Today’s post takes an in-depth and personal look at how much time and effort it takes to become semi retired.

Also, before we dig too deep, i want to define what “semi retired” means in this situation. I’d describe it as being able to live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle without having to work more than 20 hours per week.

Middle class varies where you live (in London this might mean $80,000 / year, while it’s $40,000 / year in Nebraska). For the sake of today’s are, we’ll call middle class the $40,000 – $60,000 range.

That’s enough to live in most of the USA, or the majority of foreign countries.

Alright, now let’s look at how you can make this much (or more) with as little time or effort as possible.

1. Build Up Your Passive Income As Fast As Possible

Warren Buffett says that if you do not learn to make money in your sleep, you will work until you die.

It’s true.

The richest people on Earth all make money through passive income. This is everything from stocks and bonds, to real estate, all the way to music royalties.

While owning miles of land or having a hit single is cool, they’re not for everyone.

Starting a website or creating products to sell online are much easier, low-cost methods for developing passive income.

You can easily buy a domain name and web hosting for around $100 per year. Learn a little salesmanship and you’re easily cracking $500 bucks a month in passive income.

Same goes with eBooks or information products.

You can can easily create something within a few weeks, and it’ll generate recurring revenue forever.

Having a $7 eBook and making $100 a month in passive income might not sound like much. Until you realize it’s $1,200 a year in extra cash. That’s a mortgage payment, or six months worth of utility bills.

Passive income quickly offsets your personal expenses.

2. Max Out Your Savings

(Create A Special Bank Account Deposit At Least $100 A Week Into It, That’s Your Early Retirement Fund)

If you have passive earnings and a regular job, you can easily save five figures a year. And when you do this, you quickly find yourself surpassing $100,000 in networth.

At 21, basic stuff like cooking my own meals and setting a budget enabled me to save $4,000 a year.

A few years later and that same strategy allowed me to save $12,000 and then $28,000. Common sense planning, and a little willpower, is enough to let you pile up cash.

When you spend less than you make, it’s pretty easy to build up a safety net.

You could be semi retired in the sense that you can just not work for a year or two if you want. You could go travel, or do whatever you want, without having to worry about money.

It feels amazing.

3. Reinvest Your Money Into Revenue Producing Assets (At This Point You’re Semi Retired)

Running websites and having digital products is passive income, but it’s often not as long-term as more “established” investments. Things like stocks, bonds, and real estate.

Because of this, you should reinvest a portion of your income into these assets.

$300,000 worth of dividend stocks or bonds will net you about $12,000 in annual cash payouts. Likewise, owning a rental property or land generates monthly income.

Making the transition to stable “fire and forget” investments also frees up a lot of financial worry.

And getting those nice, consistent payouts feels good too.

I live in Vietnam, my one bedroom apartment costs $500 a month. I make enough in dividend income that my investments can cover this.

If all my other income dried up, I’d still have a roof over my head and money for groceries.

Most people don’t have this type of security.

The best thing about investing is that it’s also very easy to learn (if you’re in it for the long-term). You can pick up a couple books off Amazon and have all the information you need to know.

For real estate and stocks, I’d recommend:

• 50 Prosperity Classics – Good, basic introduction to personal finance.
• The Little Book Of Common Sense Investing – Walks you through the easiest successful investment strategy possible.
• The Book On Rental Property Investing – I bought some long-term real estate this year and used Brandon Turner’s as a reference point.

Closing Thoughts

Financial freedom really isn’t that difficult, if you make it a priority. Start by focusing on passive income. Running websites or creating products offers a huge return on investment.

After that, save as much as you possibly can.

Pocketing $20,000 or $30,000 a year makes it very easy to build an incredible networth in less than a decade.

Once you’ve got that money stacked, reinvest it. Then you’re living off assets, not a job or career.

P.S. I really can’t stress how simple and easy starting an Internet business is. Hosting, a domain, and all the tools you need cost about $100 per year. Yet your earning potential is unlimited.