How To Make Money Doing Nothing

Unless you’re an Instagram influencer, you probably have to exert some kind of physical or mental effort to make money. For those of us in the corporate slog, our constant connectivity to the cloud has made it easier to earn those sweet overtime rates, but at what cost?

Wouldn’t you prefer to earn money by doing absolutely nothing at all? If you’re human, the answer is probably yes. Here are four ways you can do just that.

#1 Open a Term Deposit account

A term deposit account is literally the definition of earning money for doing nothing.

As a fixed term investment, term deposits lock away your money until the end of an agreed loan term when the account reaches maturity.

Here’s how term deposits work:

1. Deposit your money
2. Wait until the deposit term ends
3. Voila, free money!

With term deposit rates currently sitting around 2%, a $5,000 deposit now could earn you $100 in just 1 year. (Click here to learn more!)

Or, if you have a little more stashed away, a $250,000 deposit into a BCU Term Deposit account could earn you 2.15% over 3 years. That amounts to a whopping $16,125 for doing absolutely nothing.

#2 Invest in the stock market

Investing in the stock market used to be reserved for mathematical and statistical geniuses. Luckily – like most difficult tasks these days – this can now be outsourced to an app.

Introducing the money-making app that automatically saves smalls sums of money for you to earn small returns: Raiz.

This micro-investing app is perfect for the laidback Aussie, working like this:

1. Link your everyday bank account or transaction account to the app
2. Put your investment strategy on autopilot
3. Voila, free money!

Similar to how your super fund invests your money, Raiz manages fund portfolios which invest in a variety of investments via Exchange traded funds (EFTs). These investments, plus the roundups from your everyday spending into your Raiz account which trick you into saving, all add up.

Whilst you might not see the same returns with Raiz as that $250K term deposit account, free money is free money.

#3 Open a transaction account

At the moment, there are a few banks offering tasty sign up cashback bonuses to attract new business.

This is great news if you’re looking at switching banks, as technically you’ll earn money for doing nothing more than what you were already planning to do!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Open a bank account with a lender offering a cashback sign up bonus
2. Meet the terms and conditions of said bank account
3. Voila, free money!

To make it even easier for you, we’ve found three banks offering free cash for switching.

Data accurate as at 23rd September 2019. Terms, conditions, fees and charges apply.

#4 Top up your super fund

Now, if you’re in your thirties or your forties, a simple way to make money by doing pretty much nothing is by whipping your super into shape.

If you’ve always left it ‘for later’, not really thinking about how it can work for you – it might be time to consolidate your super and find some missing money.

Billions of dollars in unclaimed and lost super are currently being held by super funds and the Australian Tax Office (ATO), so it’s worth checking if you have some in there!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Contact your super fund online or via phone
2. Give permission for them to find and consolidate your super
3. Voila, free money!

The process is super simple, and your current fund will obviously want to help you find and retrieve the money so that it’s in their accounts.

Another thing you may want to look at with your super is how it’s invested. Sounds boring, but if you’re 25-35 years off retirement, moving from a conservative, balanced option to a more aggressive, higher-risk, higher-growth investment option could pay off.

Who knew making money could be so simple?