There are rare moments in life where you can truly appreciate everything you have worked towards. Whether it is coming home from deployment or surviving cancer, you will know when it hits you. I have had many of these moments throughout my 22 years in the Marines and 15 years of marriage, but none may be as powerful today.
Let me tell you a quick story. When I picked up the rank of E9, I knew that I would have to go to Okinawa, Japan. My wife and I had just closed on our third home, and our money was starting to “get right.”
So we were faced with a tough decision—travel to Japan as a family or send me unaccompanied. The main benefits of going unaccompanied were that my wife could continue her excellent job, kids could stay in schools and with friends, we could get a dog, and we could pay off some debt.
JOMO- The Joy of Missing Out
We decided to send me alone to Japan, but they locked me on an island for a year once I got there. After an entire year, I made it home to my beautiful wife last night. That’s when I realized that I have everything I want in life and more.
However, I can’t dismiss what I achieved during our one year apart. Part of the reason life is so amazing is because of the hard work my wife and I put in while apart. We decided not to waste this time, and we accomplished over five years’ worth of tasks throughout our journey. So let me reflect on some things, then we will discuss where you are in life.
1) We paid off all of our debt. I left for Japan with $77,000 worth of debt. We consolidated everything together before I went, and our goal was to pay it down to $50,000 within two years. We smashed that out of the park and paid everything off in 7 months after I left.
2) I became an avid reader. I read 57 books over one year and wrote a book review on each. Reading is why we are succeeding, truly.
3) I became a writer. Writing is a passion I never knew I had. Just being home, sitting next to my sleeping wife, I can feel how important writing is to my life.
4) I started publishing books. Along with writing, I began publishing books and articles to Amazon KDP and my blog. It has become my mission, and I have 189 straight days of writing to the blog.
4 Steps to Become Rich
5) I learned about passive income. The life-changing moment is when I discovered Robert Kiyosaki and his beliefs. Needless to say, most of my thoughts mirror his now. I am all in on passive income and the freedom it brings.
6) Passive Income- Retirement. I appreciate the passive income that my military retirement and Roth IRA will bring. So I continue to grind it out as an employee. At least I climbed the ladder.
7) Passive Income- Dividends. Our dividend portfolio is now sitting at $180,000 and producing $500/month of guilt-free income. It is a great life to receive dividends and use them to go to dinner. What more could a person want?
8) Passive Income- Crypto Interest. I invest in crypto for the large sums of interest they pay. Just today, I received $20 of crypto interest. Capital appreciation will follow as well.
Become Insanely Productive During the Magic Hours
9) Passive Income- Rents. All of the rental income from our three houses increased while I was gone this year—more money in the bank, no new assets to stress. I like it a lot.
10) Passive Income- Business. I am in the process of building a three-pillar passive income business. The three pillars are blog, books, and affiliate sales. The triangle all works together, and they are all passive once I get the books to market, of course.
What do all these things have to do with happiness? Now that I am back home with my family, I can reflect on what I have learned. The more money I can make passively, the more time I have with my family.
Not only that, I can spend more high-quality time when you are not worried about bills, expenses, debt, and the future. I am securing my freedom and my family’s freedom and when the provider of the house doesn’t need to focus on bills, everyone benefits.
Would I make the same choice again, to go to Japan alone? Everything happens for a reason. Knowing that the pandemic would hamper my chances to get home, I would push to get home sooner. That’s all I would change.
Being able to drive through town without one worry in the world for the rest of our lives is priceless. I don’t know if I would have discovered passive income any other way than being locked in a room for one year.
Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
What are you thankful for? How can you improve your situation? How can passive income streams give you the freedom you need to live the way you want?
These questions are deep, and only you know the answer. Also, ask yourself what material things do you really need? My wife and I owe our happiness to being simple. We have a nice amount of cash flowing throughout the household budget, but we don’t need much.
We just want some coffee on the weekends and happy hour sushi. Minimalism, learning, and making passive income lemonade are things that can increase your happiness ten-fold.
I’ll wrap it up here because my body is still on Japan time. Do some deep thinking on what will get you to your happy place. I have a book titled “Become the CEO of Yourself (book)” that may help you on your journey. Enjoy and Happy Investing.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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