@Shiloh Lundahl
Maybe passive and no W2 is the simplistic way to look at it. It’s an easy goal to visualize for many people but also it’s a trap. Nothing gets you thinking lazy like picturing quitting your job and then waiting for checks in the mail while sitting in your lounge chair… so it appeals to people but if you actually probe those people probably that’s not their goal and that’s not usually the actual end state an achiever wants to achieve.
My point of view is that
1) replacing some of your income with a new stream of income from a new skill set, can result in you choosing a new way to earn the remaining balance. So imagine you hate your W2 but like REI, and maybe like playing music, well if you replace X% of your W2 with semi-active REI and then replace the other being a manager at Guitar Center. Maybe suddenly your life feels amazing.
2) the new skill set pays off over time because you have trained yourself to think like an asset or business owner not an employee. So maybe at 60 you buy a business and retire from Guitar Center and semi-passively manage your business finally from a beach somewhere because by then REI is 60% of your income need and this business and it's employees need to just make you the other 40%.
Passive and No W2 makes this entire REI thing reduced to a binary outcome but as everyone here knows it's not a binary thing. As you succeed and fail you are changed and those changes will land you somewhere you probably did not set your sights on at first.
