PASSIVE INCOME

One of the most popular concepts in all of personal finance is the subject of passive income.

The truth is, there is ALMOST no such thing as passive income.
 At least not in the sense most people have come to understand it.
In the minds of most people passive income works likes this.
 You invest money into any number in passive income opportunities such as rental real estate, dividend stocks, YouTube videos, CD's and high interest savings accounts, renting out a room to someone, blogging, or any other dozens of ideas.

Yep its that easy. 
Fortunately renters always pay on time and never dip out neglecting to inform of the damage they did to the carpet.
Dividend stocks are foolproof because the stock market always goes up. 
People will always visit your blog or YouTube channel whether you consistently update your posts or not.

 Of course none of these things are remotely true.
 But that doesn't make them bad ideas either.
In fact some of them can be especially good ideas.
 A room rented out to a coworker at a fair rate going through a temporarily bad time can be win-win.
If your capable of making high quality videos that can help many people and get a lot of views on YouTube, you should.
 Similarly if you happen to have a garage on your property that perhaps a local auto shop would be willing to rent.
 If you feel they're trustworthy, this could perhaps be a realistic opportunity for some passive income. Just make sure you spell out, in writing, but be sure it's something you can live with.
 Also you will want an attorney to write up the paperwork for 2 reasons.

First: Any document written up by a lawyer will unquestionable be a more professional looking one and will deter your tenant from trying anything underhanded.

Second:  An experienced attorney makes sure you don't overlook any number of important details.

So what does all these mean to you?
It means this. 
The reality is there are very few genuine passive income as defined within the confines of nearly guaranteed returns without risk of loss to principle (i.e. your money). 
But they do exist. 
The key thing to remember is the income has to be passive, or by definition it's not passive income.  

As of the time of this writing there are a few passive income opportunities that nearly stand alone.

There are any number of high interest saving accounts offered by Vanguard, Fidelity, and other large brokerages that offer over a 5% return with no chance with a loss of principle. 

Another option are CD's (certificates of deposits).  While they are every bit as safe as the saving accounts, CD's tie your money up for a predetermined length of time. If you do take money out early there's usually a steep penalty involved.

While opportunities for passive income DO exist, you can, and this is Srooge's opinion only, ignore most of the suggestions out there.