Last day at my W-2 on Friday!

[Jacob Pereira]

Hi BP,

I just wanted to thank everyone here especially @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner for helping me get out of my W-2 job and into semi-retirement. I've been investing for about 2.5 years now, and I'm finally comfortable enough to leave my job as an analyst on utility technologies and just do what I'd like day to day. This Friday is my last day at work, and I feel excited, scared, happy, and sad, all at the same time. I'd love to hear how some of you spent your first few months of financial freedom; for now, I'm just travelling around the country, visiting, family, friends, and war buddies, and I'm trying to figure out what to do next.

[Jacob Pereira]

Originally posted by @Jerry W.:

Congratulations @Jacob Pereira.  I am no help, I am still doing the day job and I have been investing for the last 20 years or more.  I started slow and did it as a hobby on the side and only got serious about 2 and 1/2 years ago.  You might share your story with the rest of us, what you bought, what your terms were, how the numbers are for cash flow, etc.  Hopefully the information will help others on their journey.

 Hey Jerry,

Thanks for the kind words.

I better start with the caveat that I'm not earning the seven figure annual net income that most people here seem to be striving for, but rather enough to be happy and to have the ability to pursue my own interests. On top of that, I'm no investment guru, I just know how to follow good advice, ignore bad advice (unfortunately there's a lot of that on BP too), and have gotten very lucky that the market where I live has been VERY hot for the last couple years.

My big general advice to the community would be this: take advantage of all the subsidies available to you; get as many conforming Freddie/Fannie loans you can, try to live for two years in your over-performing flips, unless you're working at a high volume, and learn your business. 

Keep in mind, I'm testing the waters, but who knows? In 5 years I might have to join back into the rat race wiser but poorer. I think I've built a good safety net for myself, but there are a lot of potential pitfalls on this path.