21 Best Ways to Make Your Money Work for You

The rich do one thing that everyone else doesn’t do. They make their money work for them. All-day. Everyday. Nonstop. In fact, it’s how they’ve built most of their wealth in the first place.

The question is: how can you make your money work for you? Even if you don’t have millions to work with, you can still start small. Remember, most millionaires started from little and grew their wealth over time.

In this guide, you’ll learn some of the best ways to make your money work for you. Many of these strategies are used by wealthy people to create and build their wealth.

Keep reading to learn all the ways you can make your money work for you.

21 Best Ways to Make Your Money Work for You

1. Stock market (6 ideas)
2. Bank accounts (3 ideas)
3. Retirement accounts (2 ideas)
4. Real estate (2 ideas)
5. Credit cards (2 ideas)
6. Passive income (3 ideas)
7. Other ways (3 ideas)

Make your money work for you in the stock market

Putting your money into the stock market can be intimidating. You’ve been told all your life that the stock market is dangerous.

But think about it, is that actually true? Sure, it’s risky. But everything is risky. Even your day job is risky.

Stop thinking about the stock market as being this big scary creature. It’s not. Today you have more tools than ever to help you grow your money in the stock market.

Keep reading to learn about each tool.

1. Use an app

There are so many apps that you can use today to make your money work for you in the stock market.

Now, these apps aren’t necessarily the best way to invest in the stock market (you’ll learn that shortly).

But, if you just want to get your feet wet, then using one of these apps will definitely be great for you.

Best investment apps

• Acorns – Best for automated saving and investing
• Stash – Get $5 added to your account when you sign up
• M1 Finance – Best for self-managing your investments
• Wealthsimple – Best if you have a pre-existing investment portfolio

2. Index funds

Do you want all the benefits of the stock market without the risk? Buy index funds.

When I first opened my Roth IRA (more on those shortly), I maxed out my contribution at $6,000. Three months after that, my portfolio had grown almost 30% in value.

I’ve already gained $1,818.34. Keep in mind. I’m not doing anything.

The index funds are working for me 24/7.

How do I get started buying index funds?

You’ll first need to open a brokerage account. They’re completely free.

With a brokerage account, you’ll have access to most of the popular index funds. I would recommend opening a brokerage account with either Vanguard or Fidelity.

Those are two of the biggest names in the investment world and for good reason. I personally use Vanguard.

To begin buying index funds with Vanguard, follow this step-by-step tutorial.

There are plenty of other great options to choose from.

Best online brokers to buy index funds

• Charles Schwab – Best overall
• Fidelity – Best for research and tools
• TD Ameritrade – Best for beginners
• Vanguard – Best for investor-friendly ETFs

3. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Investing in individual securities can not only be time-consuming, but it can also increase your portfolio’s risk of loss. This is not what you want. And this is certainly not a good way to make your money work for you.

ETFs provide you with instant diversification by giving your portfolio exposure to hundreds of individual stocks and other securities. All with a single share of an ETF.

» Learn more about ETFs: ETFs Investing for Beginners: A Powerful Guide

Why is diversification important? The most important reasons are to prevent portfolio volatility and capital loss.

For example, let’s say you have $1,000 to invest. You decide you want to use $500 of your total $1,000 to buy some Facebook stock. Half of your portfolio is now made up of Facebook stock.

One week goes by, and suddenly Facebook’s stock crashes. Boom, just like that you are down $400. You decide to sell your Facebook shares to prevent any more damage.

You just lost about half of your $1,000 because most of your portfolio was made up of Facebook stock. You weren’t diversified.

In other words, all your eggs were in one basket.

If you drop your basket, all your eggs break.

But what if you had multiple baskets each with a few eggs? Then, even if you dropped one, you still have the other baskets which are safe.

That’s essentially what an ETF does for you.

ETFs allow you to put your money to work in the stock market without much risk. When you buy an ETF, you are buying a bundle of hundreds of individual stocks, bonds, and other investments.

Put simply:

If one of the 100 stocks within your ETF drops, but all the other 99 continue rising, then you’re still making money. The rising stocks are balancing out the dropping ones.

So, do ETFs make you more money than stocks over time? In many cases, no.

Stocks are riskier but will give you a better return. But at what cost? ETFs are still an amazing way to make your money work for you, without the risk.

Also, Warren Buffett loves them.

» Learn more about types of ETFs: 11 Popular Types of ETFs (ETF Categories & Themes)

How do I get started buying index funds?

You’ll first need to open a free brokerage account.

Brokerage accounts give you access to a wide variety of ETFs. I personally use Vanguard, but there are plenty of great options.

Best online brokers to buy ETFs

• Charles Schwab – Best overall
• Fidelity – Best for research and tools
• TD Ameritrade – Best for beginners
• Vanguard – Best for investor-friendly ETFs

4. Dividend-paying stocks

Investing in dividend-paying stocks is a legit way to make your money work for you. A dividend-paying stock is a stock that… well, pays you dividends.

Dividends are paid from company profits. The more profitable a company is, the more you get paid.

Simple enough, right?

Where can I buy dividend-paying stocks?

Before you can buy them, you’ll first need to know which companies pay dividends.

Not every company that trades on the stock market pays dividends. For example, as profitable as Facebook is—they still don’t pay dividends to shareholders.

But, why not? Well, because they choose to invest all their profits back into growing their business.

That’s why before you go off and start buying random stocks, you need to first find out which companies are actually paying dividends to their shareholders.

For a list of high-dividend stocks, visit NerdWallet’s list of 25 high-dividend stocks.

Now that you know which stocks pay dividends, it’s time for you to buy them.

Best online brokers for dividend stock investing

• Webull – Best overall
• E*Trade – Best for experienced traders
• Fidelity – Best for research and tools
• TD Ameritrade – Best for beginners

5. Target-date funds

Target-date funds were specifically designed for the person who wants to be completely hands-off.

You want to make your money work for you without having to be involved in investing decisions.

You see, even a more hands-off investment like index funds or ETFs still requires some management.

For example:

• You have to pick which index funds or ETFs you want to purchase.
• You have to do some research before you buy them to see how well they perform.
• You have to decide how long you’ll hold onto them.

If you simply want to put your money to work and do absolutely nothing else, then target-date funds are perfect.

That makes sense, right? I mean, imagine you’re about to retire in 3 years. All your investments are tied up in the stock market.

Suddenly, there’s a crash.

You lose 70% of your retirement overnight. It will take much longer than 3 years for you to gain your losses back. What do you do then? Of course, that’s just an example. But, what if?

Target-date funds protect you from a scenario like that by automatically adjusting your portfolio’s risk over time. When you first open a target-date fund, you will likely have some time before you retire. This means your fund will invest in much risker assets such as stocks.

Riskier investments tend to give better returns. However, the closer you get to retirement age, the less risky your investments become.

For example, instead of having a portfolio made up of mostly stocks, your target-date fund would automatically switch to less risky investments such as bonds and cash equivalents. Thus, protecting you from any major losses as you approach retirement.

Best places to buy target-date funds

• Charles Schwab – Best overall
• Fidelity – Best for research and tools
• TD Ameritrade – Best for beginners
• Vanguard – Best for investor-friendly ETFs

6. Robo-advisors

Robo-advisors are exactly what they sound like. Robot advisors. And no, not like the robots from Will Smith’s I, Robot movie.

Robo-advisors automate your investments so that you can be hands-off. But, why would you use a robo-advisor versus, say, a human advisor?

Human advisors would equally allow you to be hands-off, right? The biggest difference is that human advisors are typically much more expensive. Their services come with a host of fees.

Robo-advisors, however, are cheap. 

In addition, robo-advisor services like Betterment claim to outperform human advisors 88% of the time over the last decade.

So not only are robo-advisors cheaper, but they can sometimes outperform expensive human advisors.

Here are the best robo-advisor

• Betterment – Best for service
• Wealthfront – Best for low fees
• Ellevest – Best for goal-based investing
• M1 Finance – Best for user experience
• Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios – Best for usability

Make your money work for you in your bank account

Did you know that you’re actually losing money when it’s just sitting in your bank’s savings account?

Most traditional savings accounts have awful interest rates.

Take a look for yourself.

.01% interest means that if you had $100 in savings, after one year of your $100 sitting, you would only have earned $0.01.

That’s right… one penny.

But… that one penny that you earned is before inflation. On average, your dollar’s “purchasing power” decreases by 2.5% each year.

What does that mean, Joshua?

It means that $100 today will be worth $97.50 next year. And it will continue decreasing in value year-by-year.

So, remember that one penny that you earned? Yeah… you didn’t actually earn that.

In fact, due to inflation, you lost $2.49.

The question is:

How do you prevent your money from losing value?

Here are 3 amazing ways to make your money work for you while it sits in the bank.

7. Open a high-yield savings account

A high-yield savings account is the best way to save money and earn interest.

Unlike a traditional savings account, a high-yield savings account earns much higher interest.

It’s easy to find a high-yield savings account that earns you between 1% and 1.5% interest on your savings. That’s much better than the .01% that you’ll earn from a traditional savings account, right?

Putting your money to work for you in a high-yield savings account is the way to go, especially over a traditional savings account.

BUT. You will likely still lose money to inflation if it’s just sitting in your bank account. Now before you go thinking that I betrayed you, hear me out.

Would you rather lose more money or less money? That’s not a trick question. Obviously, if you have to lose money, it’s better to lose less money.

A high-yield savings account with $100 in it and a 1.3% interest rate will earn you $1.30. That’s $1.29 more than a traditional savings account.

And although that might not seem like a lot of money. It adds up quickly. Especially if you have tens of thousands of dollars in your account.

Where can I find a good high-yield savings account?

• UFB Direct – 1.51% APY, $100 minimum opening deposit
• Citi Accelerate Savings – 1.40% APY, $0 minimum opening deposit
• Live Oak Bank – 1.35% APY, $0 minimum opening deposit
• Marcus by Goldman Sachs – 1.30% APY, $0 minimum opening deposit

8. Save automatically

It’s never too late to start something. It’s like the old saying goes:

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

If you ever want to make your money work for you, instead of you always working for it, you have to begin saving it first.

It’s hard to start investing in stocks, or buying real estate, or doing whatever it is that you want to do if you don’t have any savings.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are definitely ways to make money even if you don’t have any. But generally speaking, it takes spending money to make money.

Even if it’s just a tiny bit of money. Making money with money will require you to have savings.

Now it’s time to discuss how you can begin saving more money using automation.

There are 2 ways you can save automatically.

Let’s go over both.

Use apps to grow money in your savings

There are two amazing apps you can use to automate your savings and invest that savings at the same time.

• Acorns – Best for automating your savings and investing
• Stash – Best if you are already experienced and want more control

Using one of these apps is likely the best way to save your money automatically since your money will also be invested.

Like you just learned—it’s not enough to just save your money. It will lose its value over time due to inflation.

You also have to invest your money to see it increase. And the best way to do that (even if you don’t have any knowledge or experience) is to use an app like Acorns.

Have a percentage of your paycheck go directly to savings

If you get paid via direct deposit you can have a percentage of your paycheck automatically go to a savings account upon deposit.

Most banks make it possible for you to do this online. You may need to contact your bank’s customer service line and have them set it up manually.

If you are with a larger bank such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Chase, then you should be able to do it online.

Alternatively, you can contact your works human resources department and have them set up your direct deposit to go into two separate accounts.

9. Certificates of deposit (CDs)

CDs won’t give you the most impressive returns, but they are very safe.

If you want your money to work for you without the fear of losing it, then consider using CDs. CDs are safe because they are federally insured and the returns are guaranteed.

But, like with anything in the investing world, the less risky an investment, the smaller the returns. The riskier an investment, the bigger the returns.

Seems fair, right?

I mean, if you risk potentially losing hundreds or thousands of dollars, then the returns better be worth it.

Therefore, putting your money to work with a CD is good if you have a low risk tolerance. But, it’s important for me to tell you that depending on the financial market, CDs aren’t always good investments.

Let me explain:

Like with all financial products, interest rates are constantly changing. Going up and down. Up and down.

Sometimes CDs have awesome interest rates. At one point in 1984 they were almost 12%! That’s almost better than investing your money in the stock market.

But nowadays that wouldn’t exist. You’ll typically see their rates bouncing between 1% and 2%.

Frankly, you can find high-yield savings accounts that have higher interest rates than most CDs.

That being said, the best time to purchase CDs are when the interest rates are higher than a high-yield savings account.

For example, if you had your money in a high-yield savings account that was yielding 1.3%, then it wouldn’t make sense to take that money out and purchase CDs that only yield 0.8%.

In order for it to make sense, the interest rates on CDs would have to be higher than 1.3%, which is what you’re getting with your high-yield savings account.

Make sense?

Where can I buy CDs?

You should first check with your current bank to see if they offer CDs.

They likely will. But you want to be sure that you are getting the best rates.

If your bank’s CDs aren’t great, try checking out NerdWallet’s best 1-year CD rates.

Make your money work for you with retirement accounts

Avoid this ultimate mistake:

Thinking that you’ve still got some time before you hit retirement, so you don’t have to start thinking about how you can prepare for it.

Don’t do that!

It’s never too early to start preparing for retirement. The sooner you can begin, the better off you’ll be.

The best friend of building wealth is time.

It’s simple:

The more time your retirement accounts have to work and, the richer you will be at retirement. How can you begin growing your money using retirement accounts?

Here are 2 of the best ways.

10. Open a Roth IRA

This means that all the money you make from your investments within the account will never be taxed.

For example:

Let’s say you started making yearly contributions of $6,000 into your Roth IRA at age 35. Within the Roth IRA, you bought Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (which is what I buy in my Roth IRA).

This specific index fund has given average annual returns of 13.12% within the past 10 years.

By the time you hit 65, given the scenario above, you would have $2.15 million saved in your Roth IRA.

That’s right, you’d be a multimillionaire.

And when you begin taking out that money to live on during retirement, none of it would be taxed.

That’s the beauty of a Roth IRA.

Where can I open a Roth IRA?

I would recommend opening a Roth IRA with Vanguard.

For two reason:

1. Vanguard is the leader of index funds. 
2. They make it easy to do backdoor contributions.

A backdoor contribution is required when you make too much money and can no longer make contributions to your Roth IRA through the front door.

Here’s a table that shows you the Roth IRA income limits and contribution limits for 2020.

If you want a more automated approach to managing your investments within your Roth IRA, here are two recommendations.

• Wealthsimple
• M1 Finance

11. Take advantage of your 401(k)

If your employer offers a retirement plan such as a 401(k), you definitely want to take advantage of it.

401(k)’s are a powerful way to make your money work for you. With a 401(k), the money you contribute is taken directly out of your paycheck. This is helpful because it automates your saving and investing.

Over the years, your contributions are able to grow substantially because of the compounding interest on the investments you have within the 401(k).

And on top of that, most employers will match your 401(k) contributions up to a certain percentage.

For example, let’s say you had a yearly salary of $50,000. Your employer offers to match 100% of your contribution up to 3% of your annual salary.

What does that mean exactly?

If you contribute 3% of your $50,000 salary to your 401(k), that would be $1,500. Your employer (since they match 100% of your contribution) will add an additional $1,500 to your 401(k).

It’s literally free money.

Imagine if someone on the street walked up to you and gave you $1,500 in cash. No strings attached. That’s essentially what your employer is doing.

What if my employer doesn’t offer a 401(k)?

Not a problem! You’ve got other options.

I would first consider the Roth IRA (as discussed above). If you are opposed to that (for some reason), then here are a few other options:

• Traditional IRA
• Solo 401(k)
• SEP IRA (only if you are self-employed)

Here’s a full list of other retirement plans.

Make your money work for you with real estate

12. Real estate investment trusts (REITs)

REITs allow you to profit off real estate without all the headaches.

Let me explain:

How hard would it be for you, right now, to go out and buy a hotel? I’m imagining pretty hard. Unless, of course… you had a few friends? Like, a few hundred friends? That way you could all combine your money together and buy the hotel together!

And that’s basically how REITs work.

» Learn more: REITs Investing: The Essential Beginner’s Guide to REITs

You can think of a REIT as a mutual fund for real estate. Mutual funds combine the money of hundreds of individual investors in order to purchase large amounts of investments. Typically stocks.

REITs use that exact same concept. Except, instead of buying stocks, they buy real estate.

What’s great about REITs is that they are required by law to pay out dividends. Do you remember earlier in the post when you learned that not all stocks pay dividends? It’s solely up to the company if they want to pay dividends to their shareholders or not.

But, by law, REITs are required to pay a minimum 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders (you, the investor) each year.

Say hello to passive income.

If you’ve been wondering “what should I do with my money”. Consider REITs.

Where can I buy REITs?

Most REITs can actually be purchased on major stock exchanges. They are traded just like stocks.

It’s important to do thorough research on any REIT that you intend to purchase.

Check the REITs management team. See how they are compensated. Chances are if they are paid via commission, then you know they are working hard to pick the best investments.

Check the REITs past performance. How well has it performed? What kind of returns can you expect?

When you are ready to actually make the leap and purchase REITs, here’s where to begin.

Best places to buy REITs

• Webull
• M1 Finance

13. Buy rental properties

Real estate has created more millionaires than anything else.

Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.

– Andrew Carnegie, billionaire industrialist

If you want to generate some serious cash flow and really put your money to work, consider real estate.

Buying rental properties has a variety of benefits.

• Benefit #1 – Someone is paying rent to you every month, thus increasing your net worth.
• Benefit #2 – If you purchased the right house, then it will likely appreciate in value, thus further increasing your net worth.
• Benefit #3– It’s surprisingly pretty easy to buy rental properties and get started in real estate
• Benefit #4 – There are a lot of amazing tax benefits to owning real estate

Now, don’t get me wrong. Buying rental real estate definitely isn’t as easy and hands-off as buying REITs. But actually owning the physical real estate will benefit you much more in the long run than just owning a REIT.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy REITs. There’s a time, place, and strategy for buying REITs. If REITs fit your investment strategy, then you shouldn’t hesitate to start investing in them.

But generally speaking, because of the tax benefits and appreciation, it’s going to be more beneficial to own physical real estate.

Where can I buy rental real estate?

Anywhere. Everywhere! It’s all around you.

Before you just jump in and buy any house that you see for sale on the market, it’s important to understand what makes a good rental property investment.

Things like:

• Crime
• Schools
• Job market
• Amenities (parks, gyms, theaters, restaurants, etc)
• Future development
• Average rents

All of these factors need to be researched before jumping into a property. You can use Trulia to find out most of this information for free.

Simply search a property on Trulia and scroll down on the page to see various crime charts , school data, and more.

To see details about crime, schools, traffic, and other statistics in the area, click on the corresponding boxes.

For example, I clicked on the crime box to get details about recent crimes in the area.

Then, once you’re ready to actually start looking for a house to buy, use Zillow or Trulia to search for houses for sale, as well as their price.

Depending on how you purchase your rental property, you will have to decide what type of financing you need.

If you don’t have enough money for a down payment on a rental property using a traditional loan, try using some creative financing to buy real estate with no money down.

Make your money work for you with your credit cards

They can be good, bad, or ugly.

And I’m not talking about your mother-in-law. I’m talking about credit cards.

If you use them responsibly, you can reap amazing benefits. If you use them irresponsibly, you will pay the penalty. And it can be a hefty one.

You’re about to learn 2 ways you can make your money work for you with your credit cards.

14. Get cash back or rewards for everything you buy 

Getting paid to spend money. That’s essentially what’s happening when you use a credit card with great rewards.

For example:

I use the Citi Double Cash card for 90% of my purchases.

That card gives you 2% cashback on everything.

Literally, everything you purchase using that card you will get 2% cashback on.

Additionally, I use my Target RedCard credit card for my grocery shopping.

You get a flat 5% off your total purchase price when you use that card.

That means if I have a $100 grocery bill, I will automatically save $5 because of the Target RedCard

On the surface, that might not seem like a big deal. But it adds up quickly.

For example, in the last 2 years of using my Citi Double Cash card, I’ve earned well over $3,500 in rewards.

That’s $3,500 that I can either use as a statement credit, or just have it directly deposited into my bank account.

If you are buying things daily, why not get paid for it?

15. Pay down debt (or avoid in the first place)

You’ve heard of the term “good debt”, right? There is such a thing as good debt. But, it’s definitely not credit card debt. That kind of debt is very bad debt.

Your money is working against you if you have credit card debt. That debt needs to be taken care of first and foremost.

Why is credit card debt so bad?

To answer that question, I will need to write an entire post. But I will summarize some of the major points here:

Reason #1: Very high interest rates

Credit cards are famous for having high interest rates. In fact, the average credit card interest rate varies between 16% and 26%!

Let’s say you were $1,000 in credit card debt with an interest rate of 20%. Unless you pay off your balance in full, each month you carry that balance you’d be charged an additional $54.

So the following month you’d now owe $1,054. Now you’ll be charged interest on your new balance, which includes the interest.

And the snowball continues to get bigger and bigger until you pay off your balance in full.

Reason #2: They aren’t used to buy appreciating assets

Appreciating assets doesn’t mean a gift that your significant other appreciates. An appreciating asset means something that will go up in value over time.

A great example of an appreciating asset is a house.

A house is considered “good” debt because even though you have a mortgage, the house is technically going up in value (outside of a housing market crash).

Question for you: can you go out and buy a house with a credit card? If you answered no, then you are correct. You cannot buy a house with a credit card.

However, you can buy new shoes, and that new Apple Watch, and new furniture. All things that don’t appreciate in value over time.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with buying things that don’t go up in value over time. But, just don’t get into credit card debt over it.

I’m not telling you to go close all your credit cards. Not at all. I love using credit cards. And if you use them responsbily, you can benefit from them a lot.

But what I am saying is to watch your buying habits. Are you buying things that you don’t necessarily need but just want, with money that you don’t have?

If you’re going to get yourself into debt, it’s better to do it with good debt such as real estate, a business loan, and other things that will eventually make you money.

Make your money work for you with passive income

The holy grail of making your money work for you.

Passive income. Making money in your sleep.

It’s not a myth. It’s not fake. Passive income is a legitimate thing that, if given a little work at the beginning, you can make a reality in your life.

I can attest to this. I built an online website template marketplace that brought me $10,282 last year alone.

The marketplace took a couple weeks to build—a few hours a day. But now I can just sit and collect passive income from daily sales.

So, how can you get started with passive income?

You’re about to learn 3 ways to make your money work for you.

16. Get a side hustle going

If you want a ton of ideas on side hustles you can start, check out my 101 ways to increase your income this year.

I also have a very in-depth post on 81 ways to make money online and work from home.

From these 2 posts alone you should be able to come up with a side hustle idea.

In any case, the online website template website I started, Elementor Market, is a good example of a side hustle. When I first built the website, I only worked on it a few hours every night.

At the time I had well over 30 website contracts at any given time and was managing subcontractors that I hired to help out with the various projects.

I was extremely busy during the day. I’m saying that because I want you to understand that starting a side hustle and creating a source of passive income for yourself is very doable.

You just have to be willing to stop making excuses and do the work. Or, perhaps you want something more than a side hustle.

You want to be able to leave your day job and work for yourself on your terms. That’s 100% possible, and if you put your mind to it, you can do it. Guaranteed.

But, it will likely have to begin as a side hustle. Unless you have a significant amount of money saved up to live off of to quit your day job and focus all your efforts on your new hustle.

I’ll leave that up to you. I trust you will make the right moves.

17. Peer-to-peer lending

Peer-to-peer lending has been around for a very long time.

But it wasn’t until recently that it became more accessible thanks to sites like Prosper.

Peer-to-peer lending is exactly what it sounds like.

Peers (you) lending your money to other peers. People lending to people. Instead of banks lending to people.

Instead of getting a traditional loan through the bank which can be difficult and very costly (because of high interest rates), some people choose to get a loan through a peer-to-peer network.

Generally speaking, the interest rates are much lower on a peer-to-peer loan than that of a traditional loan through a big bank.

So, how can you make your money work for you using peer-to-peer lending?

Just like a bank makes money by lending out money, you can also make money by lending out money.

Money is earned by the interest on the loan.

For example, say someone on Prosper.com needed a $10,000 loan. You could lend them a portion of that $10,000—say $100.

Many other lenders like yourself will also lend this person money toward the $10,000 he needs.

Once the loan is fully funded, the interest payments begin.

When the time comes that the borrower of the $10,000 needs to start paying the loan back, you will begin getting back your initial $100 plus interest.

The more money you lend, the more interest you’ll make.

You can check out what the average interest rates on loans are on Prosper.com. This will give you a good idea of what kind of money you can make.

Best peer-to-peer lending networks

• Prosper – The original and most popular option
• Lending Club – Another popular option
• StreetShares – Good for small businesses

18. Renting stuff you own

Renting stuff can make you rich.

Think about:

Why do companies like Hertz, Enterprise, and U-Haul exist? Or what about massive apartment complexes that rent out thousands of units?

Even banks rent things. What do you think a loan is? Rented money.

You see, our world is vastly run on rentals.

Earlier we discussed rental properties and how they are one of the best ways to make your money work for you.

The great thing about renting stuff out is that you earn money but keep the underlying asset.

For example, say you used Getaround to rent out your car. You are making money each month renting your car, but in the end, the asset (the car) is still yours.

If you sold your car, you would get a 1-time lump sum of money. That’s it. Nothing else. If you go and spend the money from the sale of the car, then you have nothing left.

However, if you keep the car (the underlying asset), and rent it out instead, you are getting monthly passive income and you still own the asset.

This same concept applies to anything else you rent out.

And you can literally rent out just about anything.

Where can I find places to rent things I own?

Here’s a list of things that can be rented and the websites/apps to rent them:

• Car – Getaround
• Money – Prosper
• A spare room in your house or storage – Airbnb
• House or space (for events) – LocationsHub
• Office space – LiquidSpace
• Parking space – Parqex
• Storage space – STOW IT
• Camping space – Campspace
• Land for farming/gardening – Shared Earth
• Pet space – Rover
• Advertising space on your car – Carvertise
• RV – RVshare
• Boat – Boatsetter
• Bike – Spinlister
• Baby stuff – BabyQuip
• Camera gear – Kitsplit
• Anything, literally – Fat Llama
• Even… friendship? –  RentAFriend

Other ways to make your money work for you

You came to this post because you wanted to learn how to make money grow. At this point, there’s no question about it… growing your money can be done.

We’ve discussed several amazing ways to do just that. In this final section, you’re going to learn a few more ways to make money work for you.

Keep reading to learn.

19. Develop a budget

I already know what you’re thinking. Develop a budget? Hear me out on this one.

I’m not asking you to develop a budget the way your parents do.

Their budgets look like this:

Your budget needs to look like this:

Do you see the difference? Your budget involves you paying yourself first whereas your parents paid themselves last.

Paying yourself first doesn’t mean buying a new flat screen. Instead, you want to use that money to save and invest.

It’s how millionaires save their money. You see, the difference between a wealthy person and a non-wealthy person is this:

Wealthy people keep their money working for them.

Instead of saving money to buy a brand new car, they save money to invest that money. And then they buy a used car.

You want your money to work for you, not the other way around.

Don’t get me wrong. At first you will have no choice to work for money. But you don’t want to be at that place forever.

At some point you have to begin thinking about your future self… they are depending on you to act now.

I highly recommend you take a look at my millionaire savings plan to get yourself started.

I go into detail about how to properly save your money so that you can invest it and live life on your own terms.

20. Using ‘get-paid-to’ websites and apps 

There are websites and apps that you can use to get rewarded for doing things you would normally do anyway.

For example, Honey is a browser extension you install to get automatic coupons when you purchase online. Honey will automatically search the internet for coupons to apply to your purchase.

Honey will even attempt to find better prices for you when shopping on Amazon and eBay. It’s a completely free add-on that will save you hundreds of dollars a year.

Another great free add-on is Rakuten (formerly EBates).

Rakuten allows you to get cash back rebates when shopping online and in-store.

I’ve seen rebates sometimes of up to 75% of the purchase price.

Best ‘get-paid-to’ apps and websites

• PriceRebel
• Honey
• Earny
• Rakuten (formerly EBates)
• MyPoints

21. Cut spending and bills

The final way to make your money work for you is to stop spending all of it.

Seriously… take a look at how much money you are spending each month.

And really dive deep. Don’t look look at the total number. Actually dive into your credit card statements and see what you are spending your money on.

I’m willing to bet (unless you’ve already fixed the problem) that you spend a lot of unnecessary money.

How many subscriptions do you have that you don’t really use?

How much money are you spending on miscellaneous purchases made at Target and Amazon?

All of these $10 a month subscriptions and small one-off purchases add up over time. In fact, they add up a lot.

The average American spends almost $18,000 a year on “nonessentials”. These are things that you don’t necessarily need, but just want. And they’re typically last-minute purchases based on emotions.

So, how do you fix this problem? How do you stop spending so much money so that you can invest or save more of it?

Let me point you to a little app I use called Truebill.

Truebill allows you to track your spending in detail with a clean user-friendly app. Here’s why you should use this app:

• Lower your bills – the app will lower your bills by either negotiating a better rate or by getting 1-time credits applied to your account.

• Cancel unwanted subscriptions – the app has a feature that shows you all your current subscriptions. You may have subscriptions that you aren’t even aware of or haven’t used in a while.

How to Make Your Money Work For You Final Takeaways

There you have it, 21 ways to make your money work for you.

I hope that you found a lot of value in this post. Like with anything on my site, I work hard to provide you with the best, most up-to-date, practical information available on the internet.

My goal is to help you succeed. Your goals are just as valid as anyone else’s. Don’t let anyone or anything convince you otherwise.

Continue reading the content on this site and take action.

Until next time!