Its good to know oneself.

However, preparing oneself to engage in any area of trade, commerce or investing takes time, motivation, and commitment.

Working for oneself can be a risky venture, especially for the unmotivated, un-detail oriented, and lazy.

I think that is great, but I also see real estate as a perfectly accessible and understandable way to make money for oneself.

And yes, after those first years keeping taxable footprint to a minimum one CAN make adjustments to pay one self, yes in a LLC, and avoid the self employment tax.

Trying to envision oneself living in one place or another has a way of firming up one's priorities.I happen to be a realtor and live in the DC area, but I'm primarily an investor, and I don't think I could be of help to you in this very personal journey.

Someone here mentioned getting cashier's checks made out to oneself and then endorsing them and signing them over to new payee.

There are many ways to achieve a better life for oneself, just as many as there are members on this site. 

This obviously needs to be balanced to taking on little enough debt to maintain future borrowing capacity and protecting oneself from systemic risks.

How one differentiates oneself has more to do with their ability to raise and organize capital in my experience than it does to outguess other people's financial models.