But, as a saver from childhood, I can’t ever imagine not saving a chunk of my income.

I lived in really bad apartments my entire childhood and all the way until age 18 and some more again until I was 19/20. 

I've listened to enough escapist fantasies to learn to hate all the empty, vapid, corrosive, soul-sucking dreams of something for nothing attached to those dirty little tickets.This thread has served to remind me yet again of how few people come from a broke childhood to real estate investing as a way to build lasting wealth and find financial independence for their families, of how incredibly fortunate I am, and how grateful I should be to those who have helped me along the way.

A few years ago, I had a discussion with another father of young children who said he could not imagine depriving his children of the necessary things in childhood that create wonderful childhood memories. 

@Alan DeRossett I see you are from Thousand Oaks, I grew up in Moorpark and loved my childhood but once it came time for me to get married, have a family, and purchase a home I quickly up and left to Utah, followed by my parents and brothers who are all high earners, because financially and politically California isn't for me.

I was in Houston visiting a good friend of mine from childhood who just moved there.

--George Bernard ShawOr then again:From childhood’s hour I have not beenAs others were—I have not seenAs others saw—I could not bringMy passions from a common spring—From the same source I have not takenMy sorrow—I could not awakenMy heart to joy at the same tone—And all I loved—I loved alone—Then—in my childhood—in the dawnOf a most stormy life—was drawnFrom every depth of good and illThe mystery which binds me still—From the torrent, or the fountain—From the red cliff of the mountain—From the sun that round me rolledIn its autumn tint of gold—From the lightning in the skyAs it passed me flying by—From the thunder, and the storm—And the cloud that took the form(When the rest of Heaven was blue)Of a demon in my view—-- Edgar Allan PoeOr still:"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."

I grew up in a less than ideal situation so my passion is to give back to the youth who have/had similar childhoods as myself.

(My family is from Brooklyn so I spent a lot of my childhood there).

Such as @James Vermillon -My father was in the Air Force for all of my childhood so I completely understand about transferring from base to base.During high School I went to 3 different schools.