WHY did you start investing in real estate?

[Toan Hoang]

Many post with HOW someone got started in RE investing. But I was curious on WHY you chose real estate? Was it your mother or father or relative you admired? Was it just intellectual curiosity? Was it some infomercial? Whatevwr the reason0. What was the influence?

[Jon Reed]

The choice to work towards financial freedom was very obvious when I looked at the numbers of my future life.

The 'traditional' method of working meant spending 45 hours a week in an office building... for the next 40ish years (I was 28 at the time). That is giving 90,000 hours of my life to some corporation.

Now math time (because math is fun)!!

168 hrs in a week - 56 hrs spent sleeping - 45 hrs at work - 5 hrs commuting - 3 hrs doing fitness stuff = 59 hrs of possible free time

What does all that mean?... I realized I would only have 59 hours a week... for the next 40 years to dedicate to my family. That just wasn't acceptable for me. I want to offer my family more than they can want and take them on trips that will shape their views of the world as they grow up. 

That is why we bought our first rental property almost 2 years ago and have a current goal of being 'retired' from the corporate world in just 8 more years.