Options for the future

[Tim G.]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to explain my situation here on the forum to see what advice I could get on options of where to park my extra cash. I currently own a SF home that I love but realize its a liability to my finances. I plan on selling/renting it out within the next few years to get into a duplex and utilize the "house hacking" strategy. I plan to do this with an FHA loan since my first was conventional so as to hold on to more cash for future investments. Ideally this will pay for most or all of the mortgage on that property so I can eliminate most of my housing expense compared to what I am paying now.

That is my plan for the real estate side of my investing. My other plan is to invest some of the rest. I have been thoroughly studying brokerages, robo-advisors etc lately to determine my best option to grow the cash I have on hand. I have a one year emergency fund put away already in a liquid online savings account earning 1% and compounding. I have about 20K beyond that for investing and will be banking roughly 25K/year going forward just in extra savings cash (more if I can lower/eliminate my current housing expense by house hacking). I am leaning towards a robo advisor at this point (wealthfront) because of the tax advantages and the fact that I would have over 100K in the account within the next few years (taking advantage of direct indexing for additional tax savings). I also am utilizing a 401K at my work currently with a full 6% match (contributing 6% to take full advantage of the match) so that will continue to grow over the years as well (10K currently and performing well in a target date 2050 vanguard fund). 

My other goal is to retire young. I am 30 right now and would like to be close to retiring and doing real estate full time by 40. My family's living expenses currently with housing are about 25K/year (we live frugally) which Is why I really want to pursue a buy and hold duplex that we can live in at least for a while to reduce that amount. I have researched into these topics thoroughly lately and really need some insight into my plans and if my line of thinking makes sense at this point in my life. Should I go with a brokerage vs an online advisor for my extra cash? Is my buy and hold strategy for house hacking sound or should I consider alternatives? 

Thank you

Tim