Combining REI and FIRE

[Jason C.]

Has anyone combined FIRE (Financial Independence Early Retirement) and REI into their investments? If so, what strategies do they use to save to invest? How do you allocate towards two different investment vehicles?

Background: I saved the down payment of my first rental property for the last two years. (Thanks BP!). A few months ago, I came across another investment vehicle for financial independence by the FIRE community. They advocate low cost index funds, through before and after tax accounts. They reduce their expenses and invest in IRAs. They use the 4% rule (25 x annual spending), to determine when they can retire early and live off investment income. Anyone on BP done both? Any strategies how someone can use both?

[Cassi Justiz]

My husband and I are doing this right now.  We are not optimized, but I have accepted that. His employer doesn't offer a 401k or anything of that nature, so we decided to go 100% real estate for now. 

Once we hit our minimum passive income goals (basically W2 salary replacement) through monthly cash flow/real estate then we will re-evaluate and reallocate our savings strategy. At that point we will start looking at either index funds, paying down mortgages or a combo to get to a more comfortable FIRE number. Right now though, it makes more sense to our specific goals to leverage 19,000 towards a down payment than a 401k max (if it was even available to him). With a down payment, we can turn that 19,000 +/- into $300+ a month of passive income, plus depreciation and all of the other real estate tax advantages.  

Feel free to message me for more details. I love to talk specifics but I won't take up your whole thread.