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These days, many Millennials get a bad reputation for poor money management, lack of work ethic, and an overzealousness for food and drinks in the office space.
While those assumptions may be true of some, they are certainly not true for the majority.
Indeed, as the price of college education has become staggeringly high, many Millennials have become used to the idea of a second job just to pay off student loans or create a cushion between living paycheck to paycheck.
In order to help the Millennials out there working hard and taking names, but somehow coming up just a bit short each month, this Millennials Money-Making Guide is for you.
So, sit down with a nice, warm mug of something and let’s get you started on our best tips for how Millennials make money online and you can too!
The Side Hustle
The side gig, known as the “side hustle” by Millennials and younger, is a way to earn some extra cash around a busy professional working schedule.
This style of work falls within the gig economy. That means, an exchange of services for money outside the realm of a structured company, contract, or predetermined long-term relationship.
According to a study published by the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution, gig economy employment is growing much faster than traditional forms of payroll employment.
With ever-growing college tuition and extraneous bills, it’s no wonder that many students and young professionals are turning to side hustles to fill in the gaps.
In fact, according to a recent Bankrate report, over 37% of American adults and 50% of Millennials have side hustles.
That same report found that Millennials are more likely than any other generation to have a side hustle due to Millennial personal finance concerns.
This is for two reasons: awareness of lack in job security and graduating with high debt.
This means that Millennials are cognizant and hungry to work in order to build a cushion or reduce debt.
Thus, the side hustle, or side gig, has been steadily increasing as a viable means of adding in the cash needed to make ends meet.
What follows is our ultimate Millennials money making guide.
Learn 100+ ways to make some extra money on the side without too much effort.
Main Ways to Earn Money Online
Of all the side hustles, earning money online is one of the easiest methods due to low to no transportation fees, ease of access, and range of talents that can be applied to an online job.
Millennials and money can go hand-in-hand with the right mindset and knowledge.
Here are the eight main methods of how to make money as a Millennial:
- Get Refund & Cash Back Savvy
- Slay Those Surveys
- Grow Your Savings
- Invest Your Money
- Play Games & Watch Videos
- Work Online Solo
- Work Online with Others
- Work for Yourself Online
Each of these methods has certain pros and cons and are largely dependent upon your personal skill set or interests.
Take the money advice for Millennials that works for you and start making side hustle cash fast!
If you’re a tech-savvy Millennial, you can make quick money with these apps.
1. Get Cash Back for Shopping Online
If you’re an online shopper, this one is for you.
If you’ve recently shopped at Macy’s, Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, L.L.Bean, JCPenney, Dick’s, ULTA, aerie, GAP, Overstock, Michael Kors, Forever 21, Under Armour, UGG, Ralph Lauren, or CVS, then you’ve missed out on making money back from your purchases!
All you need to do is sign up on Rakuten (formerly Ebates) then shop at those stores and hundreds more through their app.
Make your purchase and anywhere from 6-12% cash back will be applied.
Every quarter Rakuten gives you your total cash back in either a check or PayPal payment.
Is there anything better getting paid to shop?
2. Slay Those Surveys
Take Simple Surveys
When looking for Millennials money making tips, taking surveys has to be one of the simplest and easiest to do no matter where you are.
For instance, you can take a simple survey for SwagBucks and earn points which turn into free gift cards or PayPal cash.
Have a commute to work? Why not make money while you’re on the bus or train?
Answering a few questions could equal an Amazon or Walmart gift card, depending on the length of the survey and your availability.
Take a few moments, answer a few questions and make some money.
Talk About Shopping and Entertainment
Of course, when discussing Millennials money-making strategies and surveys, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the surveys that want to know about the fun aspects of your life.
Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel surveys are all about your shopping, travel, media, and entertainment preferences.
Want to get paid to talk about your favorite TV shows or movies? Done.
Just sign up and start talking about what you like. Just like that, you’ll have made money.
Share Your Opinions
Millennials get a bad reputation for being special snowflakes, but in this instance that idea is a good thing.
There’s a survey site that wants to know everything about your individual opinions, making your preferences a lucrative commodity.
Whether it’s what shampoo, TV, or food you like, fill out your information on Survey Junkie and make money while helping companies understand what consumers want.
For more information about how this works, check out our Survey Junkie review.
3. Grow Your Savings
Utilize Automatic Savings
Millennials money and personal finance can often be a touchy subject, what with all of the university debt and poor job market and all.
Chime is one of the fastest-growing bank accounts in America and the reason it’s on this list is because of its Automatic Savings feature.
Picture every time that you spend money or get paid money, an app puts some of it into an automatic savings, which it is curating on your behalf.
It’s a great way to grow your savings with minimal effort.
Click here for 30+ passive income ideas to make money while you sleep!
4. Invest Your Money
Invest in What Matters to You
Whether you have no clue about investing but want to know more or are an experienced veteran of investing, Stash is the investment solution for you.
Boasting a $5 start and learn-as-you-go philosophy, the app helps you invest in what really matters to you, stocks and ETFs alike.
With investment breakdowns and an investment team waiting nearby, investing is just a matter of getting started.
Invest in the Stock Market from Your Phone
Part of how to make it as a Millennial is just to keep uptaking skills which you will need to grow and reach higher levels of employment or self-growth.
For those looking to invest in the stock market, Robinhood offers the ability to do so for free, from any desktop or mobile. It’s simple, easy to use and has zero commission trading.
Why not invest and make money while you sleep?
5. Play Games & Watch Videos
Play Games in Your Savings Account
The Long Game app is an interesting way for Millennials money to grow by having fun.
The app is actually a normal savings account but with cool features like games.
You can play the games and then win rewards such as cash or crypto currency.
The more money you save, the more chances to play that you get. With prizes up to $1,000,000, it’s a pretty sweet savings account.
Play Games on Your Cell Phone
Mistplay is a free new app that rewards you for downloading games from the App Store or Google Play Store through its own interface.
As you level up in the mobile games, you earn more points that you can redeem for gift cards at Amazon, VISA, PlayStation, Xbox, Apple, Starbucks, and more.
Sell Your Gold
Are you a gamer? Do you play Overwatch, Pokemon Go, FIFA Ultimate Team 19, Runescape, Black Desert, Path of Exile, League of Legends, Fortnite, The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft USA?
Consider selling your gold, equipment, characters, or rare items on PlayerAuctions and make real money from your hard-won virtual spoils.
The money advice for Millennials here is to keep playing those games and leveling up then sell, sell, sell.
Watch Videos
Yes, it’s possible. You can get paid to watch videos online.
MyPoints is an app that allows you to shop online, watch videos, take surveys or read emails to win points.
Collect enough points and the will reimburse you in gift cards or PayPal cash. Plus, you’ll win a $5 bonus when you complete your first five surveys!
Do you love to play games? Great! Get paid cold hard cash for playing games today.
6. Work Online Solo
Graphic Design Gigs
Are you a graphic design student or graduate? Or, do you like digitally designing?
If the answer is yes to either of these questions, then consider a freelance design career where you can make money doing what you love.
For instance, 99Designs allows creators to put their skills to use designing for magazine and book covers, illustrations and business cards, amongst others.
The other great feature is that you can set your own price and availability, meaning you will never need to stay late or work on the weekend (unless you want to).
Transcribe Audio
Do you speak another language? If so, why not try a transcription job on the side?
You can get paid to transcribe audio files from one language to another.
Sites such as TranscribeMe! and Tigerfish provide fast, convenient transcription jobs to those with another language under their belt.
A typical job may be receiving a voice clip of varying length, then extrapolating out their exact words.
For those looking for foreign captions, subtitles and translation alongside the transcription, have a look at Rev as well.
Translate Documents
Translation jobs often involve receiving documents and translating them into another language to reach a different audience.
If you speak multiple languages, or if the language you speak is rarer, then you can make even more money.
Sites like Gengo, VerbalizeIt and Rev offer many translation opportunities for those with the necessary skills.
Make an account and browse online for the assignments that interest you, either by price, content or language.
Learn an Online Skill, Then Use It
For those still wondering how Millennials make money online, this option is a bit broader and may take a bit more work yet may open up higher-paying freelance gigs.
If you don’t have many sellable skills, consider taking classes on Skillshare to gain them.
Skillshare is a learning platform where creators, teachers and other professionals offer classes in their specialization.
Once you’ve leveled up your skills, then you can make money on UpWork or PeoplePerHour by providing your recently acquired skill such as photo editing, proofreading, formatting or writing.
You can set your own hours and price point so it’s really flexible and can work around your schedule.
For those willing to try new things, here are 100+ ways to make extra money.
7. Work Online with Others
Become a Virtual Assistant
There are so many businesses looking for virtual assistants to help them balance life and work.
Are you an organized person? Would you be capable of helping others stay organized?
All you have to do is be organized and timely, skills you should already be growing in college.
Not sure you have what it takes? Learn the skills for free at VA Networking then make money as a VA on Zirtual.
Tutor Students Online
This online opportunity is a bit more selective — for those who already hold a bachelor’s degree.
So, if you’re a student working towards your master’s degree or a recent college graduate looking for some side income, tutoring online may be a great way to bring in extra cash.
Subjects available for teaching range from English grammar to Calculus to Biology.
Sites like Skooli, Preply, HelpHub, and TutorMe offer flexible schedules and price per hour minimums so you can make money when it is most convenient for you.
Teach Your Language
Not sure if transcribing, translating, or tutoring a subject is interesting enough for you? Why not tutor those who are interested in learning your language?
For example, italki is a language learning marketplace for 1-on-1 focused learning. They have more than 5 million learners and 10,000 teachers on their platform.
Not to mention, their platform can operate from your mobile as well, meaning you can work online from anywhere you choose.
8. Work for Yourself Online
Blog from Home
Do you want to work for yourself? Do you want to work online, from anywhere?
If so, blogging may be for you. For people who are taking blogging seriously, you can earn tens of thousands of dollars per month!
When we first started our blogging we were making enough to help fill in some gaps and give us a little cushion.
As our blog grew, and we learned more about how to make money using the platform, our viewers and money earned grew.
The catch is that you have to do your research, find affiliates and make sure your final product provides value to your reader.
If you can do that, then you can earn a lot each month.
Start blogging and earning today!
What other Millennial money making tips do you know that actually work? Let us know below!
Author:
Logan is a practicing CPA and founder of Choice Tax Relief and Money Done Right. After spending nearly a decade in the corporate world helping big businesses save money, he launched his blog with the goal of helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest more money. Learn more about Logan.
