How do wealthy people make passive income?

Good Question!

Passive income can derive from thousands of sources but rather than a long list with a lot of creative ideas, I will save time and tell you the two main ways to get passive income that will allow you to place an unlimited amount of capital quickly and efficiently.

Bonds - purchasing corporate income bonds especially bonds of private companies where the bonds are backed by hard assets such as mortgages or real estate. Government bonds and public company bonds the return is too low to have it make any sense to buy them. The one exception would be if you are a skilled bond investor / trader there are a lot of reasons to buy government debt. But since you are asking this question and are just learning about passive income I will just give you a shortcut on what I think is the best strategy. You still should talk to your lawyer and accountant.
Being a limited partner in an experienced apartment investor’s syndicate. The general partner is buying a 100 unit apartment complex for 30 million and needs to raise 10 million. You contribute 100,000 to 1,000,000 and now have pure passive income and likely will see your money double in 3 to 7 years.

I hope that helps and wish you good luck with your investing!