A better life is one with less stuff and more time. Time to pursue hobbies and interests. Time to spend with my wife, my kids, and my great group of friends. But, in order to enjoy this time, I need to have enough money to enjoy it. Having lots of time and no money is as pointless as having lots of money and no time.

I’m not interested in the version of financial independence that requires extreme frugality. I don’t want a fancy car, but I don’t want to take a bus everywhere either.  I want enough time and money to be able to travel, both because I enjoy travel and because I think it’s an educational experience like no other. I want to eat out occasionally, own a home, go to the movies, and share a nice bottle of wine with my wife on a Saturday evening at home. I am striving for a comfortable standard of living and I’m resisting any form of lifestyle inflation beyond that point.

Getting to that point requires building multiple streams of income beyond a day job. These income streams can include dividends, rents, interest payments, real estate, and a business. You need to take calculated risks in your personal life, your career, and in your finances. You have to invest where and when the odds are in your favor.

Everybody needs a different amount of passive income to feel financial free. My goal is to achieve $120,000/year in passive income by July 1, 2021. After that I will take a step back and decide what’s next for me and my family. Maybe that’s a career change, maybe it’s taking a few years off, and maybe it’s changing nothing at all.