I make $200,000 a year in passive income after retiring at 34, and it only works because I followed 5 steps

REUTERS/Stephen Lam

• Sam Dogen spent 13 years working in finance on Wall Street before negotiating his layoff (and a severance package) in 2012 at age 34.
• He lives in San Francisco with his wife and baby and runs the blog Financial Samurai.
• Neither of them work a day job; they earn about $200,000 a year in passive income, mostly from investments in stocks and bonds, two rental properties, and sales of an eBook he wrote in 2012.
• Sam says the keys to building passive income are saving more than you think you need, focusing on income-producing assets, and diversifying your investments.

Ever since landing my first job post college in 1999, I've been determined to build enough passive income in order to not have a job. A future that included getting into work by 5:30am and leaving after 7:30pm each day for decades seemed too brutal to endure.

In 2009, I decided that if I could earn about $80,000 in passive income, I would leave my job permanently and work on Financial Samurai while traveling instead. So I left work in 2012 at the age of 34. Once my wife decided to join me in 2015, also at the age of 34, I decided to shoot for $200,000 in passive income.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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