Newbie from Baltimore, MD

[Isaac K.]

Greetings Fellow BiggerPockets Fans & Followers,

Am Isaac from Baltimore, MD, working full time in public service and trying to become an entrepreneur/investor/Mr. Real Estate somebody. Not sure how to introduce myself as my life had so many ups and downs but finally met some positive minded people (Thanks, BiggerPockets) where I can Think & Grow Rich in all aspects of my life. I read Rich Dad & Poor Dad through one of the MLM networks back in 2007/8 while was in NYC. As I was exploring for opportunities for my financial freedom other than MLM, but during the process, I lost my 6 fig corporate job from the 53rd floor of Empire State Building during the financial MeltDown. I still remembered how the city looked like both during the bloomy days and gloomy days. With the job, I lost my life savings, stock investments too. So had to depend on my big unemployment check to support myself and moved to a small room sharing the house with others. Guess what, I wanted to make myself marketable and wanted to gain more skill so enrolled in school to get more education. But after finishing my masters, I found myself under more bad debt. Looks like I didn't learn anything from the Rich Dad Poor Dad or failed to implement. During that time I wanted to learn more about investments and what not; so rather following Mad Money, CNBC, Bloomberg and others I wanted to find alternative people as I knew there were people who mad money during the crash. And I found some just to satisfy my thirst for knowledge. That quest ended me reading Flash Boys, books of Barton Biggs, Reminiscences of a Stock Market Operator, books of Tony Robbins Market Wizards, Tower of BASEL, tRADING IN THE ZONE, The Millionaire Mind, think and grow rich, youtube movies of "Wall Street", Boiler Room, Enron, Epic Trader, Meltdown, Million Dollar Trader, Barbarians at the gate, Margin Call, Rogue Trader, Floored, The Big Short, Last Days of Lehman & you name it. To heal me from that grief, I invested both time and money in good numbers of physical books, Audible, started watching many motivational speakers on youtube etc. I even went to different conferences in different parts of the country to meet those like-minded people for the alternative strategy. That curiosity of my inner soul to find the answers to why I lost everything & how could I have avoided or even make some from that crisis and that journey made me to land in an unchartered open territory as if I opened up the door of the secret society of Global Financial market which was unknown to me but exists in every generation in the human history. Those self-education activities and numerous blogs, technical charting books, ETFs, index funds, 24/5 futures, fx, metals, commodities, energies, cyclical methods, moon phases, sun spots studies, etc made me feel like I am some sort of small authority so out of hobby started working on market charts to make those theories put to work in real life just for fun. That journey of my life taught me some valuable lessons which opened up to look for other opportunities with time after gaining some wisdom from the market meltdown dent. After I recovered myself from that crisis & divorce, in 2014 I moved out from NYC, finished my Reserve obligation and came to MD. And after settling down here I am purchasing my first small home. And revisited the Rich Dad Poor dad in Amazon and found more books by Tom Wheelwright, Garrett Sutton, Morris Invest, Grant Cardone, Clint Coons, Mark Kohler, Dave Ramsey, Tai Lopez, Pustejovsky, Bigger Pockets etc. So this is a new journey in real estate for me. I am trying to learn as much as possible and somehow I can relate how practical it is in estate planning, tax planning, using debt as leverage, snowball effect, creating a generational cash flow using depreciation to offset income etc. Those things are absent in the financial market. Real Estate is more practical, bit different and probably looks like more fun to implement if done correctly. Yes, it may come with some headaches as I am facing so many challenges in decision making what is the best way to do it but if there are no challenges then there is no fun.

Currently am learning how to open up a youtube channel, starting a general life blog, trying to lose weight, learning to eat healthily, create a zen circle of positive friends. Hobbies were many as I changed with time those changed too. Decluttering my toxins and trying to become a newborn baby spiritually and physically. Starting a new journey with you in this New Year. 

Hope I didn't make you fall to sleep with my long intro as I am new to this real estate market so have nothing to say but to learn it as I take baby steps. I came to know about this forum from MorrisInvests youtube channel as I have been following him from this February. I am open to learning about everything I can about real estate investment. Hope you can show me the ropes and strategies of successful real estate investment through your wonderful podcasts and youtube videos/interviews/blogs/newsletters and grow as a community for financial freedom or even better to create generational cash flow income.