New Member Intro - San Francisco, Ca

[Ernesto Hernandez]

Good afternoon everyone. Long time (sort of) listener, first time caller.

I wanted to formally introduce myself and hopefully begin to develop a network of locals with whom I can engage with and begin my trek in the world of REI.

A little about me. 32 years old. Have always considered myself to be financially conservative/careful as I come from pretty humble beginnings and don't exactly aspire to return to them. I've done a great job with my 401k (started at 20 and have almost always had a 5-6% match), and have done pretty well in the stock market. Aside from being convinced Washington Mutual couldn't possibly go out of business, I've done well outside of that.

I purchased my first home with y mother 3 years ago. I have to figure out a smart/fair way to be able to tap into the equity (460k market value on a 235k balance, mom and I went 50/50 on the DP) for my endeavors as I want to be a second place in the next 12 months or so. I have a feeling I'll be engaged by then and we are ready to move out together.

I'll be at the Oakland meetup in October, I am obsessed with the podcasts (I listen to about 2 a day, on number 55 as of this morning) and I haven't ordered this many books since I was in college. I'm convinced this is my next frontier on my journey to financial freedom and I hope to discuss, and share, and gain perspective on my findings/analysis as I progress.

Looking forward to meeting some of you soon!