Hello Everyone!

I'm new to BiggerPockets or BP (as I read in some of the post). I just joined today and would like to formally introduce myself as suggested. I'm a newbie to Real Estate Investment (REI - I believe that's the acronym) and I joined BP to simply learn more about REI. My name is Leonard Williams Jr. and I currently live in Middlebury Connecticut. I'm originally from Los Angeles, California, my hometown which I grew up most of my life. I'm married with kids and have a professional career as a middle manager with a large fortune 500 company. I simply know nothing about real estate investing other than that it's another investment vehicle to build wealth. As with most Americans, I'm concerned with having enough money for retirement and not having more time with the family without having to worry about money, so I started to do some internet research and read several article about real estate investment such as flipping houses and buying & holding, etc. Then I've purchased some books to gain more learning and educating myself by reading a few books such as "The Millionaire Next Door," "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor," ect. I'm convinced, Real Estate investment is the best investment vehicle to provide wealth and financial freedom. Now, I want to learn more about real estate investment (specifically wholesale, flipping, buy & hold, and renting homes) and build financial wealth from some of my current hard earned savings (the little that I have), good credit, and 401K employee retirement investment if necessary because I'm tired of trying to live or act rich (living above my means and keeping up with the joneses). My BIG why is to build wealth to provide me freedom and opportunities to spend more time with my wife, kids, and love ones without worrying about money. I know working for someone else is not the best way and being an entrepreneur is with using the income to reinvest back into the business to grow and not spend it all away on materialistic things such as high price homes and luxury cars even though I can probably afford it right now. I have no backup plans if something were to ever happen to me and I can longer work to provide for my family...it's my worst nightmare and I need to do something about it.

The reason why I joined BP is because I actually read an article this morning on Yahoo Finance titled, "This Reality TV Star Wants to Teach You How to Flip Homes - for a $34,000 fee," stating at the end of the article that BP is one of the best source to network and learn about REI. It's funny how a negative article about Than Merrill, CEO and Founder of Fortune Builder, lead me to BP. The article was basically about how so called Real Estate Guru such as Than Merrill uses misleading marketing tricks and gimmicks with their low cost or free introductory seminars to get newbie investors such as myself to spend thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars on Real Estate investment support, mentoring, and tools. At the end of the article, Rick quoted Will Barnard, "Barnard's advice to beginner flippers: Devour books, start with something as small as a mobile home, find a mentor even if you have to work for them for free, and frequent networking sites such as Bigger Pockets. “Stay away from guru programs,” he adds. “They make it sound as if money will fall from the sky. There is no easy money.”

Then I went to BiggerPockets, like what I read and joined. My introduction is long (and I apologize), but it was not to start a blog or thread about Than Merrill or Fortune Builder, but to explain how I even came across BiggerPockets and why I joined. Like I stated early in my introduction, I'm a newbie and I'm vulnerable to world of REI who truly want to know how to build wealth using Real Estate. I'm not looking for a short cut, get rich quick method, or even pay some of my life savings away to learn about REI - that simply plain stupidity in my opinion (no offense to any that has paid a lot money to learn about real estate investment and hope you gain a returned on your investment). However, I'm willing pay my dues by putting in the necessary hard work, hours of learning & education, time, patience, and coaching to learn about REI the right way. I'm excited & motivated about my future in Real Estate and joining BP. I will continue to educate myself through books, credible internet sources, reading everything BP has to offer through webinars & blogs, before I do my first deal and start small in either flipping or renting properties. Thank you all in advance for any support to point and guide me in the right direction!