@melefante6: This is the strategy my wife and I used to become financially free in our 20s. We both worked 9-5 jobs and consistently tried to earn promotions to increase our income. We lived below our means and saved as much money as we could. Then we took the money we saved and started investing it in buying properties and using them as short term rentals. Then we kept repeating this until we had enough cash flow from our properties where we were able to quit our jobs. It took us years and it was not easy. But it was 100% worth it.