Invest all savings into real estate or diversify?

[Jerry Chamnichanh]

Hi all,

So I just read Scott Trench's "Set For Life" and started questioning how I should approach real estate. From what I gather, I am coming to the conclusion that I ought to take all of my extra resources and apply it to real estate. In other words, after I have paid for my necessities such as food, housing, transportation, entertainment, etc., I will take all of my savings and put it into real estate instead of into an IRA, 401(k), etc.

Now, I am still in college and have yet to get a decent paying W2 job so I am still searching for the best way to invest my future income. Does the approach of spending all of my extra income on real estate a good idea or should I diversify some income into different retirement strategies?

I know that it will take awhile before I can invest in my first property due to student loans so I feel as though I should start aggressively saving for my first property and perhaps consider another route afterward.

[Carl Fischer]

@Jerry Chamnichanh

I see a great value in the tax-shelter certain retirement accounts can provide. Did you know you can save money for retirement in a retirement account and still use those funds to invest in real estate? The type of account is called a self-directed IRA or 401(k). These retirement accounts allow you to invest in "alternatives" such as real estate, private lending(notes) and many other things.

As a college student, you may be in a lower tax bracket than you might be in later in life, a Roth IRA could be a very beneficial retirement account to consider.