Good luck, and be sure to read up here about becoming a buy & hold investors.

I mostly listen to podcasts and have just started reading the forums.

Use the search feature in the upper right hand corner and read some blogs and forum posts on the topic to ramp up your education.

Like you, I have been reading and educating myself about REI for quite sometime and I feel I am ready to pull the trigger.  

@Mike McCarthy Even though I downloaded office for $10 through my employer, I have been playing around with Google. 

Let me first start off by saying my oldest child is 3.5 years old so I know things will change many times before she sets off to college.That said, after reading an article about the uses of a 529 plan, it mentions that it can also be used to pay for off campus housing, up to the cost of on campus housing reported by the schools financial office.  

Well, i have read dozens of books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of posts.  

Write down your goals and read them a couple of times a day.  

I definitely recommend reading the REI beginner guide under the BP education tab for starters.

. #2 is to read everything on BP, listen to the podcasts, buy some books, to get the education you need so  you can move forward and achieve your goals.