Employer does not match 401k - should I invest?

[Ryan Rabbitt]

Hey BP Community - My employer does not match 401k contributions so I'm considering abandoning the contributions altogether and instead investing in something like the SPY ETF on a regular basis. I'm curious if anyone else has tried this approach and to hear your thouhgts. I can no longer contribute to a ROTH IRA and am looking for ways to accumulate more liquidity long-term to continue purchasing rental properties. I have a small real estate portfolio and a long investing horizon as I'm in my early 30s.

Thoughts on why to stop 401k:

- no match benefit

- returns are very low avg. annual ~5.5% last 3 years net of fees

- can only borrow up to 50k from 401k 

- limited access to capital until retirement age 

Thoughts on why it could be good to invest in ETFs or general securities example instead(SPY) :

- higher returns 9% avg annual last 3 years net of fees 

- access to capital - securities backed line of credit (could be used as another form of liquidity to continue purchasing real estate) 

- long-term mitigated tax liability - if you never sell the underlying securities and instead use the line of credit as a form of liquidity to purchase assets

It seems like this could be a long-term strategy with limited tax liability. I don't hear many people talking about this as an alternative if your employer is not matching 401k and you want to be more active in your investing approach long term. Do you think this could be a good strategy where are the pitfalls here?