A painful awakening is necessary to change your path...

I often think about my life ten years ago. Wishing... even screaming at my past self to know what I know now. Of course, we can't go back in time. Fortunately if you are reading this, you can change your path today, find your awakening, or at the very least learn or consider something new. 

I grew up in a middle class family, we did not talk about money much. I did not know anyone wealthy, or sophisticated investors of any kind. I had to learn things the hard way; by failing, by being fed up, by wanting to change, by demanding more from my life. In my early twenties I had a full time job as a police officer, making a decent salary, I was a newlywed with my wife making a decent salary also. So we did what any naïve, young couple would do, we went out and bought two new expensive vehicles, and a house at the top of our budget. We figured, we had made it through college and got our big adult careers going, it was time to celebrate our success right? A few months later after the fictitious joy of these new material things wore off, I began to understand a depressing reality... We were broke, living check to check, lucky to have a few hundred bucks left over each month after bills. I realized this was my life now, I had these things that did not make me happy anymore after a few weeks, but I had to pay for them for years to come, and the house for 30 more years. We also had other personal debt we had to pay off. 

At the same time, I was looking around at the senior officers and supervisors I worked with. Most of them were forced to work 30+ years before they could afford to retire. Most of them had been divorced three, four, even five times. Most were overweight, unhealthy, and miserable. Most of them hated their lives, and if they were somehow lucky enough to make it to retirement age, they would die soon after, statistically speaking. It was a dreadful feeling to look at my likely future. 

My personal life, and my career had quickly become overbearing concerns in my life. I had a revelation, an awakening, my eyes were opened to a world I never could have imagined just a few short months before. It took the crushing weight of my choices to understand that I had to make radical changes in my life, to change my path, to end up somewhere different, a better place. 

This is the awakening I needed to change my path, without it I would be in the same exact position I was six years ago. I knew I had to learn about and understand money, personal finances, financial literacy, and investing if I wanted a better life. That journey ultimately led me to Biggerpockets.com and a six year obsession with mastering those topics, and ultimately to the place I am today. I am financially free, "retired" from my law enforcement career. I am now focused on my family, and building my businesses and rental portfolio. Working when and how I choose, with whom I want to. I finally have the freedom I knew I needed to find during that revelation. It has been a very difficult journey, with many mistakes and achievements, much loss and success, both personally and financially. 

The purpose of this article was to tell you a little about my journey, and to hopefully impart how critical this point in my life was. I truly believe that each person has to have a moment like this in their life to change their path. Without the painful clarity that I found during that time, I could have never survived this journey, I could have never climbed the mountain that this journey has been, without that laser focus in my mind.

The fact that you are on Biggerpockets and reading articles like this tells me you may already be on your new path, but if you have not taken the first steps, I hope this gives you a nudge in the right direction. 

I wanted to open my member blog with some of my backstory and the first real steps on this journey that led me to where I am today. I plan to cover numerous topics related to my financial freedom journey, growing my businesses, and of course investing heavily in real estate. If this interest you, please consider following along. Thank you for reading.