New Investor in New Jersey

[Joe Ciano]

Hello to all BP members! My name is Joe Ciano and here is my story.

From a young age, I’ve always had an interest in finance, investing, economics, and real estate. I have read a handful of books on real estate over the years and have been lurking on the BP forums for a while now. However, the real inspiration for digging deeper into the real estate investment world is because after over 8 years working in both the marketing and engineering departments of my company, I left my job. Of course, voluntarily leaving a “good job” in today’s market without a plan was quite the shock to friends and family but I’ve never been one to conform. While I had been very frustrated for a long time, leaving wasn’t something I was ever ready to commit too. However, my amazingly supportive wife convinced me it was the right decision for my mental health. As I’ve supported her through 6 years of dental school and residency, she urged me to let her be the one to support me.

Once that decision was made, it was time for me to "figure out what I want to do when I grow up". An interesting prospect when you've been on a corporate path for so long even if you knew all along that it really wasn't for you. With my newfound unemployment, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted. One thing I consistently came back to was that while specific frustrations may have driven me from my company, I still couldn't picture myself in a cubicle working for someone else. The other thing that was a surprise was how much I enjoyed cooking and taking care of everything around the house. Since I've been home I've assumed full "house husband" role. Compared to both of us working we've never spent more time together which has been a great unintended consequence that further led me to consider how I wanted to shape our future. With no kids yet, but definitely in the near future, I started to focus on REI as a good complement to my wife's dental career and something that would also give a lot more flexibility for home life compared to the average 9-5. The last piece of our joint puzzle is my wife opening up her own dental practice. I love my wife and would recommend her skills as a dentist without hesitation (yes I've been the patient….), but I'll just say that she wouldn't be your first choice for running a business. With my degree and background, the plan is for me to be heavily involved. So the way I see it, I've got 3 "jobs" lined up: real estate investor, dental practice general manager, and dad/husband.

At this point, I’m working on creating specific goals and what the best path in real estate is to get there. While short term income is always welcome, the big goals are going to be based on passive income for retirement, wealth accumulation, and having set things up so my wife can volunteer her dental skills without worrying about generating income. Since I have 1-2 years before we start the dental practice, I expect to be as active as possible in real estate over the short term while keeping an eye on the long term goals. The more I read about real estate, the more opportunities and directions I realize there are. So the timing couldn't be better for the BP Summit which seems like the perfect way to cram a lot of knowledge on a wide array of topics...so I’m signed up and looking forward to it! I fully expect to leave Denver with the knowledge to define my path.

So that’s my story, sorry if it was a long one! Looking forward to the interaction on the site and meeting some of you out in Denver.

-Joe Ciano