot.

Peer-to-peer rental sites like Nextdoor (neighborhood connections), Peerspace (meeting and film location venues), BabyQuip (baby equipment), ShareGrid (camera sharing), CurbFlip (parking spaces), Zilok (gear and possessions), Boatsetter (boats) and Spinlister (bicycles) will help you find folks who occasionally need such things but don’t want to own them.

Kathy Kristof, creator of the SideHusl website, interviewed a guy who paid $2,000 for a used car that he rents pretty consistently through a site called Turo. “Now he has four cars that he rents out. It’s a pretty nice passive income,” Kristof told me.

Whatever you’re renting, keep in mind that ordinary insurance might not cover commercial use of your property. An insurance rider may cover some of the items, but you may need a separate policy, so consult your insurance agent.