Starting out in real estate investing

[Jared Michael Rollins]

I am 42 years old and married with two children. I make approximately 120k a year. I live in southern California. I have no credit card debt. However, I have approx. 17k on one car loan and approx. 40k for student loans ($#%!) as debt. My wife has no debt. We paid her student loans off a few years ago. We rent a home for $2550 a month. I have approx. 50k in savings. My wife and I are looking to purchase rental property to build wealth over time and replace my retirement. We see the power on passive income through real estate. My wife and I are considering purchasing a duplex, tri or 4 plex, owner occupied as our first investment. At this point we are just reading books, watching YouTube videos and taking webinars. I really want to increase my financial literacy before I jump in. If I was single, I would take the risk and invest my savings in a rental property and experience the learning curve and grow from the experiences. However, with a family and 1 newborn son and a 7 year old daughter, I am a little more cautious. My wife also keeps me grounded and patient lol. I would like to know if there are any investors out there who can share their experiences with me and tell me a good course of action to start investing for my situation.