Personal Finance 001: Where to begin?

Its just the beginning...
With any new venture, there always seems to be one key thing holding you back - fear. Fear of being wrong, fear of losing the status quo, or even fear of the unknown. Thats  why after many months of consideration, I have decided to dive in and start my own personal finance blog. For many years, ever since I have read the books "I will teach you to be rich" by Ramit Sethi, and "Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach, I wanted to document my experiences with budgeting, saving, and real-life application. (I highly recommend you read them both if you are looking for fantastic advice on how to save money and create wealth - links down below)

However, thoughts in my own head prevented me from taking action and getting started. It wasn't until recently, as I was getting ready to purchase my first rental property, I found numerous blogs that talk about personal finance and investing that was truly helpful and provided insight without me having to experience any of the mistakes they have made along the way.

Set big goals

I am a believer in setting big goals for yourself and once that goal is set, your mind will find ways of fulfilling that goal. During the past 5 years, I have been very blessed to have found a career that I love, get married to the love of my life, and purchase our first home together. I have now set a goal of 1 rental property to create passive income by 2018, and 5 by 2020 (Which I will write about in my "investing" page). 

2018 is almost here

I too have made many mistakes along the way in terms of my personal finances and hope that my posts can motivate and inspire you to strive for the next level each and every year. "Next level" may mean different things to different people, it may be getting that promotion at work, getting out of debt, saving for a wedding/downpayment on a house, re-building lost relationships, or even eating healthier/exercising more. One of my favorite quotes by Benjamin Franklin, the father of time management, says "Failing to plan is planning to fail." And I think that this holds true to all of my past experiences. You don't start driving without knowing where you are going and you certainly don't want to head into 2018 without any goals. Whatever they may be to you, I hope that you will set 5 short term and long term goals for you to reach. You will be surprised how much you will achieve.

Good Luck!