What is my best long term option?

[Aaron Barrett]

To start off I just turned 26 years old and make just over 50k annually. I have approximately 3k in my 401k and am considering cashing it out to invest with additional funds in all cash purchases of sfh/duplexes. My wife is an executive that makes 100k with a full dollar for dollar 8% match to her 401k contribution. We want to retire at 55 so I plan on purchasing the real estate with minimal risk (all cash) to create cash flow to supplement our early retirement using alternative investments. This is to get us to retirement age where we can live off our cash flow combined with her hopefully (ha ha) large 401k. So would you cash out the 401k or keep it going/just leave it be and stop contributing? Also all cash flow until age 55 would be put into buying additional properties