Newbie from Everett/Bremerton Washington

[Curt Mcneil]

Hi all, my name is Curtis. (and I can tend to ramble... so fair warning!)

Well, I am coming up in a few years for 'retirement' from the Navy and realize now more than ever that I need to take personal control of my financial destiny.

It looks like I will do another 2-5 years (will be 25-29 years total- which is hard to believe for me), currently stationed in Everett and renting a room over in Port Orchard where I had lived for the last three or so years. Ultimately when I do 'retire' I see myself in Tucson Arizona where the lion's share of the family lives.

I have been reading pretty much anything and everything I can get my hands on (lots of time on your hands when on deployment, no?). I have been through many of the Rich Dad series as well as a large number of real estate books.

In all of my reading and self study, I have come to embrace the concept that I need to lay out some sort of goals. So here goes. (feedback most certainly welcome!!):

I see a 2, 5, 7 and 10 year plan starting to form. I will retire and will get a % in retirement income- my base plans center on this concept...

I know I will need to earn at least an equivalent income to maintain my lifestyle so my current pay minus the retirement pay becomes the target 'free and clear' number I am targeting to earn from rentals.

2years: purchase rentals such as to meet the requirements above in the Everett area so that I can do it locally and learn the ins/outs of property management...

5years: develop (aggressively) rentals in Tucson Arizona to an arbitrary level of 10K/month (this would be in addition to my living income from retirement checks and Everett rentals.

7years: (side goal- personal dreams and all...) finance a golf tour across the country

10years: Certified/Sophisticated investor status and begin investment journey in other asset classes (if not there already...)

These are just loose concepts in my mind, with the exception of course that when I finally do 'retire' from the Navy, I really do have a goal of having replaced my current levels of income so that I don't have to work for others unless it is something that I really want to do.

I see my primary focus as being in the buy/hold/rent arena, but I am not discounting other methods including wholesale and fix/flip projects for capital injections periodically.

Finally, I see a lot of value in the Rich Dad encouragement for folks to get into business. I am also on a journey of researching some sort of business purchase in Tucson. This last part is a longer term goal I think, but we shall see.

As a side note, one really neat thing that I came across and would like to share is my short journey on credit score improvement. I was tinkering around with my credit card awards points and managed to get a 6 month free life lock membership. Upon reviewing my score I found it to be a bit low and discovered that a collections account had been added to it. Without going into great detail about the collections account (it truly was not mine, but was my daughters) I got the account settled but it remained on my record. That improved my score slightly...

I read a book where a guy mentioned that any negative/derogatory entry on the credit reports could and should be challenged periodically. I followed that advice and, to my surprise, easily got the entry removed.

This little project improved my score by 70 points. A very nice feeling to look at my score now!!!

Anyways, I will be popping in and out of the forum as I still have what I consider to be a lot of ground work in the Everett area to learn the local market(s).

Be Good!

Curtis