My high W-2 income is my real estate 'cheat code'. I am pairing it with loosening regulations around real estate development to add rental units to properties. Without that income, it would be difficult to fund the developments. The goal is to have enough passive income so I can quit my W-2 and focus on other things.
The benefits of being independently wealthy are all realized via one mechanism: freedom.
Details below.
Primary purposes:
Secondary purposes (related to freedom with how I spend my time):
More secondary purposes, which can be achieved via wealth generation (assuming we increase our passive income beyond the baseline needed to meet our expenses, which is likely, as we can repeat the real estate development on other properties):
The benefits of being independently wealthy are all realized via one mechanism: freedom.
Details below.
Primary purposes:
- Pay for experimental treatments for my wife's illness.
- I am more available to spend more quality time with the kids and be even more involved in their lives, especially given my wife's inability to do so. This is especially important when they are older and life potentially gets more difficult for them in junior high and high school.
- There is financial security. Even if I died or became unable to work, my family would have the financial resources they need.
Secondary purposes (related to freedom with how I spend my time):
- I can work on what I want, when I want, how I want, and for how long I want. If my work ends up taking too much time or is unhealthy for me in other ways, I can just stop.
- It might allow us to do some form of homeschooling, in which I would be involved.
- If we wanted to, we could travel for extended periods with the kids, exposing them to other cultures and ways of living.
- I can spend more time w/ my wife during the day.
- I can stop working at any time of the day to spend time with family, friends, neighbors, etc. This can be to simply interact with them, to handle a crisis, to care for them during sickness or other issues, to have lunch, etc. Some good examples are interacting with the kids more when they get home from school and being able to go to their extracurriculars.
- I can be more involved in our church. This includes doing Bible studies, helping with the website, discipling, etc.
- I can do errands during the day more easily.
- I do not need to plan vacations and miscellaneous trips around my work schedule. I do not need to be limited by the number of 'vacation days' I have accrued. When the kids are on vacation, I could spend lots of time with them.
- I can spend more time learning, reading, climbing, and doing whatever other hobby I happen to be into.
More secondary purposes, which can be achieved via wealth generation (assuming we increase our passive income beyond the baseline needed to meet our expenses, which is likely, as we can repeat the real estate development on other properties):
- give away (big donations, recurring giving to our church and other organizations, helping out people we know, etc).
- rebuild our house.
- move to another property and rebuild the house, if we decide to do that.
- spend money we otherwise would not spend, such as going on expensive trips, etc.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
