Personal Strategy / Investment Plan

Hello all,

I have been reading these forums for quite a while and first of all thanks for everyone who has provided advice, it is great to see so many knowledgable people willing to provide assistance.

Basically I have no direct question regarding assistance, just thought I would see if anyone was able to provide me with any specific assistance. I am reluctant to seek guidance from a financial advisor because I have read stories and talked to people who have had bad experiences with them, and simply do not want that for myself, also I believe I should be able to plan things well enough for myself, just occasionally may need some expert help.

I will give you some background on my position and if you have any recommendations please feel free to comment underneath.

I am currently 24 years old, paying off a PPOR with my brother which we bought at the end of 2009, value would be approximately 360k with a principal of 250k left. I currently earn around 60k gross (structural engineer).

Currently, I have the following plans:

* Pay off the principal on the PPOR over the next 7 years.
* My friend and I are looking at investing in the USA, starting small so the outlay would only be about 20k each.
* If USA works out well then continue to invest to create a sizeable portfolio over there

I know a lot of people continue to invest in property in Australia, and I am sure there is a lot of money to be made, however I just see it as a large risk due to it being such a large outlay. Also I have made a few spreadsheets comparing investing in Australia compared to USA and due to various factors, USA seems to just be right at the moment, despite the risk of managing from the other side of the world.

So I realise I have not really asked any question directly, however if some of you had any suggestions or ideas on what I could do with investing, I would be very grateful.

Thanks

James