Building wealth involves making smaller investments and seeing them grow over time. Sometimes known as flipping money, investing your money in various projects, assets, and skills could help you make extra money. Discover how to flip money here!
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Keep reading to learn some of the best ways to flip money. We’ll also look at some of the potential downsides to money flipping and how you can get started safely.
What does flipping money mean?
There’s no standard definition for flipping money. If you want to flip money, you’re essentially investing it.
You invest a smaller amount of money into assets or projects that are expected to increase in value. Once the value goes up, you sell your portion for a profit. With that, you find a way to learn how to invest with little money.
One of the most well-known ways to flip money is by flipping houses. This is where someone buys a fixer-upper house and renovates it. After renovation, they sell the house for more than they paid (and more than the cost of renovations) to make a profit.
As an investment, it’s important to remember that a money flip could lose value. There’s no guarantee that your flip will make money.
The good news is it’s also possible to make a lot of money through flipping. For example, you might be able to discover how to turn $10k into $100k.
Before you start flipping your money, it’s best to take the time to do lots of research. Things to look for in a flip include:
- How much will it cost to invest in the flip?
- How long will it take to see a profit on the flip?
- Are there customers who want to buy what you’re flipping? For example, is a fixer-upper home in a neighborhood with a buyers market or sellers real estate market?
- What are the potential risks of the flip?
- How much hands-on time will the flip require? Is that a passive or active investment?
Is flipping money the same as gambling?
No, flipping money isn’t the same as gambling.
The main difference is your ability to control the outcome of a money flip versus a gamble.
In gambling, your payout is based entirely on luck and chance. For example, let’s say you buy a lottery ticket for $10.
You have absolutely no control over the outcome of the ticket. Nor can you increase your chances of getting a winning ticket.
On the other hand, flipping is more similar to discovering how to start a business from scratch than gambling. You’ll take calculated risks in your investment.
Good luck, of course, can help make a flip more successful. However, there are a lot of factors you can influence or even outright control to increase your chance of success.
Is it legal to flip money?
Yes, there are lots of legal ways to flip money. In fact, legally flipping money can be a fun way to make some extra cash.
That being said, there are plenty of money flipping scams and illegal methods to flip money.
The key to avoiding scams or illegal methods is to do your due diligence when looking for a flip. That means taking the time to fully research the process of the flip as well as any third parties that might be involved.
Be sure to avoid flips that seem too good to be true or ask you to give all of your trust (and money!) to a stranger.
Money flipping scams are especially popular on social media sites. You’ll see an ad for an “investment” that promises to help you grow your money fast. These scams might even come from a hacker posing as your friend.
How to identify money flipping scams
Some telltale signs of a flipping scam include:
A lack of information
There’s no additional information on the company or investor. If you can’t find anything about the flip on the internet, it’s best to avoid it.
Requests for money
The flipping process involves sending money or a prepaid card to an unknown party. This is a huge red flag!
Fake/hacked accounts
Your friend posts about easy ways to flip money, but the post seems off. It may sound different than their normal tone. This most likely means their account is hacked.
Remember the most important rule of investing: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is! Watch out for ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and steer clear of anything that doesn’t make sense with investing.
Being safe while flipping money
Flipping is a type of investment. Choosing to invest smart could make you a ton of money and have a high return on investment. Or you could lose money.
If you’re going to start flipping money, you have to be ready for either possibility. Help yourself stay safe while flipping by following these tips:
- Don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose.
- Don’t jump into a flip without researching it first.
- Do protect yourself from hackers or scammers by using two-factor authentication and other cybersecurity tools.
- Do have patience when waiting for a flip to increase in value. Some easy ways to flip money aren’t fast, but the long-term success can outweigh the wait.
11 Real ways to flip money
Ready to learn how to flip money and put it to work for you?
If you want to know the best way to flip money, here are 11 both online and offline ideas.
1. Real estate flipping
As we talked about before, flipping houses is probably the most well-known flipping method. You can make a lot of money by buying a house that needs some renovations and reselling it after.
However, getting into the real estate investor flipping market isn’t easy. It requires a lot of upfront capital to buy a property.
Even a cheap fixer-upper will likely cost several tens of thousands of dollars.
Then, you have to pay for materials, contractors, and inspections to bring the home back to life. Plus, the time it’ll take to do renovations—especially if you’re tackling projects on your own.
Luckily, there are other ways to start real estate investing for beginners and flip your money using properties.
For example, you could invest using a real estate crowdfunding platform. Like Kickstarter or GoFundMe, these real estate-specific platforms let groups of investors pool money to buy real estate properties.
2. Flip websites or domain names
If houses are physical real estate, then domain names and websites are digital real estate. And just like houses, you can flip them and make money online.
Flipping websites or domain names is one of the easy ways to flip money. However, there’s some research involved to help make your flip more successful.
Take Mark Levine, who made six figures in a year, domain flipping part-time. When he buys a domain, he does so if he sees that it would be useful and has potential.
Websites take a little more effort to flip than domains. You often need to build the website—and a following. Once a website is established, you can flip it for a profit.
You’ll need to consider your skills, the time you have available, and the market for flipping digital assets. Generally, a domain name flip is an easy way to flip money, while a website flip takes a lot more work upfront.
3. Resell goods online
Imagine you’re shopping for a new cell phone. You find an electronics store that’s going out of business. They’re selling last year’s iPhone model for half the current price!
You could just purchase one for yourself and get a great deal on a new phone.
Another option is to buy several and resell them to other people for a higher price.
You buy 5 phones for $500 each. The current MSRP is $1,000. You sell each for $700.
Your buyers get a great deal. You make $200 in profit from each phone—a total of $1,000.
This is an example of a resell money flip (also known as retail arbitrage).
Reselling products is perhaps the best way of flipping money. However, luck will play a big part in reselling goods.
You have to find products at a discount to make a profit reselling them. If you have to buy close to MSRP, you might not make enough in resale.
You’ll also want to make sure there’s a reliable market for your products. iPhones or the latest Samsung Galaxy cell phones will probably sell. It will likely be harder to sell a no-name phone with limited features.
Some people find resale flipping a really fun way to make extra money. Looking for good deals from retailers can be a bit like treasure hunting. You never know what great deal you’ll find and flip to buyers.
You can also sell the items in multiple places, like eBay or also Facebook Marketplace, if you want. The more places you sell the items, the more opportunities for people to buy.
Drop shipping to flip money
If you like a little more predictability, you can also look into e-commerce drop shipping as you learn how to flip money.
Drop shipping is the process of selling goods to customers—without ever even seeing the product.
Amazon is one of the most well-known dropshipping platforms. You can open an online store on Amazon and drop ship goods from wholesalers.
Amazon handles the whole process of storing, packaging and shipping your goods to consumers. You pay a fee for this service, which comes out of your profits.
Drop shipping can be incredibly successful. The setup takes only minutes, so it’s easy to get started.
Be aware, however, that a lot of people are doing the same thing. The difficult part of drop shipping is setting your store apart from millions of others. You’ll need to invest some time into marketing your store.
4. Bank account churning
Did you know many banks offer incentives for you to open a new account?
It’s usually in the form of extra cash added to your account. Think of it as a gift from the bank for being a new customer.
The art of bank account churning takes advantage of those incentives. It works like this:
- You open an account at a bank with a new account offer.
- You meet any requirements, such as a minimum deposit, to get the extra cash.
- You withdraw the extra cash and your initial deposit.
- You close the account.
It’s one of the rare times when something sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Bank account churning is a real—and legitimate—way to flip money.
Banks, of course, don’t want you to do this. To help cut down on churning, most banks require accounts to stay open for a minimum amount of time.
You’ll need to keep your account open for this period before withdrawing your cash to avoid penalties.
It’s also important that you read all of the fine print in your bank documents before trying to churn an account. Missing a disclosure or detail could result in expensive penalties. You could also be barred from opening an account in the future.
And, of course, consider the question, “How many bank accounts should I have?” before opening up several of them.
Bank account churning example
Let’s say a national bank offers a $300 bonus for new customers to open a checking account. You have to deposit $500 at the opening to get the bonus funds. Your account must stay open for at least 90 days, or you face a $200 penalty.
You deposit $500 into your new account. The bank deposits an additional $300 as a bonus.
You keep the $800 in the account for the first 90 days. After 90 days, you withdraw the money and close the account.
Credit card churning
Credit card churning works like bank account churning but with credit card intro offers. Many credit cards let new cardholders earn a statement credit based on their initial spending.
For example, you open a new card that gives a $200 statement credit if you spend $1,000 in the first three months.
To churn credit cards, you open new cards to collect the welcome bonus offers. Then, you close the card and move on to the next one.
Churning credit cards is a lot riskier than churning bank accounts. You could seriously damage your credit score by overspending and opening new accounts.
There’s also the risk that a credit card company will close your account. New card companies might deny your application due to too many new accounts.
5. Traditional investing
One of the most common ways of flipping money is through traditional investing. It includes investments like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Basically, traditional investments are what you trade on the stock market.
Traditional investing works by buying a share of a company. As the company’s value goes up, so does the value of your shares. You can then sell your shares to make a profit.
One of the biggest downsides to traditional investing is the time it takes to build wealth. Very few people get rich quickly by buying and selling stocks. The best way to flip your money on the stock market is to invest for the long haul.
Luckily, investing is probably one of the easiest ways to flip money. You don’t even have to manage your investments by yourself.
You can choose a traditional financial advisor or planner to manage your money. These financial professionals take day-to-day management of your investments. They’ll recommend buying and selling opportunities based on your risk tolerance and investing goals.
First, ask yourself, “Do I need a financial advisor?” before you make a choice.
You can also put your money into a Robo advisor platform. Most major investment platforms offer an automated investing tool.
All that’s needed is to answer some questions about your risk tolerance and wealth-building goals. The technology will take care of investing your funds based on your answers.
6. Non-traditional and alternative investments
Alternative investments can be another easy way to flip money as well. Like traditional investments, you may have to wait several years to see worthwhile returns on your initial investment.
However, over time alternative investments can have one of the highest returns on investment.
Two of the most common alternative investments are commodities and collectibles.
Commodities
Commodities are raw materials that have value. Common examples include corn, precious metals, oil, and natural gas.
Collectibles
Anything of value that you can keep as a collection can be a collectible. For example, fine wines, art, stamps, and baseball cards can all be collectibles.
You can invest and trade commodities in physical ownership (where you actually hold the product). Of course, you probably don’t want to store thousands of bushels of wheat. Many people trade commodities on futures markets or the stock market through ETFs.
Collectibles often have a little more risk than commodities. Their perceived value may not be the same as their actual value.
Consider Beanie Babies. They were incredibly popular in the late 90s. Many people kept tags and bears in mint condition in hopes of someday reselling them.
But no one seems to want to purchase them. Their value is almost nothing, except perhaps a few very rare pieces.
On the other hand, some collectibles have proven their staying power. Fine art, for example, is generally considered a solid collectible investment. There are many appreciating assets to choose from, so choose what makes sense for you.
7. Flip money by fixing physical items
Being handy with tools could prove to be a good way of flipping money fast.
Fixing and flipping goods is a little like reselling products. You’ll find a product at a discount price and sell it for a profit.
The difference is that you’re buying broken or run-down products instead of new ones.
That means you’ll also have to put in some time and effort to make the product like new again.
For example, say you’re skilled at restoring and flipping furniture. You go to local yard sales and flea markets to find old furniture. There, you pick up an old chest of drawers with a broken drawer for $50.
You fix the drawer and sand the chest. With some paint and new hardware, the piece looks better than ever. Someone buys it for $300—$250 more than you paid.
This flipping method is one of the most involved. You’ll have to physically do the work (or contract it out) to get products ready to sell.
For many people who flip money, restoring old products just isn’t worth the time and cost of materials.
On the other hand, finding the best items to flip can be a great way to make extra money while doing a hobby you love. If you’re passionate about restoring old cars or fixing up furniture, becoming a flea market flipper could be ideal for you.
For flea market flipping, you can check thrift stores and garage sales for items. And as one of the bonuses, it’s pretty easy to start without much money.
8. Invest in land
Real estate investing usually focuses on rental properties or house flips. However, there’s another type of real estate that doesn’t require extra work to improve the property—land.
Both vacant land and assets like farmland can be incredibly lucrative ways to flip money. Many investors regard land as one of the most profitable real estate investments. After all, you can’t make more land.
The data backs this up as well. According to the USDA, farmland values have increased every year since 1988 (except in 2009 and 2016).
The biggest drawback to investing in land is the cost, of course. Like buying houses to flip, you’ll have to have the upfront money to purchase your investment.
9. Rent out your extra space
Do you have any extra space in your home? You could flip it for money.
Renting extra space in your house or apartment (also known as house hacking) is a simple way to earn some cash and learn how to flip money fast.
It’s simplest if you own your own home. Most landlords don’t allow tenants to rent out a portion of their rental.
Homeowners, however, can use their extra space to their advantage. You don’t even have to take on a new roommate to do it!
For example, you could rent out an extra bedroom on platforms like Airbnb or VRBO.
But having an extra living space isn’t necessary to flip money renting your home.
Do you have extra storage space in a closet or garage?
You can rent that storage to someone who doesn’t have enough space. You might be shocked how many people would rather store their things at someone’s private home than in a large commercial storage facility.
A disadvantage of renting your home, however, is giving access to others. If you rent out a room to a guest on Airbnb, for example, you’ll be letting unknown guests stay in your private space.
10. Use apps to flip money
Using apps is one of the best ideas for how to flip money fast with minimal money.
Try out investing apps like Betterment that allow you to invest your cash and earn a profit over time. There’s also the Acorns app that rounds up your purchases and helps you invest the difference, using a small amount of money to grow your wealth.
Use cashback apps like Ibotta or also Rakuten and then invest what you earn back. Rather than collecting money in the form of gift cards, get the cash and start earning. Then you’ll be making more money for your future!
Rakuten and Ibotta will allow you to earn cash back as you make purchases, and you can then cash out after you make a certain amount of money. So it’s a good way to earn as long as you aren’t spending money you wouldn’t normally spend.
Doing this process of spending as usual, getting money back from apps, and then investing it is a great way to earn.
11. Flip businesses
You can buy an existing business that isn’t doing well and turn it around to make a profit. There’s a lot to this, such as actually finding a business, buying it, and getting it to make money, but it is possible.
At the end of it, you could wind up with a successful side hustle or full-time business that makes an income for years.
However, you need to be smart when buying a business. Look at the numbers, paperwork, and all information to be sure the business is legitimate before buying.
Expert tip
You can make extra cash by being savvy with your money and flipping it. But it’s essential to remember, don’t spend money you don’t have. Work with the money you have saved up, and don’t go into debt to flip cash.
How to flip money fast!
Flipping money isn’t necessarily meant to be a “get rich quick” scheme. You’ll probably find that many money flips are medium to long-term investments.
If you want to know the best way to flip money fast, you’ll have to look for the right opportunity. It could mean you have to wait a little while to get started.
House flipping, for example, could be a way to flip money fast. A house in decent condition may only need a few repairs before it goes back on the market.
Say you buy a house for $200,000. You put in $50,000 of repairs and list it six months later for $400,000.
It sells one month later, and you make $150,000 in profit in less than a year. Of course, you have to have the money to put into the flip to make it work.
Where to find the money to start flipping
Although it may seem challenging to learn how to flip money, most of the battle is finding the money to get started. And some ideas don’t require much money to begin.
You can start by simply cutting the budget and saving up some spare change until you have enough money to start flipping.
Starting a side business to save up some cash is also a possibility. Choose one with minimal start-up costs.
Last, you can start one of these money-earning ideas that doesn’t require a large amount of money to begin. Something like flipping furniture is a good option, or using apps to build up money savings over time.
And once you have all that extra cash, what should you do with it? First, keep the money you earn somewhere safe, like high-yield savings accounts.
You may have ideas for saving up an emergency fund or paying off debt. And you can always put the money back into your flipping business and make even more cash if you’re unsure what to do with it. A savings account can also be one of the best places to store cash while you decide what’s next.
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Flipping money is possible if you choose something that works for you!
The best way to flip money for you may be different than someone else’s successful flip. Consider different options for flipping money to find one that works for you.
Remember to think about how much money you can invest, how much time you have to spend on the flip, and how long you want to wait to see returns. Time and money are important factors for this.
Our free investing and money courses are also a great way to get more information about putting your money to work!