College Student at UT Austin, Texas

[Michael Edward Reed]

My name is Michael Reed. I am currently attending The University of Texas at Austin. I am a freshman Civil Engineering major, but after taking Intro to Civil Engineering, I decided being a Civil Engineer is not for me, so I am applying to change to a business major.  

Towards the end of winter break, I was getting kinda bored, and noticed a book on my shelf that I had bought a year or two earlier but never read. But because I like reading on my phone in bed in the dark, instead of just reading the book I instead bought it on Kindle on my phone. I read it all in about 3 days. The book was Rich Dad Poor Dad. The book changed the way I thought, and it changed my hopes and dreams for the future. I had read a handful of personal finance books before (favorite being The Richest Man in Babylon), and had come to the conclusion I could live a nice life, perhaps even retire somewhat wealthy, but I never even thought being young and wealthy was a possibility. But Rich Dad Poor Dad changed that.

I became fascinated with his writing. I went back to college and had a lot less time on my hands, but I set aside an hour each day to read his books (on top of reading while eating most of my meals). In about 5 weeks, I had read about 4.5 of Robert Kiyosaki's books, and decided to look up Rich Dad company, and I found free webinars. From reading his books I had decided real estate had several advantages I liked, so I would start in real estate. So I attended the free webinar, and it was an upsell to a $150 webinar. I didn't mind the upsell though, I figured $150 was a small price to pay to get REALLY started in Real Estate. When my mother dear saw I had spent $150 on this, she got pretty mad at me for spending money on a scam, forbid me for spending any money on anything similar, and advised me to look up and read reviews of Rich Dad company. I then learned that my $150 class was only another upsell to MUCH more expensive classes. I was very upset, but decided I was going to get the full $150 worth of my money, whatever that would be, and I came to my own conclusion that it was another upsell. I did learn SOME from the webinars and the pdf's that came with them, but mostly basics or non-specifics to try and push me to more classes. I did not and will not be giving any more money to Rich Dad company for any classes.

At this point I was angry at Robert Kiyosaki. I wondered how much I had been brainwashed by him, and how much or how little of what I had come to believe was actually true. So I went on Amazon and searched "real estate" or something similar, and I found "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner. So I started reading that. In the first few chapters he explained about the BiggerPockets website and the podcast. While it has been a couple weeks and I still haven't finished his book, I've been listening to the podcasts wherever I go. I had already spent a lot of time walking here and there, so now I just pop in the earphones and listen to the podcasts. I love them. In about 2 weeks, I've listened to the 1st 24 episodes of the podcast, and I've almost finished the book.

So that is how I found BiggerPockets. 

My goal is to get rich quick! Just kidding. But I am prepared (I think) to work hard to grow my wealth above what the average Joe is doing and move my way into the 1%. I don't have everything planned out yet, but my financial goal is to have a $1,000,000 yearly income by the time I am 28 (10 years from now). It's a lofty goal, but lame goals don't motivate, inspire, or drive! I am focused on learning extensively for a while (probably at least until next semester). 

I think a great way to get started would be house hacking, but 1) I don't want to commute to campus daily; a short walk is very nice and 2) I don't have an income. Only mother dear's.   Also, at the moment, I do not have a car, or driver's license. Just never got it. 1) I didn't really have anywhere to go. 2) I didn't (personally) have much money. However, if there is good reason to (possibly Real Estate related), I can get my license this summer, and there is a decent chance I could get a used car. 

More long-term, I think a good investment strategy for me would be to acquire rental properties with a buy-and-hold mentality to build a substantial passive income.

I have a relative who lives in Dallas who I knew had a few businesses and real estate properties, so I called and asked his advice on how to get started. His advice was 1) probably don't invest for another 2 or 3 years because it is a sellers' market right now 2) do not get a real estate license yet because yearly fees are expensive, but that I should get one in 2 or 3 years when I start investing 3) learn my markets (Austin and back home in McAllen Tx) by making a spreadsheet of property listings and info about them and 4) focus on school to get a high paying job in a few years to help pay for my investments in real estate.  What is your opinion on my relative's advice?

I'm not sure completely why, but my mom seems somewhat hostile to me learning about and/or investing in real estate. I think its probably healthy skepticism that I would abandon my school work (which I need if I want a job *cough cough* payed slavery *cough cough*). She even tried convincing me to wait until the summer before learning more about real estate. I think that is somewhat unreasonable. It's not like I spend all my time doing schoolwork anyways. There are plenty other hours in the day (well not plenty, maybe a couple) when I can learn about real estate.

Also, mother dear has offered me $1000 for investment, but in STOCKS only. Not in real estate. But she did say any earnings I can use in real estate. Should I put a ton of effort into learning how to invest in stocks? Or should I just go with the trite expressions of "diversify" and "invest for the long term?" I remember in one of the Rich Dad books, Robert explained the most growth comes from the tiniest stocks, and from when they have an IPO. Opinions? Also she wants me to set up a brokerage account with Charles Schwab, but from what I understand there is a $5 fee for every transaction? A $5 fee on buying  $100 in stocks (for example) is quite a lot in my opinion. There is an app on iPhone called Robinhood where you can buy and sell stocks with no fees and no membership costs. (They make their money 1) by investing your cash not in stocks for themselves and 2) premium accounts). I think Robinhood would be much better for me since no fees. Opinions?

Ok, I think I've rambled enough. Please let me know what you think, and give any advice you can give.