Realistic goals for an 18 yr old

[Noah Henderson]

Hello! I am new to bigger pockets but have been interested in real estate since I was 14. Now that I’m 18, live on my own and am responsible of my own finances and expenses, I’m even more interested and ready to jump in. After high school I decided not to go to college, I currently work in IT making about $32,000/yr and I am able to save 50% of my income. Currently I am working on building my credit to purchase my first deal around August of this year, with at least $6,500 for a down payment. To me that will be the easy part. I don’t want to be working in the same industry 5 years from now and am hoping to be able to put myself in a position where I can pursue other passions of mine while not having to worry about finances. I am wondering what options I have to be able to hopefully purchase at least 4 more units in the following year. I’m not sure how I would be able to find funding and if my age and inexperience will make it harder. I’m just looking for any recommendations or what people in a similar situation have been able to do to achieve success!

[Nate Burgher]

Hey @Noah Henderson, love the mindset and ambition! 

Your biggest hurdles will not be your age and inexperience. Both of those will grow with time, as long as you keep up the ambition and are willing to learn, which it sounds like you are!

The bigger hurdles will be finances, networking, and education. Right now you can control two of those (networking & education). By finding BP, you can build on both of those pretty easily, you just have to dedicate the time to do so. Finances are the tougher one, you either have to spend less or make more. Sounds like you're already setting aside $16k / year, which is huge at the age of 18, kudos to you! Keep that up. 

Keep an eye on your finances, learn about budgeting, credit cards, profit and loss statements, etc. Learn as much as you can about finances and how to manage them. Network with people that know a lot about it, take them out to coffee and pick their brains for an hour. Listen to podcasts. Read books. Learn different methods of thinking about money (Rich Dad, Poor Dad book).

When you're ready to jump into buying a place, I highly recommend a duplex, triplex or fourplex. Live in one, rent out the others. This will save you money on cost of living, ideally by having the other units pay for your living expenses. This means you can save more money, ultimately putting more money back into your investment goals.

Hopefully this helps! I'm sure you'll get a lot of others responding here with tons of other great ideas. Message me if you want to chat more!