Taking advantage of a residual income opportunity is an excellent move in the direction towards financial stability. Residual income is money that comes in to your possession after the primary effort to obtain the money has already been exhausted. For example, if you set up a website that somehow generates money for you, whether it be through advertising or sales or networking, this is a manner of generating a stream of residual income for yourself. Earning money while you are not out there actively earning it, because of something that you had already done is considered earning residual income.

Most of the more popular and ‘user-friendly’ income opportunities are somehow based on or tied to the internet, but this is not always the case. A popular residual income opportunity that is not internet based would be, for instance, starting up a business and having a manager or employee look after things for you. This gives you time to do other things, maybe even pursue more active means of making money.

Another residual income opportunity that is not directly tied to the internet would be to sell a manuscript. For all of the writers out there, creating any type of manuscript or screenplay and selling the rights to it is a manner of generating residual income. The initial effort, writing the manuscript, has been expended and will continually generate residual income for you--the royalties or dividends you receive from the sale or use of your work.

Real Estate is probably one of the most popular residual income opportunities out there. If you purchase property intending to rent it out, you are generating a steady stream of guaranteed residual income. After you have purchased the property and someone is leasing it out, the rent you collect each month is considered residual income. It does not require that you be actively involved in creating the income outside of normal duties attributed to a land lord in any other situation.

If you are active in stocks and bonds, the interest and dividends you receive from them are considered a form of residual income. It’s not always guaranteed and it is not always dependable, but the dividends that are paid to a stock holder or an account holder is income that is generated after the initial effort, which was purchasing the stock or the bond, has already been completed.

Honest residual income opportunities are not always 100 percent dependable and if you are looking to generate a flow of residual income, you will probably have to do a little bit of research. Different things work for different people but for those who are dedicated enough to doing something to improving their financial situation there are plenty of residual income opportunities that will pay off for you.