William,
I can definitely relate to this post. I am also a young guy looking to get some investments on my balance sheet just like you. That's actually a good place to start for you - if you don't already, you should track your net worth with a personal balance sheet. You should update it every month or week if you want. Each time you pay down your debt, you'll see that your net worth goes up. All the money that you save will bring your net worth up. Any loans you have that you're paying down will reflect in your net worth each time you make a payment. So that is a great way to track your progress and get a good sense of where you TRULY stand financially. I use the template found in The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller which is a great book to read by the way. If you haven't read it already I suggest you do that.
Another great book to read which I think will reaffirm your confidence in what you're doing is The Richest Man in Babylon. It was a little annoying to read for me because it's written in old English but the lessons in it are invaluable in my opinion. For example. One of the stories teach you that you should set aside at least 10% of all your income to invest in assets - before you pay anyone else.
I struggle with the fear that we're running out of time as-well. But this is how I calm myself down - real estate investors have been around in one way or another since the beginning of written history, as far as we know. Its not going anywhere. People will always need a place to live and properties will always physically depreciate (nothing lasts forever). There will always be opportunity. Plus, we're Millennials. I don't think many people in our generation plan to buy houses now or anytime soon. I think, and this is only my opinion, that the lack of home owners in our generation will benefit you and I with our goals to becoming buy and hold investors. Only time will tell.
Keep moving,
SK
