Aloha from Hawaii

[Todd Nordstrom]

Hello everyone out there in BP world! I feel like I know a little bit about a lot of you so I figure it's time to jump in and get acquainted.

My name is Todd Nordstrom and I currently work as an architectural designer for a large hospitality firm here in Hawaii. I've always loved architecture and homes since I was a little kid growing up in Wisconsin in the 70's when my stepdad (rich dad, haha) who was a realtor used to take me to open houses and we lived in a nice house by the water...fishing, boating, waterskiing, camping, etc...I latched onto the idea of being an architect early and never gave up the dream. I studied hard, worked hard, played hard and always believed that if you had a passion for something, then if you pursued it the money would follow. It has worked for me so far until recently a funny thing happened.

i found myself living in a beautiful place with a great wife and 2 beautiful children and realized that i am still renting, but have hit my threshhold for how much I want to fork over in rent while at the same time thinking that to get into the same house I would have to plunk down at least $700,000!

I am 42 and had an interesting conversation with a co-worker (10 years older) not long ago about how basically we will continue working for this corporation until one day they can us (which we all witnessed these last few years) and then what? I consider myself a talented designer and always felt like there was a future, but I am getting sick of making other people rich with all my effort and I have suddenly found myself listening to BP podcasts at work... when i am supposed to be making my Chinese client's pockets bigger!...so thanks Josh and Brandon!

Now I am focusing on educating myself, listening to what others are talking about, and seeing how I can apply it to my situation. I might leave it for another discussion, but I was even considering to invest back in my hometown in Wisconsin because it is SO much easier to get into the market there and i would like to start my foray into investing by helping my mom out. I can get into details later.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Aloha,

Todd