But due to spending so long in grad school and having one income and a much lower salary for most of my career, I feel behind on retirement.

Meanwhile, Paces clients very slowly build up their capital, but we all know the majority will spend it and come right back to the group to let Paces organization fund it so he continues building his wealth from all of these "gators".Do I get annoyed hearing about this every day..YES..Do I think it was a great form of revenue for Pace..YES. 

If that is you, stop all of it and spend at least one hour every day looking at deals during the week and 5 hours on the weekend driving around and looking at listings and neighborhoods!

A real estate pro is spending their time in real property business.

You might be unrealistic on what you have to spend, or you're looking at the wrong types of deals. 

Spend a year working for him and solving all his headaches. 

The 500-hour rule means spending at least 500 hours actively managing your rental property, which could include things like tenant communication, maintenance, and bookkeeping.You can also group multiple properties together as one “activity” to make reaching the hours easier.

It might be more that you are willing to spend to get a good place.

We've had it happen before, nothing major, but just some extra money we weren't originally planning on spending to turn a unit. 

Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.