New member from Cincinnati/Dayton area

[Alex C.]

Hello all,

I'm 31 years old, married, living outside Cincinnati and working as an electrical engineer near Dayton. I'm planning to start investing this year, focusing on either fix-and-flip, buy-and-hold (with the BRRRR method), or a mixture of both. BiggerPockets has been a fantastic resource so far, and I wanted to jump in and start taking part in the community. Here's my back story:

Several years ago I read "The Millionaire Next Door" and "The 4-Hour Work Week", and the main point I took away was that a 9-5 job is likely not the ideal path to a high-quality life of financial freedom, pursuit of interests, long-term wealth-building, and quality family time.  

Every few months I would skim through a few forums for entrepreneurs, which were inspiring but didn't give me the sense that I could start a sustainable small business from nothing while working full-time.  In late January of this year someone posted that he uses his long commute to educate himself by listening to something called the "BiggerPockets podcast".  The name sounded catchy, so I checked out the site, downloaded a podcast, and became hooked.  I think I'm on #56 now.

After hearing every podcast guest mention "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", I bought a copy, and by the time I was halfway through it my worldview had already shifted and I knew for sure that I would be making some big changes.

In the last two months I've read 12 books on real estate, investment, and wealth.  Here's a link to a screenshot of my "Investment Books" spreadsheet that I'm using to track my progress (and spending).

I'm excited to be a part of the BP community as my wife and I take the next steps in our investment journey.

-Alex