Creating genuine passive income is the holy grail of personal finance. Not all passive income is created equal mind you. Some streams take much more initial effort to start, such as saving enough to buy your first rental property. But once you start it’s very difficult not to gain momentum.
Everything passive first takes active energy. The time to put in the effort is when we are young and not ravaged by disease or burdened by family obligations. I remember being able to snowboard from 9am until 4pm every day for a year. Now, I’m lucky to last from 11am until 2pm without wanting to go to the hot tub and drink a bucket full of beer! If we can appreciate how lucky we are when we are young, we’ll be able to maximize our vitality and live financially freer when we are older.
With sustainable passive income you can do the following:
* Retire early and travel the world.
* Start a business in a field you are passionate about.
* Find a job that pays less, but is more interesting.
* Stay at home to take care of your family without having to worry about money.
* Volunteer for causes you truly care about.
* Be a big brother or big sister.
* Spend more time with your parents.
* Sit in a coffee shop on a 80 degree day in Paris for hours on a Wednesday afternoon.
* Write the next great novel on the balcony of a cruise in the Mediterranean.
* Eat tapas and drink sangria until 1am on a Monday evening.
* Potentially live longer due to much less stress.
* Experience perfect endless summers over and over again.
There is so much you can do once you generate enough passive income to pay for all your living expenses. I highly encourage everyone to at least try. This post will provide you the framework for passive income success. I’ll also provide an update on my estimated 2013-2014 passive income streams which have grown since retiring in 2012.
Imagine standing barefoot on the sand just far away enough so the water doesn’t kiss your toes. A flood of orange consumes your eyes as the sun sets over the hills. You give thanks for the moment and hope tomorrow will be just as wonderful. Such is one day out of a perfect summer.
With my 
If you’ve been making $500,000 a year for a decade as a 40 year old but only have a $1 million net worth, you’re probably a donkey with some serious financial issues. If you’re making $80,000 as a 30 year old but have a $500,000 net worth I’d classify you as a hero who is on their way to bubbles and unicorns!
Things sure felt great at the top of the market in 2007. Stocks were on fire. Real estate could do no wrong. Turning 30 was only slightly depressing for several days. I even remember being surprised at how little then President George Bush was making vs. a third year VP in finance. Then the bottom fell out of in 2008 as Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers went buh-bye. Friends were getting fired left and right and all of a sudden nobody wanted to spend money anymore.
There’s a debate raging whether one should include their primary residence or not as part of their net worth calculations. In my post, “
Every person has a different idea of the perfect retirement. Some are happy to live off the grid where nobody speaks another language other than English and the best restaurant in town is the greasy spoon. Others are happy to live in a one bedroom or even a trailer to make ends meet. Heck, some are even willing to live in a region where the weather is horrendous for half the year because rent is so cheap.