Buy my first primary residence or go straight to rentals?

[Katie Schwalm]

Hi everyone! 

I'm 23 years old and just about a year into my career in apartment management and very eager to start my real estate investing journey. 

I don't have the capital to get into a duplex to house hack yet, but I was thinking about using my savings to get into a primary residence that I can slowly make improvements to while I live there, building some equity and learning along the way. Exit plan would be to either sell or rent when ready.

If my long term goal is to be financially independent, which option would you suggest - first purchasing my primary residence that I can build equity in and stop paying someone else rent, or purchase my first rental to start gaining a bit of cash flow? Is there an alternative option I'm not seeing?