Please help, all advice needed!

[Matthew Jones]

Hello everyone, I'm hoping I can get some good advice here as well as help with understanding the basics and creating a plan.  

To start, I am 28 and completely lost right now.  I am an OTR truck driver who came on the road to cut out all expenses and save up for a career in aviation as a pilot.  

At this point that idea doesn't seem very wise as an investment.  I would be investing $40,000+ dollars into a career with no stability, terrible pay, terrible QOL, etc...  I already make more now than most of my pilot friends.  

The thought of going to college to get a degree so that I can built a resume that I pass around to others in order to beg for a job completely baffles me and does not seem logical.   

The only other thing that has been on my mind is RE investing.  In my previous job I worked around a lot of very successful RE investors and developers.  I remember being almost envious of their lives.  The thought of building my own future and controlling my life like them gives me a rush of excitement and adrenaline...

Here's my problem, I honestly cannot make a connection in my mind of how to go from where I am now to where they are.  I also do not see how investing in a home for a $300/month cash flow turns into financial freedom.  I basically just cannot see the forest through the trees I guess.  

Is there anyone that can explain this to me? How would you approach this in my shoes? I've been reading as much as possible, but since I do not have any type of finance background I end up getting more lost and end up more discouraged.  

I feel like I may be in a unique position to invest because I make at least $1000 every week and my only expenses are food.  What would you do?  Can anyone give me an example of a 5 year, 10 year, and 15 year plan that would be viable for me?  

So far it feels like life has seriously beat me down and I'm tired of this.  I really want to take control and do something with my life.  The thought of investing and maybe one day developing seriously excites me, I just can't figure out how to start and how it ultimately works over the years.  

Thanks so much everyone!

Signed,

Beaten down and lost

[Sean Blanchard]

It seems like a real estate investing course that teaches you a formula of some kind might be helpful. Some criticism I have heard about investing classes is that you could get most, if not all of the info for free elsewhere, with some perseverance. However, if you don't know what you are really looking for, how will you know when you find it, right? There is a lot of great info available on this site, and also very helpful people. The BP podcast is also probably the most informative real estate podcast out there. I know I have personally picked up a lot of good info from BP. Also, there is a podcast called Lifestyles Unlimited that has a lot of good info, and they also offer a course that walks you through from starting out, to moving into apartment complexes. I have not personally taken the course, but I think courses like it would be the step by step guide that you may be looking for. Also, you get a mentor with them. Like I said though, the info is probably all available for free on biggerpockets.com, and instead of a mentor, ask the community. Its all on what you want, but there are classes out there if you are tired of the guessing game. Hope this helped!