Based on my experience, I developed a personal finance management concept called "The House of Money."

It includes several key elements: a safety foundation in the form of an emergency fund covering 3–6 months of expenses, three pillars of active income, life insurance with a savings component (which protects both your life and your capital), and of course — passive income.

Today we’re going to talk about passive income — we’ll break down what it’s made of and explore the tools you can use to build it.
Passive income is money that comes from your investments, regardless of whether you're actively working or not.

Of course, there’s no such thing as completely passive income — every tool needs to be monitored to some extent. However, the speed at which you need to react to changes will vary depending on what’s in your portfolio.

Reinvesting passive income helps grow your capital — and that capital, in turn, becomes the source of more passive income.
When we talk about capital, it’s important to understand the so-called investment triangle.
In our “House of Money” concept, the roof is symbolically divided into three sides:
Fast, Big, and Reliable.

If something offers fast and big returns, it’s usually tied to high risk — these are aggressive tools.
You can make money quickly and in large amounts, but in the long term it’s not reliable, because unexpected events may occur that reduce or eliminate your income.

The second category of investment tools includes those that allow you to earn quickly and reliably.
Examples of such investments are bank deposits and rental real estate.

They provide stable income and minimal risk, but don’t offer high returns. In this case, you get reliability and speed, but the “high returns” component is missing.

The third side of the investment triangle includes tools that allow you to earn income and preserve capital reliably, but they require time.
This includes the stock market and other moderate investment instruments.

These tools give you the ability to grow wealth in the long term, but they don’t provide instant results.
Investing in the stock market is a strategic process, typically intended for a time frame of 5, 10, or even 15 years.

Just like a small seed eventually grows into a large, fruitful tree, your capital also needs time and discipline to grow and start generating stable passive income.

Before you begin investing, it’s essential to build a financial safety cushion.

It should cover your expenses for 3 to 6 months, giving you peace of mind and eliminating the need to urgently withdraw funds from investments in case of unexpected events.

You can start with simple tools, like bank deposits, to get familiar with the mechanics of saving and investing.
Next, consider life insurance with a savings component as a second step toward building long-term financial stability.
On the third stage, you can open a brokerage account and make your first investment — for example, by putting even 1,000 rubles into the stock market through an ETF.

This helps you gain practical experience and understand how investing works in real life.
When I started building my own investment portfolio, bank deposits were my first step too — they were accessible and safe.
Later, I moved on to real estate investing, since it’s a familiar asset for most people and provides passive income while protecting capital from inflation.
I bought apartments and rented them out, creating a steady cash flow.

Mortgages played a key role — I used borrowed funds, which helped me acquire assets faster.
For instance, I took out my first mortgage for 5 years, but repaid it in just one year.

That gave me an important skill in financial discipline and allowed me to benefit from tax deductions.
As a result, my experience with real estate investments was successful — although, of course, there were some challenges related to the economic climate and property locations.

It’s important to remember: investing is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but rather a thoughtful, long-term approach to managing capital.

At one point, I tried different types of savings accounts and deposits, since the terms can vary significantly depending on the bank and the product.
Most banking apps allow you to choose the deposit option that suits you best.

There are fixed-term deposits — for example, for one, two, or three years.
However, I don’t recommend long-term deposits at the moment.

The optimal choice is to open a deposit for six months or up to one year.

These types of deposits are great for your first experience managing money.
But it’s important to understand: if you close the deposit early, you’ll lose all the interest earned.
That’s the first option.

The second option is a deposit that allows for additional contributions and partial withdrawals, but with a non-reducible minimum balance.
For example, if you must maintain at least 50,000 rubles in the account, anything above that can be used freely.
The interest rate on these deposits is usually a bit lower, but they help build financial discipline.

It’s a good tool for both saving and gradually growing capital — you can add funds over time and withdraw when needed without touching the base amount.
This kind of approach allows you to take your first steps in investing.

However, in the long run, it’s worth considering opening an investment account, which is a separate topic for discussion.

Today we’ve covered what passive income is, how to create it, and why it’s a process that requires discipline, but is available to everyone.
As the saying goes, “The road is mastered by the one who walks it.”

Share your thoughts and insights on social media, tag me — I’ll be reposting the most interesting comments.
We’ll also go over your questions in a dedicated section.

That’s all for today — see you next time!