Ive followed various personal finance blogs and forums for a number of years, and doing so has given me a lot of sound advice for how to manage my money. However, I still remained fearful of money (or rather, fearful of losing it) and had no tolerance for risk.

Now, since educating myself on real estate investing, my actual *relationship* with money has improved drastically. I finally pulled the trigger and purchased my first single family owner-occupied house with 5% down (something I would have NEVER EVER considered prior to educating myself on real estate - I believed that 20% down was the One True Way). This is a property that I am house-hacking with 3 other people, so having most of my mortgage paid for me is pretty darn sweet.

Unfortunately, I didn't do the best due diligence, and we've discovered some structural issues with the home that are going to cost a substantial amount of capital to repair, in addition to other things that we KNEW going into the sale would need repaired or replaced. However, I'm not experiencing the torrent of overwhelming dread and doom that I expected from being in a situation like this. Parting with my money used to be an enormous point of anxiety for me. Now I see it as merely a vector for wealth building.  I understand now that issues like what I'm going through with this first house aren't the end of the world, and every experience (good or bad) is an opportunity for growth and learning.

On other forums, I felt like I was being dissuaded from taking risks and doing anything unconventional with my money.  Were it not for BiggerPockets and similar sources, I definitely would have waited another 6 months to a year to pull the trigger on my first deal.  Even though I'm under a lot of financial stress right now, I'm managing it surprisingly well and I know this is just going to prepare me more for the next deal, which I hope to land in the next 6 to 12 months.  Thank you BiggerPockets for giving me the knowledge and the confidence to start my journey in Real Estate.  It has truly opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.  :)