Investing money: Stocks, bonds, ETFs, options: That's how it works with making extra money without a job

Psychologists know that even the mere thought of passive income triggers feelings of luck in the brain. Generating a regular income without working is not easy, but it is possible. The Handelsblatt demonstrates four investment strategies on how to achieve this. Bonds promise a particularly calculable passive income. Here's how investors can best take advantage of this trend.

Many companies offer steadily increasing dividend payouts. Discover how to make dividend stocks a source of passive income. You can extract more than just dividends from your stocks, such as with call options. Funds and ETFs can also provide high dividend yield returns for passive income. When these two words are mentioned, most people's minds go blank.

No more deadlines, just doing what one feels like doing, without the nagging question of "Who will pay?" It's probably the allure and success of many self-proclaimed financial strategists promoting their ideas for passive income on social media. "Psychologically, the idea of passive income primarily bundles three wishes: security, freedom, and relief," says Valentin Haas.

The psychologist and executive coach has seen this phenomenon in countless sessions: Just when someone feels trapped in a hamster wheel, the mere thought of escaping provides a sense of relief. At that moment, our brain releases the happiness chemical dopamine, believing it has found an escape - even though the situation hasn't changed.

"Videos, success stories, and promises like 'Save amount X and you can live off it forever' generate a real dopamine rush," says the psychologist. However, upon closer examination of the offerings, little concrete information is found. Despite few questions, concrete numbers play a bigger role in answering them. Whether passive income can work depends on several factors.