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My cred:I’m 26. I started out at 23 making $50K per year with $0 (yes, that’s much better than starting out with a ton of student loans, like many of my peers!), and am now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with thousands per month in passive cash flow. Am I retired? I don’t know. I work a full-time job that I like, but I certainly could scrape by on my passive cash flow indefinitely. I definitely plan to build out significantly more wealth and passive cash flow over the next few years. But no, I don’t need to work to cover my lifestyle expenses.I authored a best-selling book on this topic (and yes, sales from that book are also part of my passive cash flow now ) as well, called “Set for Life.”Anyways, if you are interested, here’s how I did it:Stage 1: Initial accumulation. If you don’t have any money, and you work a full-time job, you pretty much have to start by saving. Sorry. But, realistically, you aren’t going to go out after work and moonlight or start a business from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM every night from a standing start with little to no assets and build up a material income stream. Sure, some folks do that, but it’s not a high probability way to move toward early financial freedom.Your goal with the initial accumulation is to acquire 1–2 years, or more in CASH (not home equity, retirement accounts, your car’s value, etc). It’s your spending, not your income that matters here - the less you spend per month, the more you accumulate and the less you need to build out a 1–2 year financial runway. If you live in a cheap place close to work, you should be able to save 50%, or more, of your income and build this out in 1 year or less.Stage 2: $25K to $100K.Two things here - buy property and scale your income.Property - you need to “house-hack” - buy a duplex or multifamily (or even a house with extra bedrooms) and rent out the excess space. This should cover you mortgage and provide you with a bit of initial cash flow. Simultaneously, this allows you to live rent and mortgage free, acquire a rental property that can produce passive cash flow after you move out, and allow you to build equity through appreciation and loan pay down. A no brainer wealth building hack applicable in all but the 2–3 most expensive markets in the entire country.Income - because you spend so little per month, you can finally quit that $65K per year job and take a chance on something with real upside. Nothing wrong with $65K, but you KNOW for a fact that the BEST CASE scenario is that you make $72K per year as a “senior analyst” next year with your promotion… Too slow. You need something that can earn $100K or way more in the next 2–3 years. Now, your peers can’t take a shot on a job that earns $30K per year, but with commissions or equity incentives worth potentially far more than that. But you, as a saver, can take that chance. Use your financial position and savings to your advantage.Stage 3: $100K to early financial freedomTime to focus on investing. It’s almost silly to spend time trying to invest less than $100K for outsized returns. What, you’re going to try to retire in your twenties or early thirties by getting a 25% return on your first $1,000, or even $10,000? Obviously not. Instead, work hard and save as much as possible, while house-hacking, to accumulate the first six-figures. THEN, learn about investing and take some shots. A 15% return on $100K is no laughing matter—that can make a real difference in your life!You want to retire early? Don’t count home equity in a primary residence. Don’t count retirement accounts. You need passive, after-tax cash flow that can be harnessed and spent, TODAY. Real estate and continuing to house hack is great.Index funds are great. Taking pot shots at new business ideas and assets is great. Trying new things with small amounts of money and scaling what works is great. Keep going for as long as it takes for you to feel “retired.”If you complete this journey early in life, say late twenties or early thirties, congratulations! You will join an elite cadre of humanity that has the option to pursue their interests during the most capable years of their lives without the distraction of employment for financial gain. You have a chance to change the world in a way available to few of your peers. Don’t waste it. It can be tempting to sit around all day and play video games or drink beer. Use your privileged position to do some good in the world!

Hey, Quora friends, long time no see! I just wanted to drop by and give people an update on where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing for the last while.I really like Quora, but local political issues have sucked up my time. I’ve joined and become a director for Abundant Housing Vancouver, which means I write, go to city council public hearings, and do other activist things to try and fix big, systemic, historical, racial and class problems in our housing and transportation laws (that also affects our carbon footprint!)Okay, I also have fun - started doing more cosplay lately.So what’s the problem I’m trying to help fix, you probably aren’t asking but I’m answering anyway?Did you know that apartments, which disproportionately house people of lower incomes and wealth, compared to single-detached houses, are legally banned in most of the land around most North American cities? The laws are called zoning bylaws.Did you know that social housing isn’t exempt from these zoning bylaws? For example, if you wanted to build a 6 storey co-op apartment on city-owned land, tough luck! You can’t, unless that city land happens to be in the 25% of Vancouver land that is zoned for multifamily homes. On 75% of Vancouver land, it’s illegal.If you’re from San Francisco or Minneapolis or Seattle, you already know what I’m talking about. There are burgeoning YIMBY (yes in my backyard) movements in these areas that are trying to break down these systemically racist and classist barriers.So, since Vancouver has a housing and overdose crisis. I’ve been writing op-eds in local newspapers to encourage city councils to allow social and supportive housing rezoning applications to pass and relax classist zoning restrictions.I’ve been writing in to support new forms of taxation on land to raise more money for publicly subsidized homes.When I have a moment, I’ve been trying to encourage city councils to allow for public transit improvements in the region, which will have induced-demand effects: more people will take public transit instead of cars, lowering our GHG emissions. Hopefully very soon, we also have more choices to live closer to each other, denser, and to our workplaces, which I believe will make us generally happier, more connected, and also reduce GHG emissions. The sky-high per capita emissions in North America is, to a large extent, because we have a culture of encouraging big, detached homes, which requires sprawl, which can only be serviced by private cars. We even have tax incentives (like the primary residence tax exemption, which has no cap in Canada!) that encourage this unsustainable lifestyle.As of this moment, I have 3 more op-eds in the works. One is another piece advocating for the North Shore B-line bus, from specifically a class and environmental lens. I’m working with a lovely local trans woman activist, Morgane Oger, and a few other trans folks on an op-ed that advocates for a nonbinary shelter in Vancouver. The last is a big one that a)emphasizes the class and racial problems with zoning in Vancouver and b)highlights some strong women in the geography, sociology, planning, legal studies, and economics fields that have done amazing research on zoning, yet get little to no recognition or exposure in the media.So yeah, that’s where I’m at! I hope everyone is doing well here. I’m on Twitter quite a bit still, so if you’d like to chat and catch up, please let me know!

California's 2019 Housing Laws: What You Need To KnowAfter the California Legislature passed a high-profile package of 15 new housing laws in 2017, it has continued to focus on housing laws in 2018 to address the state's epic housing shortage.As Gov. Jerry Brown winds down his time in office, he recently signed into law 16 pieces of housing legislation that will become effective on Jan. 1, 2019.Taken as a whole, these laws continue a significant trend towards increasing the expectations on local governments to make progress toward approving sufficient housing to meet the state's housing crisis.Also you can ask these to investor real estate agentFollowing 2017, a year in which the California Legislature passed a high-profile package of 15 new housing laws, the Legislature has continued to focus on housing laws in 2018 to address the state's epic housing shortage. (For a summary of the 2018 housing package, see Holland & Knight's article, " A Closer Look at California's New Housing Production Laws," Dec. 6, 2017). As Gov. Jerry Brown winds down his time in office, he recently signed into law 16 pieces of housing legislation, which will become effective on Jan. 1, 2019 and make additional incremental progress in producing housing. Below, they are grouped into the following categories:Increasing Density and Housing Opportunities. New laws that facilitate development near Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations, and reform the state's longstanding Density Bonus Law, which entitles developers to a density bonus and to certain concessions and incentives in exchange for including affordable housing in developments. Notably, new law extends the State Density Bonus Law to student housing.Streamlining and Removing Barriers to Housing Production. New laws that revise the major streamlining laws from the 2017 housing package (SB 35 and the Housing Accountability Act), reduce parking requirements for historic reuse projects and remove barriers to the development of supportive and affordable housing.Planning, Regional Housing Needs and Fair Housing Laws. New laws that reform the process of assigning local jurisdictions their regional housing targets, promote fair housing goals in local planning processes and require charter cities to meet certain planning requirements that were previously only imposed on general law cities.Miscellaneous. New laws that expand prohibitions against "price gouging" on rental properties during emergencies and extend the duration of building permits.Taken as a whole, these laws continue a significant trend towards increasing the expectations on local governments to make progress toward approving sufficient housing to meet the state's housing crisis. As further discussed below, the impacts of these laws are becoming even more meaningful as a result of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD's) commendable implementation of SB 35 and other new laws.Increasing Density and Housing Opportunities1. AB 2923 (Assembly Members David Chiu and Timothy Grayson) – Development on BART-Owned Land is a new law that gives the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board of supervisors the authority to rezone any BART-owned land within a half-mile of a BART station to set the lowest permissible limit for height, density and floor area ratio and the highest permissible parking minimums and maximums. Local jurisdictions must then adopt conforming zoning amendments within two years after BART adopts standards for a district. Qualifying projects may apply for streamlined, ministerial processing as specified in SB 35 – without having to otherwise qualify separately for ministerial processing under SB 35 (discussed further below). Developers may also secure vested rights to develop in accordance with the newly adopted standards after entering into an exclusive negotiating agreement to develop an eligible project. Among the qualifying criteria, developers must make at least 20 percent of housing units affordable to very low-income and low-income households, with additional affordable requirements for projects that would displace housing or take place within the district's boundaries. BART has estimated that up to 20,000 housing units and 4.5 million square feet of commercial space could be built on its parking lots.2. AB 2753 (Assembly Member Laura Friedman) – State Density Bonus Process Reforms seeks to expedite the processing of density bonus applications pursuant to the State Density Bonus Law. The State Density Bonus Law, originally enacted in 1979, requires an agency to grant a density bonus and/or a certain number of concessions or incentives to developers who agree to construct developments that provide affordable housing and meet certain criteria. This year's amendments now require local governments to provide determinations to developers regarding the amount of density bonus for which a development is eligible, all reductions in parking requirements for which the applicant is eligible and whether the applicant has provided adequate information for the local government to make a determination regarding any requested incentives, concessions, waivers or reductions in required parking. The law further requires such determinations to be based on the development project at the time the application is deemed complete, and provides that the local government shall adjust the amount of density bonus and required parking based on any changes during the course of the development processing.3. AB 2372 (Assembly Member Todd Gloria) – State Density Bonus Law Floor Area Ratio Bonus authorizes cities or counties to grant a developer of an eligible housing development under the State Density Bonus Law a floor area ratio bonus in lieu of a bonus on the basis of dwelling units per acre. The floor area bonus is calculated based on a formula prescribed in the new statute (i.e., allowable residential base density x (site area in square feet / 43,500) x 2,250). An eligible housing development under the law is a multifamily housing development that provides at least 20 percent affordable units, is located within a transit priority area or a half-mile from a major transit stop, meets requirements for the replacement of existing units and complies with height requirements applicable to the underlying zone. The law also prohibits cities and counties from imposing parking requirements in excess of specified ratios and allows an applicant for an eligible development to calculate impact fees based on square feet and not per unit.4. SB 1227 (Sen. Nancy Skinner) – Density Bonus for Student Housing extends the State Density Bonus Law to apply to student housing. It allows student housing projects where at least 20 percent of the units are affordable for lower income students to receive a 35 percent density bonus. The law also provides that the development must provide priority to students experiencing homelessness. The density bonus under the law will be calculated based on the number of beds instead of units.5. AB 2797 (Assembly Member Richard Bloom) – Reconciling the State Density Bonus Law and the Coastal Act requires the State Density Bonus Law to be harmonized with the California Coastal Act so that both statutes can be given effect within the coastal zone to increase affordable housing in the coastal zone while protecting coastal resources and access. This law supersedes the Second District Court of Appeal's opinion in Kalnel Gardens, LLC v. City of Los Angeles (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 927, 944 holding that the State Density Bonus Law is subordinate to the Coastal Act.Streamlining and Removing Barriers to Housing Production6. AB 3194 (Assembly Member Tom Daly) – Housing Accountability Act Amendments makes three important revisions to strengthen the Housing Accountability Act (HAA). The HAA strictly limits local governments' authority to reject or restrict housing development projects that comply with applicable objective general plan, zoning and subdivision standards. The Legislature's reforms to the HAA in 2017 were one of the most significant elements of the 2017 housing package. (For a full description of the reformed HAA, see Holland & Knight's alert, " California Governor Signs into Law Major Reforms to Housing Accountability Act," Sept. 29, 2017.) This year, as revised by AB 3194, if the zoning for a project site is inconsistent with the general plan, a proposed housing development project cannot be considered "inconsistent" with a jurisdiction's zoning standards and cannot be required to seek a rezoning, as long as the project complies with the jurisdiction's objective general plan standards. Second, local agencies must now apply zoning standards and criteria to facilitate and accommodate development at the density allowed on the site by the general plan. Third, the Legislature declared its intent that a "specific, adverse impact on the public health and safety" – the only permissible basis on which a local government can reject or reduce the size of a project that complies with objective standards—will "arise infrequently."7. SB 765 (Sen. Scott Wiener) – SB 35 Amendments makes a series of "cleanup" revisions to SB 35, the major streamlining law enacted in 2017, which requires localities to grant a streamlined ministerial approval to housing projects that meet the locality's objective standards, commit to provide prevailing wage labor and provide a specified amount of affordable housing, among other criteria. Among the most helpful of this year's amendments is the Legislature's explicit statement that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) does not apply to the agency's determination of whether an application for a development is subject to the streamlined ministerial approval process – eliminating one argument housing opponents have used to try to avoid the effect of SB 35. In addition, the Legislature stated that "it is the policy of the state that this section be interpreted and implemented in a manner to afford the fullest possible weight to the interest of, and the approval and provision of, increased housing supply."8. AB 2263 (Friedman) – Parking Reductions for Historic Reuse Projects authorizes parking reductions for a development project in which a designated historical resource is being converted or adapted. For projects converting or adapting a designated historical resource to a residential use that is located within a half-mile of a major transit stop, an agency shall not require the project to provide parking spaces greater than the number of parking spaces that existed on the project site at the time the project application was submitted. For a project converting or adapting a designated historical resource to a nonresidential use, a local agency shall provide a 25 percent reduction in the amount of parking spaces that would otherwise be required.9. AB 2162 (Chiu and Daly) – Supportive Housing Use "By Right" requires supportive housing to be considered a use "by right" in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted, including nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses, if the proposed housing development meets specified criteria. Supportive housing is housing linked to an onsite or offsite service that assists the resident in retaining the housing, improving his or her health status and ability to live and work in the community. Qualifying criteria relates to affordability, long-term deed restrictions, nonresidential floor use providing supportive services and other design requirements. The law requires a local government to approve, within specified periods, supportive housing developments that comply with these requirements. The law prohibits the local government from imposing any minimum parking requirement for units occupied by supportive housing residents if the development is located within a half-mile of a public transit stop.10. AB 829 (Chiu) – Prohibitions on Local Government Requirements for State Funding Assistance prohibits local governments from requiring a developer of obtain a letter of acknowledgment or similar document prior to applying for state assistance for a housing development. The law defines state assistance as any state funds, a state tax credit or a federal tax credit administered by the state. The legislative analysis for the bill explained that in at least one case in the state, city council members have delayed projects for supportive housing requiring financial assistance by conditioning a project to receive official sign-off from the local elected official in order to receive funding. This law ends that practice for all jurisdictions.Planning, RHNA and Fair Housing Goals11/12. SB 828 (Wiener) and AB 1771 (Bloom) - RHNA Process Amendments make a number of changes to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process to use more data to more accurately and fairly reflect job growth and housing needs, with an emphasis on fair housing goals. RHNA is the process to identify the total number of housing units and income levels that each jurisdiction must accommodate in its housing element. The RHNA process has been in the spotlight recently due to claims that some cities have artificially low RHNA targets due to a politically driven process. New amendments revise the data that the council of governments (the entities that determine RHNA targets) must provide to HCD as part of the RHNA process. That data must now include new information regarding overcrowding rates, vacancy rates and cost-burdened housing (among other new data points). This law adds more opportunities for public comment and HCD adjustments to the council of governments' methodology for selecting RHNA targets, as well an ability for local governments to appeal RHNA targets. Additionally, the law prohibits a council of governments from using prior underproduction of housing, or stable population numbers, as justification for a determination or reduction in a local government's share of the RHNA.13. AB 686 (Assembly Member Miguel Santiago) – Affirmatively Further Fair Housing requires a public agency to administer its programs and activities relating to housing and community development in a manner to affirmatively further fair housing and not take any action that is inconsistent with this obligation. "Affirmatively furthering fair housing" means, among other things, "taking meaningful actions ... that overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities" and "address significant disparities in housing needs and in access to opportunity." Additionally, an assessment of fair housing practices must now be included in upcoming housing elements.14. SB 1333 (Sen. Bob Wieckowski) – Planning Requirements for Charter Cities makes charter cities (those governed by a city charter document rather than by general law) subject to a number of planning laws that previously only applied to general law cities. These include laws related to general plan amendment processing, accessory dwelling unit permitting and the preparation of housing elements. Notably, the new law now requires a charter city's zoning ordinances to be consistent with its adopted general plan. Currently, only about 25 percent of the state's 121 charter cities have adopted consistency rules that zoning and subdivision approvals must be aligned with the cities' general plans.Miscellaneous15. AB 1919 (Assembly Member Jim Wood) – Anti-"Price Gouging" During Emergencies recognizes that under current prohibitions against "price gouging," landlords cannot raise rents by more than 10 percent within 30 days of a declared disaster, but the prohibition does not apply to rental properties that were not on the market at the time of the emergency. In response to concerns about increased rents in the North Bay region immediately following the October 2017 wildfires, this new law expands the existing crime of price gouging to include new rentals that were not on the market at the time of the emergency within the types of goods and services that are price-controlled in the immediate aftermath of an emergency. The law also makes other related reforms to limit rent increases and evictions following an emergency.16. AB 2913 (Wood) – Extending the Duration of Building Permits extends the duration of a building permit from six months (180 days) to 12 months, as long as construction has started and has not been abandoned. The law also provides that a permit is subject to the building standards in effect on the date of original issuance, and if the permit does expire, the developer may obtain approval from the local building official for one or more six-month extensions.ConclusionAfter another prolific year of new housing laws, tracking and understanding new California housing law is becoming more important than ever. HCD has been extremely active in monitoring the implementation of these laws by regularly releasing new materials on the interpretation, implementation and enforcement of these laws on its dedicated webpage. Most recently, HCD promulgated draft official guidelines for SB 35, which will have significant weight interpreting this important law. HCD is seeking public comment on the guidelines for a 30-day comment period ending Oct. 30, 2018.Further, implementation of the HAA continues to pick up steam throughout the state in both administrative and judicial settings. This year's package has the potential to increase the effectiveness of these laws even further. Additionally, the facilitation of development on BART-owned land, amendments to the State Density Bonus Law, RHNA and Fair Housing laws demonstrate that we have entered an era where the typical processing of housing developments has been fundamentally shifted.Find How to Invest in Real Estate ?