While it's great that you have 150 grand in the bank you have to figure out how much work you want to do to grow that money and what rate of return would help your lifestyle.

We are very conservative in our life style so our risk is low. 

The entire 13-hour plane ride back to San Francisco I had burning question in my mind; how to I create a lifestyle where I have the freedom to take a trip like this whenever I want to.As soon as I arrived home I began to heavily research how to get started in different types of investing and creating passive income streams. 

Renting is by far less expensive than owning a personal lifestyle choice.

I see real estate investing as a lifestyle choice rather than a job and that's what's exciting me.

We happen to stumble upon the idea of REI through friends of ours who own 3 rent houses in the area and the more we investigated the possibility, the more acquaintances we found that do it, and the more we saw that it felt our lifestyle and life goals (to be financially independent and able to do missions work). 

If one's thought process is more about making certain amounts of money or living a certain lifestyle, then the upfront choices on career and education should reflect that.  

Stick to your gut he waited 2 years for the right place and just kept his lifestyle expenses low.

While listening to a BP Podcast this morning and hearing about the interaction required by the investor as it related to funding and negotiating a deal, I got to thinking how much my Real Estate interactions have allowed us to catapult into the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

In hopes of financial freedom and a self controlled lifestyle I have decided to focus on REI as my main business venture.