Ambitious young whipper-snapper

[Moisey Meyer]

Hi, My name is Moisey,

I'm 19, starting my career in consumer banking, and am very interested in real estate and self-improvement. I've been spending a lot of time and energy focusing on self-improvement and focusing on my priorities. I've been reading, exercising, and studying while simultaneously cutting out my less meaningful and less fulfilling habits such as media consumption. My goals with real estate are to obtain financial independence through rental income, in order to be able to pursue work that I find more fulfilling. I've been focused on setting goals and meeting them consistently in order to push myself towards the better version of myself that I strive to be.

What I've accomplished so far,

1. I've managed my personal finances to the point where I am saving 40% of my take-home pay every month (This will become 65% as soon as I enter a full-time position with my company)
2. I've adopted many minimalist habits
3. I've trimmed away almost all the frivolous spending in my budget
4. I've researched a ton of real estate investing, through the Bigger Pockets Podcast, Graham Stephen, Meet Kevin, Matt Mckeever, and an obnoxious amount of reading. (Seriously, all my coworkers laugh about how my lunch breaks consist of reading finance books)

What I strive to accomplish by the end of 2018

1. Network with other passionate real estate investors in Seattle Washington
2. Fully pad my emergency fund
3. Move into a full-time position
4. Learn more (there is always more to learn)
5. Find creative financing solutions, and/or Contract assignments and/or Wholesaling in order to finance my first solo purchase
6. [Stretch Goal] Buy a multi-family home, and house-hack one of the units

Five-year plan and goals

1. Invest in real estate
2. Produce at least 1K monthly in cash flow through real estate
3. Produce at least 1K monthly through online retailing (Drop shipping, Amazon, eBay)
4. Build a Tiny home on a gooseneck trailer
5. Achieve FI/RE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) by 25.

I'm full of ambition, I have big dreams and am working hard to execute on those dreams. I have come to terms with the fact that the biggest limiting factor in my life is myself, and that I am the only variable I can control in this complex world. I am working hard to push myself and make every single one of my 24 hours count. I try to be realistic and pessimistic when analyzing risk, but I cannot pretend that there are many aspects of real estate of which I am wholly ignorant. I hope to learn a lot from this platform and meet new people in the Lynnwood, Everett, Seattle, shoreline areas.

P.S. I tend to type a ton.

[Patrick Britton]

LOL - I must be getting old.  It's been so long since I had similar enthusiasm, dreams and hope for the future.  Actually, it was when you were in diapers.  hahah :)  1998:  Spice Girls, Netscape, WWF, and the Twin Towers.  It was good back then.  I had similar ambition, and so much naivety.  

In fact, I had similar goals, and like yours, they lacked the single most important part, the "how."  Let's look at one, "fully pad my emergency fund."  Great goal.  But what is "fully?"  Is it $500?  $50,000?  And how EXACTLY will you get there?  

If a fat person wants to lose weight, their goal shouldn't be, "lose weight."  It needs to be something like, "lose 5 lbs, per month, for the next 6 months" then it should add how, "by maintaining a caloric deficit of 600 calories or more per day," and then you need to go further and identify possible reasons why your plan could fail you.  Because, surprise- surprise, having a plan doesn't mean you'll achieve it.    

I really wish someone had told me something like this 20 years ago.  Would have saved me a lot of money, energy and grief.  Perhaps most importantly, I wish someone had told me the truth, that luck plays a much larger role than most are willing to accept.