Turkey will always hold a special place in my heart. Here, I determined that if I wanted to live my dream life, I would have to make some drastic changes.
Our first trip to Turkey was in June 2019, when my wife and I struggled financially. In fact, my wife had to quit her job just to travel to Turkey at that time.
Once I got here, I wondered how my family could live without working a job in Turkey. How can someone keep getting money even though they are not working?
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These are some powerful thoughts, and some life-changing words came to me during this time; they were “passive income.”
Changing my life. I started changing everything I knew about money and energy in Turkey, but the actual test would be when I returned stateside.
Converting your lifestyle to obtain assets and make passive income can be challenging, so most people avoid doing it.
Now, I am back in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2023. It has been 4.5 years since I first read the words passive income. How have we done over the years? In a word—fantastic!
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You can read about our financial exploits in my Happy Cash Flow Retirement Series. Today, I want to focus on how we planned our last trip to Turkey using only passive income. Let’s begin.
Traveling in retirement. The most drastic change between our lifestyles in 2019 and 2023 is that my wife and I retired.
Being retired means we don’t have as much income coming in as when we were working. However, on the flip side, we have an abundance of time.
So, we need to plan this trip using our passive income only. Our military pension is more than enough to live a great life in the States, but adding an overseas trip will be costly.
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Buying the tickets using dividends and rental income. The most important part of the process is purchasing the tickets. I like to use our American Airlines credit card because we get points.
My wife decided to visit her family in Turkey for six weeks, and I would travel for three. Her tickets cost $1,200, and mine was only $150.
I used points I had earned previously to pay for my trip. We put both expenses on our American Airlines card in September.
This gave us two months to pay off the $1,300 using dividends and rents. We earn about $1,500 in monthly dividends and $650 in rent.
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We paid off the tickets in less than a month using the dividends from my Wells Fargo Brokerage and rent from my Navy Fed account.
Saving resources for the trip. Since we will be staying with family, there will be no housing cost while abroad.
However, it’s always nice to have some spending cash while traveling. My wife used her $750 monthly spending allowance for her first month.
I had more time and saved $1,000 on my Dividend Debit Card. As the dividends came into my Cash App card, I transferred them to my Cash App savings account.
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Luckily, my military retirement pays tomorrow, giving us another $750 each for the trip. My wife arrived here on November 1st, and I arrived on November 27th.
I’ll save our exploits on the trip for another time, but let’s review how we used passive income for such beautiful results.
How we spent the last 4.5 years. Converting to a passive income lifestyle is tough if you don’t have the resources.
We had no trust fund or inheritance waiting for us, so we had to go about the process differently—by living below our means.
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For us, that meant getting roommates for four years. The income from roommates helped us become debt-free and invest over $200,000 in a dividend portfolio.
But money is nothing without the correct mindset. The most significant investment was reading 151 financial books that gave me the perspective to use leverage to purchase our time back.
I wanted to do 30 years in the military, but I retired after 24. There are simply too many ways to obtain assets outside of the military.
I also wanted to focus on my writing. While I was working, it was much more challenging to write and run a website. Writing helps my soul focus on what it needs to accomplish.
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I don’t think I’ll ever make a ton of money from writing; however, the process of writing helps me focus on making money in other ways.
Living on a hardcore budget. Using leverage, dividends, rents, and royalties is excellent, but the best thing you can do for yourself is live on a hardcore budget.
A hardcore budget breaks your money down into several levels or groups. For example, you could break your food budget into home, away, and special occasions.
Whatever the case, you will begin to take your money management seriously. It’s not how much you make; it’s how much you save and invest.
Saving is Defense; Investing is Offense
You’ll need to invest an extraordinary amount of money to build a passive income empire. The best way to do that is to manage your money well, giving you additional resources to stash in your income investing portfolio.
Getting started on your path. Five years ago, I never believed I would be retired and happier than ever. But things move fast when you proceed with a sense of urgency.
I wanted to leave the workforce, move to a passive income lifestyle, and live my Happy Cash Flow Retirement.
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If you are serious about changing your station in life, start by reading Robert Kiyosaki’s first few books. If you can change your mindset, the rest will follow.
- “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
- “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing”
- “Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant”
- “Retire Young Retire Rich”
Conclusion. I am living proof that you can convert to a passive income lifestyle. My wife and I struggled before coming to Turkey in June 2019.
Now, in November 2023, our bank accounts runneth over. It is quite a financial makeover, and it wasn’t easy.
We had to eat “dirt sandwiches” over the last four years and make tough decisions like going to Japan without my family.
Most people cannot make these tough choices; however, most people will never be rich. What do you want from this life? Are you on a path to get it?
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The illusion of climbing the corporate ladder is just that—an illusion. True wealth comes from what you do in your free time.
I read books, write articles, study the stock market, and trade options in my free time. How do you spend your free time?
I aim to come to Turkey in an even better financial position next time. Therefore, I keep building upon the assets I own (and creating new ones). That’s life in the fast lane. I’ll check in a few more times while in Turkey. Good Luck!
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