Hey, I aM 19 I have been going to trade school for a year and a half now. I still have a year left, for the past 6 months I have been obsessed with real estate investing i love the idea. I can't stop listening to podcasts, reading forums and books on this topic I really do think its my passion. I am so passionate about this that I can't stop thinking about real estate investing and what a great opportunity it really is. My problem is that I have realized that I no longer wanna be a welder it doesn't intreg me as much as real estate. I go to school in the morning and work a fulltime job as a security officer at a hospital. I am so far into welding tho that I don't wanna to just leave it just like that. It feels like i've wasted a whole year and a half of my life. I instead wanna start applying for leasing consultant jobs in my local area. This would be a morning job which is when I have school. So I feel stuck, I know I need money (in most cases I know there no money down deals but can be hard to find) to invest and welding could provide that for me but now i feel miserable when i'm at school doing something i don't wanna do. Being a lease consultant would give me a lot of knowledge on real estate but this would mean switching career paths. Being a leasing consultant sounds like something i would enjoy but at the same time maybe i would like it then that's next. I feel like i am over complicating things but it hard for me because ever since i was in school school i wanted to be a pipeline welder but reading rich dad poor dad really opened my eyes. What other careers would be good to get into real estate? I really appreciate your advice and thank you for your time tell me the hard truth.

You have a fulltime job as a security officer and are almost done with school for welding, which is a very solid niche business that isn't going away with technology to my knowledge and you want to pitch those to do agent work or leasing consultant working on commission? NO. You can do all of what you want while doing the jobs that will give you your own money to invest.

Finish you welder training. It can be a source of income to generate the funds you'll need to invest in real estate. There's lots of "you don't need your own money" techniques out there but it works so much better if you do have some money for this endeavor. A skilled trade such as what you're pursuing is a solid plan and can put food on the table in any economy.

I would strongly suggest you complete your schooling. You're 3/5ths of the way there already.

@Juan Erick Rico Avalos   You are smart to go into a trade.  Stick with it and you will have the money you need to buy real estate.

@Juan Erick Rico Avalos pipeline welder makes 2x what a leasing consultant does. You may as well be the one who own the properties being leased than the one leasing someone else’s property

@Juan Erick Rico Avalos if I could go back and do it over again (I’m a trained architect) i think welding would be at the top of my list

I love all the encouragement to continue his education. And I will second the notion. 

DO NOT DROP OUT! 

You are in a good trade; it’s a solid career and may open up doors. 

Who said you can’t do both welding and real estate?!

@David Avetisyan ,@Parker Eberhard , @Theresa Harris ,@Jonathan Greene , Thank for taking the time to reply, This helps me a lot, this whole time i've been thinking that my trade is not part of my goals as a real estate investor but it is. With out welding i wouldn't be able to invest, i wouldn't have the money to do so. This next year i will focus more on getting my welding degree so that i can start my career and invest. I will continue to learn and educate myself on real estate investing until i get my degree. I can always get a part time job as a lease consultant when i start woking as a welder.

Stay and school and do RE on the side.  When you can replace your income with RE, then CONSIDER it.  Otherwise, don't do it.