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Category 4

Business ownership income

You own part of an operating company that somebody else runs day to day.

Mechanism: Business profits You own an operating company that someone else runs.

Read this first
Owning a business is only passive to the extent someone competent is running it and the paperwork gives you the right to see the numbers and get out. Most private-company stakes are illiquid, unregistered, priced by an appraisal rather than a market, and often limited to accredited investors. Distributions are discretionary: in a pass-through entity you can owe tax on your share of the profits in a year the company sends you no cash at all.

Everything in this category is paid the same way, so what separates one page from the next is the wrapper rather than where the money comes from: how much it takes to start, how quickly you could turn it back into cash, who does the work, how it is taxed, and how it fails. The line on each card says whether the income keeps arriving once it is set up or whether somebody has to keep working for it. If the mechanism itself is new to you, the course spends a whole lesson on it and is a shorter way in than any single page here.

Silent Partner Investments

You put money into someone else's business, take no management role, and receive a share of the profits set by the partnership or operating agreement.

Semi-passive · Very low — no market, exit only through a buy-sell clause, a company sale, or a consented private transfer Read →

Limited Partnerships

A general partner runs the business and carries the liability; limited partners supply the capital, stay out of management, and receive distributions and a K-1.

Truly passive · Low — transfers need general partner consent and capital returns on the partnership's schedule, not the investor's Read →

Private-Equity Funds

A closed-end fund buys controlling stakes in established private companies, improves and leverages them, and returns cash to investors when the companies are sold.

Truly passive · Very low — locked for the fund's life, with secondary sales requiring consent and usually a negotiated discount Read →

Venture-Capital Funds

A fund buys minority stakes in early-stage companies and returns capital only when a few of them are acquired or go public, so there is no income along the way.

Truly passive · The lowest in the category — a decade or more, with secondary sales needing consent and clearing at a discount Read →

Search Funds

Investors fund an individual to spend a year or two hunting for one small profitable business, then fund the purchase and own most of the equity while the searcher runs it.

Semi-passive · Very low — no market for the equity and no realistic exit before the company is sold Read →

Franchise Ownership With Hired Management

You buy the right to run a branded outlet under a franchise agreement, then pay a general manager to operate it and keep what is left of unit cash flow.

Semi-passive · Low — a sale needs franchisor approval, a transfer fee, and usually a lease assignment Read →

Small-Business Acquisitions With an Operator

You buy an established small company outright and install a manager to run it, keeping the cash flow left after debt service, capex and the operator's pay.

Semi-passive · Very low — exit means selling the whole company, and lender covenants constrain distributions in the meantime Read →

Revenue-Share Investments

You advance capital to a business and are repaid a fixed percentage of its monthly revenue until an agreed multiple of the advance has been returned.

Truly passive · No secondary market — capital comes back only as revenue-linked payments arrive, on an uncertain schedule Read →

Profit-Sharing Agreements

A contract gives you a defined slice of a business's profits without owning shares, so the payout depends entirely on how the agreement defines profit.

Semi-passive · None — a contractual right with no market, generally non-transferable without consent Read →

Employee Stock Ownership

Employees build an ownership stake in the company they work for — most formally through an ESOP trust that holds shares and pays out after they leave.

Truly passive · Low — value is generally locked until separation from service, then often paid in instalments Read →

Minority Ownership in Private Companies

You buy a non-controlling stake in a private business, so distributions, information and any exit depend on the shareholders agreement and on whoever holds control.

Semi-passive · Very low — no market, transfer restrictions, and often no exit until the controlling owners sell Read →

Publicly Traded Stocks

Buying shares on an exchange makes you a fractional owner of an operating company run by professional management, with returns from business value and any distributions.

Truly passive · The highest in this category: sellable during market hours, with US trades settling the next business day Read →

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