New member seeking advice

[Derek Brandi]

Hello all!

I am new to the site and in my introduction here I would like to ask for your advice! I began real estate investing at the end of 2015. I bought the house I live in and fixed it up which in turn tripled its value. I was going to take out 30 grand of equity and refinance to lower rate in order to build an in ground swimming pool in my back yard. I got the money and then started to realize that not only did this not increase the value of the property I owned (northwest OH) but it also increased my liability and monthly expenses.

So here I am with 30 grand in the bank that I really did not need as my funds were already stable. I found a triplex and decided after carefule consideration to take the plunge. Five months after I purchased the property the cash I have in the bank already exceeded the cash I generated in the stock market. This got me thinking and I did some math and found if I was a good landlord and kept my vacancies low then the return on the cash I had invested would way outperform any return I have ever made in stocks and IRA etc. I also felt a lot of pride as I drove by it on my way home from work. Seeing my money make money was very rewarding.

Now I want more. I generally would invest in an IRA the maximum of 5500 a year as well as contribute to a 401k .

Here come the questions.

Should I stop investing in my 401k since it never seems to make money? I have already stopped my auto deposits to my IRA and cashed it out to help me with my next real estate endeavor.

Second I listen to the audible book "Weekend Millionaire" by Roger Dawson and Mike Summey. While this book seemed to take a practical approach to investing and I feel there was great value to it does anyone have any suggestions on a good informative read or listen that was written in the last year or two that reflect todays market conditions and lower interest rates?