How to Leave Your Corporate Role: A Realistic Look at Timelines and Strategies

One of the most common topics on social media — leaving your corporate role to focus on living a more intentional life.

You may scroll through LinkedIn and see people positioning that about how passive investing can help you live your dream life sitting on a beach.

I’ve invested in roughly 70 different projects as a limited partner and while they help, they aren’t going to replace your income quickly.

If you’re earning $200,000 annually in your corporate role, after taxes, health insurance, 401(k) contributions, and other deductions, you’re likely left with around $120,000 per year or $10,000 per month. If your living expenses are $7,000 per month, that leaves $3,000 monthly—or $36,000 annually, for investment.

If you wanted to replace $200,000 per year and you can invest $36,000 per year, well, this may take a while.

Assuming an 8% annual return on your investments (some may view this as generous, some may view this as aggressive — let’s just agree to use it for this exercise), you’d need roughly $2.5 million invested to generate $200,000 per year in income.

Investing $36,000 per year at 8% and then hopefully earning some level of stacking (ie: principal balance goes up) — we will be generous and say you earn an additional 25% on your principal balance every five years net of taxes.

This would take 34 years to eclipse the $200,000 per year mark with the above terms and reinvesting all of your principal balance + 25% appreciation.

Sure, you may be able to invest more, but the intention was to highlight the timeline and continued success needed to pull this off.

For some people, this is an awesome way to help accelerate your nest egg, but this is not a major short unless you are able to invest aggressively and have many deals play out in your favor consistently.

Alternative Routes to Financial Freedom

1. Residential Real Estate
A common starting point is buying single-family rentals. If you aim to acquire one or two properties per year for 10–15 years, with rents steadily increasing and expenses remaining manageable, you could reasonably achieve a solid cash flow within a decade.

2. Small Multifamily Properties
One of the most reliable strategies is investing in small multifamily properties (2–50 units). In the latest episode of The Freedom Framework Show, we spoke with Axel Ragnarsson about the process and economics of using this approach to achieve financial freedom. With the right deals, timelines can range from 18 months to 3–4 years.

Other commercial real estate options, such as mobile home parks, boutique hotels, self-storage facilities, and industrial spaces, also offer similar timelines and potential returns.

3. Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA)
The fastest way to replace your corporate income is by buying an established business. By 2030, over 70% of privately held businesses will need new ownership as their current owners retire, creating a $10 trillion opportunity often referred to as the “silver tsunami.”

With the right approach, you could replace your corporate income within 1–2 years by acquiring a business with seller discretionary earnings (SDE) that’s 2x your income needs. This can often be accomplished in a single transaction.

Recap of Timelines to Replace Corporate Income:

• Passive Investing (including index funds): 30+ years

• Single-Family Rentals: 10+ years

• Small Multifamily/Commercial Real Estate: 1.5–5 years

• Buying a Business: 1–2 years

If you’re interested in exploring how to leave your corporate role through option commercial real estate or entrepreneurship through acquisition click HERE to book a free strategy session with our team.

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To your freedom,

Sam Silverman

Check out my latest podcast episode below where Axel Ragnarsson breaks down why smaller multifamily deals (5-20 units) might be your fastest path to financial freedom.

Most investors dream of massive syndications, but Axel reveals the hidden truth: smaller deals can actually create MORE wealth, with less hassle and faster results. Using real numbers and actual examples, he shows exactly how a portfolio of smaller properties can generate $10K in monthly cashflow—often beating out those "prestigious" larger deals.

Key takeaways:

• Why 40-50 units is the sweet spot for steady cashflow

• How to recycle capital faster with smaller deals

• The truth about sponsor compensation (it’s not what you think!)

• Why smaller deals give you more exit options

• Real math comparing 5-unit vs. 50-unit deals

  Podcast Link