All Forum Posts by: Chad Carson

 Awesome to hear the survey helped you get some clarity! Thanks for sharing. And good luck with your next steps!

Yeah, everyone has their own idea of what financial independence/early retirement means. And I think most of us who can achieve it do plan on "work" after accomplishing this kind of goal.  BUT - there's no doubt that having a certain amount of assets and income gives you a different leverage if you do work. It's not the same pressure of having to work for money, and that's a worthwhile place to be. 

As to $3 million not being enough in 2017, that's another one that could divide the room. All depends on lifestyle needs/wants. And so far - only 25% of total respondents think $3 million is necessary.  And that includes plenty of expensive market people. 

 Yeah, I agree with you that I tend towards passive income as the primary goal. But I've also included net worth personally because the two are related. And I've found that reaching the passive income goal if your net worth is still very small means you're highly leveraged. And this is a  more precarious (i.e. less stable) place to be. So, ideally you'd grow to both.

 Thanks for doing the survey! Yeah, I wanted both those working on financial independence and those already there. So, it made the questions a little awkward. Thanks for bearing with me:) 

We'll stay in touch next year with the results!

 Steve, we asked for email addresses for a potential 1-1 followup. We may do some interviews to dig deeper on the survey questions and feature some investors who use real estate in different ways to achieve financial independence. 

Thanks again for participating!

 Thanks for doing the survey Steve!

Not sure I understood your question about the email address.  Can you clarify? 

 You're absolutely right there will be a real estate bias in the survey. My main goal was to find people who do have that bias, and then learn more about HOW they use real estate investing.  Some use it for wealth building. Some for income after financial independence. Some for both. And from the results, I can see there is a LOT of variety in between for how people use it and mix it with other strategies. So, it's those nuanced lessons I was looking for, so that we can help educate and meet investors at their different approaches.

 Not going to be available right away. But they'll definitely be public - but probably when this project is out there in mid to late 2018. 

thank you for your help and your interest.

 Yeah, I prefer the word "financial independence" over early retirement for that reason. I have met few people with the ambition to retire early who just sit around. Most of us have projects, businesses, or other activities that fulfill us and keep us busy.  For example, I do a lot more writing now.

I think the main difference is you can work completely on your terms. Money may be part of your equation still, but after FI you can make much different decisions because you don't need the money.

To me, the simple part of getting to financial independence is this: 

1. Make as much money as possible

2. Save as much as possible (big savings rate - like 50-75%)

3. Invest your savings safely and profitably

Real estate investing can help, mainly with #3.  You can also flip houses or do short-term holds where you resell for a profit to help with #1.

But  I agree real estate isn't as simple as say - investing in an index fund. Real estate, at least up front, IS a business. If you have another business with a lot of chances to grow your income, nothing wrong with doing that.

At some point, though, you'll have to decide which vehicle is going to produce the most income, most passively. I have found few businesses (or investments) who have that combination as well as real estate. It's worth learning for that reason.

Best of luck!