New member.

[Brian Martin]

Hi, my name is Brian Martin. I’m 57 and currently live in Pittsburg, CA. I’ve been reading a lot about retirement planning, and one of the books I read was a “Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s Guide to Retirement” (that may not be the exact title, but it was a RD, PD series). Many of the retirement/financial books I had read referenced “RD, PD,” so when I saw this book at the library a couple of months ago, I borrowed it. What hit home was the statement that typical diversification, which I had been reading quite a bit about lately, was not true diversification. Be it large cap, small cap, US equities, foreign equities, emerging markets, bonds, TIPS, etc., this was only diversification within one asset class―paper money. That was an eye-opener!

The next eye-opener was the opportunities available in Real Estate, and the concept of passive income. I became convinced that I needed to move in this direction. Bigger Pockets topped (or at least nearly topped) a Google search on whatever my first Real Estate topic was, and I browsed through a few articles. I was impressed with the quality and, more importantly, the attitude of the articles. It seemed that everyone wanted to share what they knew and had experienced, and truly wanted to see the others coming onboard succeed. What a community!

Looking for more learning opportunities, my wife searched iTunes for Real Estate podcasts, and, lo-and-behold, Bigger Pockets had a podcast. So she downloaded them and we’ve been listening to them. I find these very informational and encouraging. It’s great to hear real-life experiences, without any hype or sugar-coating. Yes, succeeding in Real Estate takes time and effort, but yes, it can be done, as these folks demonstrate. Perhaps most encouraging, at least to me, is that although many of the guests are now operating multi-million dollar Real Estate businesses, many stated right where I am now―not knowing exactly where/how to start, afraid of making mistakes, etc.

Although we live in CA, we are looking to partner with my wife’s oldest son, who lives in CO. He already has a rental property and would like to expand. So we are considering investing in northern CO, although that market looks a bit pricey right now.

I’m still in the “education” phase, trying to learn as much as possible. Each of the BP podcasts closes with book recommendations by the guests. Has anyone ever compiled a ranked list of these books? While they all sound interesting and informational, if there are 5-10 top recommendations I’d like to start my reading there.

Thanks,

Brian