New guy looking for some advice

[Gerhard Listander]

First, I just want to start with a little background information so you can get an idea of what my intentions are. I'm currently active duty Air Force and recently returned from a deployment so I have a good starting fund for some investing. At first I was all for spending all my earnings on stocks but my focus is on cash flow & passive income and every kind of stock strategy I looked at just didn't seem worth it to me since inflation and other factors just make buying stock less appealing. Then I came across real estate investing and wow did I get excited, its exactly what i'm looking for. I have about 3 years left on my enlistment and I don't want to start investing in my current area because I don't plan on staying here when I get out and will be returning home to the Chicagoland area. I have a friend that's just as excited as me and when we both get back home we plan on starting a business partnership in real estate. Since I have roughly 3 years to learn all I can I would like to know what are some personal opinions on what I should be doing and what should my focus's be on. Currently I have been going through these amazing forums. I've been listening to many of the podcasts, I told myself i'd listen to at least one per day. I also bought Brandon Turners' book, pretty excited to start reading it. Me and my friend are currently coming up with the objectives and goals of our soon to be hopefully successful business. Any advice or opinions are greatly appreciated and I hope to meet many people and engage in awesome discussions in the near future! Thanks for taking your time to read my story!