Becoming Financially Free

[Jermaine Bibb]

Hey guys, I’m 25 years old, finishing up my senior year in college (I took some semesters off after high school). But I’ve been listening to bigger pockets for the past couple of months and it really got my attention on becoming financially free and investing, I am very interested now. I have a good amount of debt due to poor decisions made in my earlier 20s but currently I do not have a career field, I am working an unpaid internship with Adidas, praying they hire me full-time after I graduate, but I more so need advice on what I can do now to help me in the future as far as investing and becoming financially free. I picked up a side job but with school and the internship it’s kind of hard to work and save the money I want. Open to all advice. Thanks

[Patrick I.]

@Jermaine Bibb Hello and welcome to BP. I will focus on what you can do while you save the money for your first property. It can be summarized in two words: Keep Learning. By this, I mean:

1. Go to open house for properties that are for sale in your area and get to know two things: a. what to look for in houses in general (which systems run in the house and which one can cost more in maintenance than another.... b. get to know realtors. Depending on how you connect with each, share your goal and see how each responds. Out of those that you will meet there is a chance that you will click with one of them.

2. Meet with more than 1 mortgage broker if you have not done so. The goal here is to understand from their side of the story all the dots and the T's that you need to cross when it is time to purchase your first property. You will also learn about the different types and loan programs available to you

3. Understand tax and management implications of real estate investing. This is by far my favorite part. For this I recommend reading a lot of articles or books. Look for Brandon Turner's 2 books on finding and managing property. In terms of tax book, you can get the Nolo's Every Landlord Tax Deduction book

4. keep Learning every single topic related to your goal: I spent almost a year reading articles every day to help me understand more about investing in real estate so that my fear can be dissipated when it is time to act.

Good Luck