Working hard and earning money generally go hand in hand. After all, nothing in life is free and if you want to go out there, earn and achieve something it generally means grinding, powering through and working hard for success. However there are some ways around this; if you’ve spent years working hard and have accumulated some wealth, there are methods you can use which allow you to make your money work hard for you. They allow you to take a step back and generate a profit each month or year without very much input from you, which let’s face it is the dream for many of us. Here’s how you can go about it.

Invest in Commodities

Unlike the stock market which can be very unpredictable, investing in commodities is much more stable and is a good choice for less experienced investors. Commodities can consist of agricultural products from grains to meat. It can include energy such as oils and fuels, and precious metals are also commonly traded as commodities. Here, for example, you would buy gold, it could be in physical form (such as gold bullions) or gold exchange-traded funds. These are a popular way to invest in gold without the hassle of storing the physical metal. As the price increases over months and years, you would sell for a profit. The price of gold has almost doubled in ten years, showing the prospects of this kind of investment. Had you invested say twenty thousand ten years ago, you’d now have forty thousand and done absolutely no additional work for it.

Invest in Property

Bricks and mortar are almost always a good way to invest your money. There will always be peaks and troughs in the market, however in time property will appreciate in value meaning you can almost always sell for a profit if you wait until the right time. You could either buy and sell to quickly increase your money, or you could go for a longer term investment and rent them out. If you hire an estate agent to manage the properties for you there’s no work for you, they deal with tenancies, rent, viewings and everything else. Tenants rent money simply goes into your account each month so easy money for you.

Invest in Business

If you’ve accumulated wealth in business and are experienced in running a company, why not use this knowledge to earn you some additional passive income? You could get a company established and pay workers to run it all for you, then you simply cash in on the profits each month with no work by you needed. Another option would be to invest in an up and coming business. Here you could provide them with a cash injection in return for a share in their company. That way you get a percentage cut out of their profits each month with no extra work. If you choose the right company to invest in, this could earn you some serious cash.