Greetings from the Midwest

[Austin H]

Hi all,

I listened to the book the Millionaire Fastlane and it made me realize that what I am doing is not enough if I want to be financially free while I am young. Thanks for the book and the mindset shift! @MJ DeMarco

I grew up in a small town in Minnesota and currently live in Minneapolis. I have always been very ambitious. I grew up in construction and worked on a military base in Wisconsin during the summer when I was 17 and also worked in the oilfields in North Dakota for a summer doing concrete and construction work. I used those earnings to pay for college as I graduated debt free (although I did buy a nice Cadillac with higher miles with some of the money). I started college a few weeks after I turned 16 and had my bachelors degree in accounting at age 19. I obtained my CPA license soon after when I was 20 and started full time for a large public accounting firm where I work with private real estate and construction companies.

I am the oldest of a large family and watched my parents struggle through the Great Recession and seeing the toll it took on them - selling their nice new vehicles, thinking about selling the house, arguing about money - I swore that my future family and I would never have to worry about money, which is partially why I chose accounting.

While starting my career I realized that while I was making decent money I was not accumulating much wealth. I played around in the stock market and life insurance as I had never been taught anything about investing and ended up losing some money.

It was not until I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad that my mindset shift changed from "go to school, get good grades and everything will work out" to "how can I become financially free so I have the choice whether I want to work or not" I bought my first house at 22 and the next year started a real estate investing company that has done fairly well. It is pretty small and just contains the deals I do for myself but the future looks good. I also obtained my realtors license as well. I am currently in my fifth tax season or "busy season" and work crazy hours Monday - Saturday from January to March. April to December are a breeze but the busy season months make me crazy and I cannot wait until I am financially free.

I have built up a foundation of passive income coming in from a variety of sources, primarily real estate and then when I listened to the Millionaire Fastlane, my mind was blown and I realized how different a breed the true fastlane millionaire is. My goal before I read the book was to become financially free in 10 -15 years or so but now I have cut that goal to 5 years and have significantly increased my income and net worth goals. I look forward to contributing and reading in these forums along the way.

I still have a lot to learn but am glad I listened to the book when I did. Thanks for reading everyone!

 

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