RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — While the holidays have left some people in need of money, one RGV financial expert said there are ways to make extra money with hardly any effort.

Passive income is essentially income that doesn’t take a lot of time to maintain.

One of the most common ways of earning income passively is through real estate, but this option requires extra work as you will need to continuously maintain and upgrade the property for tenants. If you have a spare room in your house, you can also rent that out instead.

If your car is just sitting on your drive, you could earn money by lending it to others while you’re not using it. Depending on your location and what make/model the car is, there can be some substantial money to be made.

Depending on your location, garage or parking spaces can also be rented for the purpose of keeping a lender’s car safe.

The vending machine business is another form of passive income as managing one is considered “low maintenance,” according to Joe Califa, a wealth consultant with Independent Wealth Consultants.

Califa suggested investing in a few and leasing them out to businesses nearby. The only management service one would need to do is restock the food or drink inside of it every so often.

Califa added you can passively make income off an e-blog and sell ad space on that blog.

Before jumping headfirst into passive income, Califa said, “Making sure you already have a stable income in place. It will take some time to get to the point where it does become something stable and consistent.”

If you are interested in beginning with passive income, Califa suggested only doing so when you have a solid amount of free time to get started.

Although a minimal effort income activity, like a full-time job, it is fully taxable. According to the Young and the Invested, though passive income can receive different treatment from the IRS.

However, the Real Estate CPA has posted on their website that passive income from rental real estate is not subject to high effective taxes.

Acorns Grown Incorporated mentions on their website as well if someone has also rented a space in their house for 14 days or less in a year while living in that same home the rest of the year, that person will not have to report the rental income on their tax return.

Califa suggests getting in touch with a financial advisor before moving forward with passive income, so the best route can be chosen.

If you do not have a financial consultant, below are some options in the Rio Grande Valley: