A College Graduate Working as a Full Time Investor

[Ethan Shapiro]

Greetings Forums,

I am a 22 year old business school graduate from Ringwood New Jersey. My father has successfully run his own traveling retail jewelry store for the last 30 years, so entrepreneurial blood runs through my veins.

I studied business management with an emphasis in strategy/entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado-Boulder, completing my degree in 7 semesters in December 2018. Immediately following my graduation ceremony, I sold all of my worldly possessions, threw my laptop and some warm clothes into a NorthFace and decided I was going to try to make it on my own and live in Europe.

During my travels I looked into; drop shopping, affiliate marketing, and starting my own YouTube channel, and came to the conclusion that I really wanted to do work that involves face-to-face interaction with people. It was at this point in my journey (around February whilst staying in Amsterdam) that I discovered a man called Samuel Leeds and his financial freedom challenge.

Samuel is the one who showed me how working as a full time property investor can allow one to achieve financial freedom. I absorbed all his free content like a sponge, and even got the chance to shake hands with him and have a nice conversation during one of his free crash courses in Birmingham England. However shortly following this event and a lot of time spent viewing apartments in Birmingham in the hopes of achieving financial freedom through a rent-to-rent serviced accommodation business, it became clear that it would be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for an American to acquire a working visa to live in the UK without a corporate sponsor or full-time employment.

In the beginning of April I returned to my childhood home in Ringwood having grown tremendously throughout this process, and determined to make a living as full time investor. After working part time to build up some capital, I am going to (have to) leave my parents’ house this August and start my life as a full time investor here in the United States. I love the culture in the West and have narrowed down where I am going to live to either Denver or Los Angeles for a variety of reasons.

I am absolutely committed to never working full time for a traditional employer and would like all the advice I can get on how to work as a full time investor with only about $13,000 to my name and student loan payments of $247 a month for the next ten years. I truly believe that if you work hard enough for something it is impossible for you to achieve no results, and I am resolved to spend all my time working for myself rather than some large corporation like JP Morgan or Amazon.

I have read Brandon’s Book The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No and Low Money Down. Other books that have had a profound influence on my life include; Margin of Safety by Seth Klarmann, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, as well as The 4 Hour Work Week by Time Ferris. Additionally Graham Stephen and Samuel Leeds YouTube channels have provided with me more financial education than any schooling has ever come close to.

I think that working full-time on closing a lease option agreement and renting the property is the safest and most effective way to begin my journey to financial freedom based on my current situation, but perhaps there is a faster and less risky way to generate cashflow with basically no income and a credit score of 750. I am a bit of a minimalist and have no issue living frugally in order to avoid traditional employment. I am willing to take all the help I can get, and I look forward to being an active member of the biggerpockets community. Thank you all very much in advance.

Ethan Shapiro