Introductory Book from Carbondale, IL Newbie
Where to start...
I'm 26, married for almost three years to the best wife a man could have, and we have a 1-year-old daughter. We hope to have many children (I come from a family of 9 and she's the oldest of 8 ).
I'm a Christian, and active in our local church (Sunday School teacher, bookkeeper, regular attendee, tithing member, etc.).
That's a good place to start. The above is the stuff that matters most to me.
We rent. Low rent on not-the-greatest house (old and poorly laid out), but good neighborhood and good landlord. It's working well right now.
I like word games, reading, playing with my wife and baby (in different ways, of course), and I like gadgets (PDA's, laptops, etc.).
I got my bachelor's degree via distance learning in less than a year's study time (and it's a real degree, regional accreditation and all). My wife did the same. We have no debt, despite our degrees, in large part due to the low costs of this method of education.
I'm currently a customer support rep for a technology company. I don't hate my job (I dislike it when people say they hate their jobs), but I have no desire to continue here long-term. I don't particularly support the mission of the company, being opposed to government funding of the type we solicit, so that makes work here less fun than it may have been otherwise. But I personally don't have to solicit it.
I have "pursued" too many career paths to count. The current flavor of the month (or rather, the last year or so) is law. I took the LSAT in December of last year and got a respectable, but not outstanding score (163, 88th percentile). Several things I've read about law make me less inclined to believe that it would be a good career to pursue at this point. And it's not like I have a burning desire to be a lawyer.... Despite that fact, I am scheduled to retake the LSAT in June. I have reason to believe that I can get ~97th percentile or so. That should be good enough to get me into many "good" law schools without much debt (if any) or just admittance into excellent schools. I'm conflicted about whether or not to pursue that.
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On to stuff that led me here:[/b]
I recently read, "The Millionaire Next Door." It was eye-opening for me in a number of ways. The main thing it did for me was make me very, very grateful for my wife. She's younger than me in years, but much wiser in many ways--especially when it comes to money.
After reading said book, I read "Building Wealth One House at a Time," by John Schaub. That is the model I am most interested in at this point. I have read most of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" previously. I didn't like it. He strikes me as a snake-oil salesman. I am currently reading "Building Wealth in a Changing Economy," also by Schaub, and "The Millionaire Mind" (not the "Secrets Of" one, but the one by the Millionaire Next Door author, Dr. Stanley). I'm also reading "Hornblower and the Atropos," but that's just because I like to read.
Long term, I want to be self-employed and self-sustaining. I don't have a particular desire to quit working and be rich in two years (or whatever those gurus advertise). I wouldn't complain if that happened (though I'm sure I'd be working in SOME form), but I'm happy with the idea of working steadily for years and years and slowly accumulating wealth, as I support my family. My wife, as I stated above, is good with money and shouldn't hinder me in these goals (i.e., she's not a high-maintenance, heavy-spending, new-shoes-every-week kind of gal).
My interest here is really to get an insider's idea of what it's like to do REI and learn from others' experience. That's what I've done on other forums with a goodly amount of success. If past experience on other forums/boards is any indication of future actions, I'm probably going to be lurking, asking a few questions here and there, and generally gaining lots of information about the subject before I put it into action.
That said, my biggest "fear" right now is analysis paralysis. I fear that I will get scared off by this and end up not pursuing law or something else and end up being something of a financial loser my whole life. I don't think that will happen, but I recognize the possibility. I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck (or close to it) my whole life. And I certainly don't want to work for my current employer (or another corporate wienie) for the rest of my life.
Oh, since I'm learning about this stuff, our net worth is less than 50k but more than 5k. I don't know the exact amount right now for various reasons. My credit is outstanding. My wife's credit is currently being established.
There's my introductory book. Good on ya if you read the whole thing.
Jake