5 Ways | How to Make Money as a Teen Without a Job

Learning how to make money as a teen without a job should not be complex. In today’s age, there are many methods to earning extra money that do not involve sacrificing hours a day performing “traditional” jobs. Listed below are five proven ways to make money as a teenager.


1. Earn Money Online

Earning money online is a great way for teenagers to make money. Imagine not having to wake up early to go work a minimum wage job on the weekend. Most jobs offered to teenagers pay minimum wage. So why would a teenager want this kind of job? Yes, it pays, but it is entirely inflexible and extremely low paying. Not to mention, it is not scalable. Earning money online in 2021 has never been easier. There is also more opportunity to scale a teenager’s income as well as experience with the online method. The amount of effort you put into the below methods will directly correlate to how successful you will be.

Apps That Earn Money

One of the best money making apps is called Foap. Foap is an app that pays you by selling your photos and videos that you upload to your Foap portfolio. Marketing agencies dig through the app for photos and videos that fit well for their promotions. When they find yours, they pay you. Although, you can be paid by more than just marketing agencies. Anyone who is interested in buying your photos or videos can pay you to use them. The earnings you receive are split 50/50 with Soap. Simply upload your artsy photos that you usually upload to VSCO and upload them to this app instead. This is a great way for teenagers to make money and have fun doing it.

Another great app to make money on is called MyPoints. This app does it all. Simply put, MyPoints is a small task app. You earn money for completing tasks like watching videos, completing surveys, and even playing games. The money can be redeemed through your PayPal account or in the form of gift cards.

Earn Money on Social Media

Making Money on social media has never been easier for teenagers. If you have somewhat of a following on your social media platforms, that can be turned into revenue. Promoting affiliate products is a great way to do this. Using platforms like Amazon Associates or ClickBank, you can get paid based on how many people purchase the products you are promoting. If you have a larger following, companies may reach out to you directly for direct advertisements / promotions which turns into a larger pay day.

Take Paid Online Surveys

Another great way to earn money as a teen is by taking paid online surveys. The main discouragement I hear about online surveys is that their payout is not great. Although, if you sign up on a site that offers a lot of surveys that you can take, then that amount does add up. The best site for paid online surveys is Swagbucks. Swagbucks offers surveys from multiple providers so there is no shortage of surveys to take. In fact, they pay up to $2 per survey and the survey takes an average of 10 minutes. Completing surveys is a great way to earn some extra cash online as a teenager.

How to make money online for teen

2. Sell Your Stuff Online

Teenagers can make money by selling old stuff that you no longer use. If you have old clothes that don’t fit or simply don’t want, then sell it. Apps like Depop are excellent ways to make money. If you’re looking to sell clothes, simply post a photo of the clothing onto Depop, list the price and size, and start selling. Extremely simple and efficient. Although, it does not only have to be clothes. Look around your room and see if there’s anything you barely use or don’t use at all. Now think of how much you paid for it and how much you could resell it for.

Teenagers can also go to their nearest Goodwill and buy clothing that they believe they could sell online for a higher price. Most of the clothing at Goodwill is extremely cheap and you could double the price you paid for it to make a profit. Many thrift stores do this so why can’t you?


3. Start a YouTube Channel That Makes Money

A great way to make money as a teen is by learning how to start a YouTube Channel. Check out this article to learn how to make money on YouTube more in depth. In fact, there are even ways to make money on YouTube without creating videos (article on this coming soon). Monetizing a YouTube channel can be a difficult task. Although, if you’re passionate about creating, then it won’t feel like work at all. It’s never too late to try YouTubing as a means of making money. It takes patience and hard work but can have major payouts at the end. Check out the article linked above to learn the ins and outs of making money on YouTube.

How to Make Money as a Teen Without a Job
Photo by Pixabay

4. Earn Money by Playing Video Games

Online gaming is a great way for teens to make money without a job. Not to mention, it is likely something we already do in excess so why not get paid for it. You may think that Twitch streaming is only for people who are insanely good at video games or that already have a large following. However, there are many “lower” level Twitch streamers who make a decent amount of money. We are not talking tens of thousands of dollars when you first start but a lot of money can be made as long as you stick with it and deliver good content.

Take TimTheTatMan for instance, an extremely successful streamer. He is not a “great gamer” but his sense of humor draws in a large audience, which turns into millions of dollars in revenue. In fact, he is recognized as an “Internet Personality” rather than a “Pro Gamer”. Streamers like Ninja are a different story. Ninja mainly got famous based on his high level of gaming.

If you are 18 or older then you can enter to play in tournaments on Gamersaloon. There is a small fee to join the tournament but there is a nice reward if you win. Most of all, it does not feel like work at all and is very fun.

This goes to show how many different avenues can be taken to make money playing video games.


5. Investing in the Stock Market

The fifth best way to make money as a teenager is by investing in the stock market. Investing in the stock market is last on the list primarily because it is a long-term strategy to making money as a teenager. A strategy that will surely pay off in your twenties without having to lift a finger. In fact, investing online has never been easier. Investing in a low-risk mutual fund that mirrors the S&P 500 will surely pay off (literally) in the long run. Furthermore, a mutual fund that mirrors the S&P 500 has an average annual rate of return of 10%! This means that the money you put in now will have a high chance of growing 10% without you having to do anything.

Let’s create an investing scenario. Starting at the age of 18, you invest $200 every month into an index fund that mirrors the S&P 500. At an annual return of 10%, you will have $39,972 in ten years. But guess what the best part is, $15,972 of that is money earned through compounding interest. This is what we in the Finance world call making your money work for you.

Investing in the stock market online as a teenager is all about thinking in the long term. What would your 28 year old self want you to do right now? More than likely it would be to start investing right away.

how to make money without a job
How to make money without a job

By now I hope you learned how to make money as a teen without a job. Check out this article if you would like to learn various ways to making money online. Part of making money is saving money. Thank you for reading, please subscribe if you would like to be notified when a new article is posted.


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