Dropping out to become an investor

[Kenneth Noronha]

Hi BP,

I wanted to get your opinion on something that's been bugging me for a while now. First off, I'm 18 (turning 19 in a month) and I'm in my first year at McMaster in Hamilton in the engineering program. At the beginning of university I discovered RE investing and biggerpockets as well. I got very interested in the thought of creating a business on something that has been proven before and I now find it more interesting than ever.

What I wanted to do is possibly pursue RE a few years after getting a job as an automotive engineer after getting a master's degree since I love cars. I also thought it would take years to book learn the business and I thought I had to have that in order to succeed. While I still think this is true, I realized that you need a lot of time and real life experience to succeed in the business as well. As the year went on I also realized that automotive engineering isn't what I thought it would be.

My current position is that I want to drop out of school and pursue RE investing full time and do whatever it takes to succeed because that's my only option and goal. School work and clubs currently drag me down in terms of time and keep me from learning much about RE every day and it annoys me because I just want to get going and keep learning. While I get good grades, I just feel like studying for this degree is going to be useless to me because I want to build my own business and hate the idea of working for someone else for my whole life in the field I would like to be in. I have a plan on what I'm going to do as soon as summer starts, but I just wanted to get your opinion.

Sorry for the long post! 

[Michael Boyer]

Good news... Time is on your side as the Rolling Stones would say. 

And at 18, you don't have to have it all figured out yet. It is an ideal time to make these types of decisions on your future directions.

I know in the states, one issue small/beginning investors run into without a day job or stream of income is financing ( a nice way of saying banks may not loan to the unemployed unless they have some steady stream of income or collateral). This may or may not be an obstacle for you.

In the meantime, you can get some experience...With summer coming up, see if you can land a job with a property management company or with student housing--even just maintenance or doing routine paperwork. 

Then come fall, you may want to look at other majors before dropping out (like business, accounting, or finance--what I think they call "Commerce" in Canada)... maybe even try and set up an internship with a larger REIT or local real estate development firm. Maybe get into it (real estate) some before leaving school.

Plus, you can always do both. I was always secretly impressed with the college students that were simultaneously renting out rooms or units in a multiplex to other students (either working for the property manager or actually owning the place, having bought it creatively alone or with family).

Maybe keep studying and searching for your first rental property close to campus!