Most people will find it somewhat difficult to exit the rat race and start building a life of financial abundance because they are stuck in the uninspiring financial positions of earning salaries or wages. Unless you are a professional or CEO with a highly paid job, trading your time for money is not a smart way to build wealth because you have limited time and you are technically not earning money when you are not working.

However, you can still take control of your financial future even if you are stuck in a 9-to-5 job that pays peanuts by the hour. Making your money work for you provides you with an opportunity to earn extra income without necessarily trading time for money. However, when people hear about creating additional sources of income, they usually think about starting a business. This article provides insight into 3 unconventional ways through which you can make your money work for you.

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending is an alternative funding solution that caters to financing needs of people that are ‘unserved’ or underserved by traditional financial institutions. P2P platforms provides a meeting point for people who need funding and regular folks who have spare money they’d like to give out as loans to earn interests.

Interests rates on loans given out on P2P platforms are typically lower than interests on bank loans; yet, you can determine how much interest you’ll like to earn based on the creditworthiness of the potential borrower. Instead of leaving money lying fallow in a savings account, you should consider putting it to work to earn interest as a P2P loan.

Equity Crowdfunding

Solo entrepreneurs and startups have been pitching on equity crowdfunding platforms to raise funding from angel investors for years. The investors in turn get a stake in the startup in the hopes that it would succeed and they’ll get an incredibly massive return on investment. Think about equity crowdfunding as an opportunity to invest in the next Uber, Facebook, or Tesla. The only problem that kept equity crowdfunding under wraps was that you needed to be an accredited investor before you can put funds up.

However, the SEC has loosened regulations on equity crowdfunding and many platforms now have minimum requirements for the average American interested in becoming an angel investor. Nonetheless, you’ll need to conduct due diligence on any startup in which you want to invest. More so, you should note that equity crowdfunding is an illiquid investment and you are not likely to book any gains until the startup is acquired or it files an IPO.

Derivatives Trading

Investors who prefer a more hands-on approach to making their money work for them should consider trying their hands at trading/investing in derivatives. Derivatives are trading/investment contracts that get their value from an underlying asset so that you can book gains on the investment without actually owning the asset. Derivative trading includes CFD trading instruments, options, futures, and ETFs among others.

Derivatives are great ways to make your money work because they provide you with exposure to Wall Street at a fraction of the capital you’ll need to actually buy stocks, precious metals, or Forex. In addition, derivatives offer investors different kinds of trading strategies with which you can book profits irrespective of whether the market is heading up, down, or trading in a narrow range. Nonetheless, you’ll need to pay attention to the fact that derivatives tend to sport high-risk and high-reward dynamics; hence, you’ll need to master your emotions to make logical trading decisions on derivatives.