It’s Work. But it’s Good.

I initiated a new topic discussion in the BiggerPockets Military Investing forum last week about creating separate lines of horizontal income. The topic came from a recent BiggerPockets podcast about the GoBundance Mastermind group; having multiple streams of horizontal income is one of the metrics they use to define success. The initial intent behind the post was to find out what others are doing to create passive income for themselves; how are other military members generating additional streams of income? The goal behind it all is to figure out how to replace my military income with multiple streams of income before I retire so I don’t have to go get a regular 9-5, W-2 job afterwards.

Phrases like passive income, financial freedom, freedom of time, FIRE (financial independence retire early), and earning money while you sleep get thrown out a lot in this space and it is very easy to misconstrue these concepts and get hooked on the idea of not having to work very hard for the worldly pleasures that we all enjoy. Many believe that sipping Mai Tai’s on some exotic beach for the rest of our lives is going to make us happy. But let me tell you…it’s not!

As life has it, as soon as I threw myself out there to the public to try engaging in a discussion, I was called out by another BP member on the forum. He said, “Real estate investing would not fall under the definition of passive. It takes long hours and hard work to be successful at operating a business.” My immediate internal response was something like – “No, you are wrong; there are plenty of ways within the real estate investing industry that doesn’t take much effort and creates passive income.” I posted something similar to that on the forum, without much more thought on the matter.

But then, as I was reading my morning devotional this week, the topic of whole life stewardship came up. In his book How then Should We Work? Rediscovering the Biblical Doctrine of Work, Hugh Whelchel’s definition reads like this: “the faithful and efficient management of property or resources belonging to another in order to achieve the owner’s objectives.” In other words, the Godly management of time, talent, and treasure. Stewardship isn’t limited to tithing; it’s about managing the resources that God has given us. And you know what, it’s WORK! But, it’s good.

God created us to work. He created us to glorify him through our work. And this common idea that labor is bad and leisure is good is honestly a bit pagan. For most, work has just become a means to an end; a way to pay the bills, pay for materialistic things, and save up for that leisurely vacation. Instead, why don’t we look at work in a different light – we should live to work, not work to live. We, as a society, need to shift our mindset. This entire FIRE revolution is wrong. Our goal shouldn’t be to retire early so we don’t have to work hard anymore. Instead, our goal should be to work incredibly hard at something that we are passionate about and that God has given us to manage so that we can make the world a better place. If that comes in the form of a 9-5, W-2 job, then we shouldn’t steer away from that. Or, if that comes in the form of being an entrepreneur and starting our own company, we shouldn’t steer away from that.

So, maybe I was wrong and the other BP member was right. Maybe I was one of those thinking too much about sipping Mai Tai’s and not having to work too hard after my military career. He’s right – building a business is a lot of work. Investing passively in real estate is work; it took a lot of work to create the capital to invest in the first place.  

“To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” – Mathew 25:29

We need to shift our mindset from one of striving to do nothing, to one of using well what we were given – properly and efficiently managing the resources that we are provided. This whole life stewardship concept is work. But it is good.

Work hard! It will bring abundance.

Written by Stuart Grazier