It’s a shame that there is no such thing as a magic bucket that you can fill with money and then use to buy what you want without having to earn it. But, fortunately for us, there are many legitimate ways to make money.

1. Become a card counter

A card counter is someone who watches how much people are betting at blackjack or roulette and goes over other people’s cards and takes the money from them. You can earn a lot of money this way, especially in Las Vegas where you have to watch dealers for the slightest sign of cheating (tipping, looking at their hands, etc.).

2. Find financial information on the Web

There are lots of legitimate reasons why people do this, including arbitrage, reverse mortgages, and mortgage modification scams. There are also websites that provide financial information for free. For example, you can read a recent version of the press release from Wells Fargo Bank. This is public information that should be freely available to anyone, so why not read it? You can also find information on the stock market from places such as Yahoo Finance or Google Finance .

3. Become an insurance agent

If you can sell insurance, especially term life insurance, then you should definitely do this. You can get a job as an agent or start your own business with very little initial capital.

4. Become a journalist

This is a tough field to get into and most people don’t succeed on the first try, but if you are good, whether in print or on cable TV (which is harder to break into than print), you can make a lot of money doing what you love to do.

5. Become a landlord

People need places to live, so this is a great way to make money. You can buy rental properties with little or no money down, by putting down the equivalent amount of cash plus getting another loan in which you pledge the property as collateral. This money can come from a home equity loan, or even from a credit card.