Our manager at the job I used to work when I "traded my time for money" had a household income of probably $350,000-$400,000 per year --- she couldn't afford to go out and buy lunch two days before payday because she didn't have ANY money - she was flat broke - they spent every penny they made on cars, jewelry, clothes, purses, suits, watches, eating at expensive restaurants, etcAs you see, every persons situation is different - as @Ryan Cameron said, the first step is to work on getting your expenses under control- that makes your goal much more obtainable in a shorter time.I had a good job with great benefits, but I had other interests that I wanted to pursue - and I hated going to work every day - so I started working on leaving my 9-5 job - between adding income with rental property and reducing my monthly expenses, within a few years, I was able to leave a job I hated and spend my time doing whatever I wanted- As Thomas S. mentioned, a job is nothing more than trading our time for money - well, Time is the most valuable asset I have - and I wasn't willing to give it away so cheaply - my Time is more valuable than money - You see, it doesn't work in reverse, I can't buy more Time, I can't inherit more Time --- money is easy to acquire, our time is limited. 

No one will look out for your interests as well as you.There are thousands of agents from Palm Beach to Broward, but as in any market, there are a precious few that stand out...and those few have a massive established network of investors to whom they offer the best deals first.  

Thanks to all for such a precious information.

Following are the similarities and differences between the solo 401k and the self-directed IRA.The Self-Directed IRA and Solo 401k SimilaritiesBoth were created by congress for individuals to save for retirement;Both may be invested in alternative investments such as real estate, precious metals tax liens, promissory notes, private company shares, and stocks and mutual funds, to name a few;Both allow for Roth contributions;Both are subject to prohibited transaction rules;Both are subject to federal taxes at time of distribution;Both allow for checkbook control for placing alternative investments;Both may be invested in annuities;Both are protected from creditors;Both allow for nondeductible contributions;Both are prohibited from investing in assets listed under I.R.C. 408(m); andNeither may be invested in your own business.  

The Self-Directed IRA and Solo 401k SimilaritiesBoth were created by congress for individuals to save for retirement;Both may be invested in alternative investments such as real estate, precious metals tax liens, promissory notes, private company shares, and stocks and mutual funds, to name a few;Both allow for Roth contributions;Both are subject to prohibited transaction rules;Both are subject to federal taxes at time of distribution;Both allow for checkbook control for placing alternative investments;Both may be invested in annuities;Both are protected from creditors;Both allow for nondeductible contributions; andBoth are prohibited from investing in assets listed under I.R.C. 408(m);The Self-Directed IRA and Solo 401k DifferencesIn order to open a solo 401k, self-employment, whether on a part-time or full-time basis, is required;To open a self-directed IRA, self-employment income is not required;In order to gain IRA checkbook control over the self-directed IRA funds, a limited liability company (IRA LLC) must be utilized;The solo 401k allows for checkbook control from the onset;The solo 401k allows for personal loan known as a solo 401k loan;It is prohibited to borrow from your IRA;The Solo 401k may be invested in life insurance;The self-directed IRA may not be invested in life insurance;The solo 401k allow for high contribution amounts (for 2017, the solo 401k contribution limit is $54,000, whereas the self-directed IRA contribution limit is $5,500);The solo 401k business owner can serve as trustee of the solo 401k;The self-directed IRA participant/owner may not serve as trustee or custodian of her IRA; instead, a trust company or bank institution is required;When distributions commence from the solo 401k a mandatory 20% of federal taxes must be withheld from each distribution and submitted electronically to the IRS by the 15th of the month following the date of each distribution;Rollovers and/or transfers from IRAs or qualified plans (e.g., former employer 401k) to a solo 401k are not reported on Form 5498, but rather on Form 5500-EZ, but only if the air market value of the solo 401k exceeds $250K as of the end of the plan year (generally 12/31);When funds are rolled over or transferred from an IRA or 401k to a self-directed IRA, the amount deposited into the self-directed IRA is reported on Form 5498 by the receiving self-directed IRA custodian by May of the year following the rollover/transfer.Rollovers (provided the 60 day rollover window is satisfied) from an IRA to a Solo 401k or self-directed IRA are reported on lines 15a and 15b of Form 1040;Pre-tax IRA contributions on reported on line 32 of Form 1040;Pre-tax solo 401k contributions are reported on line 28 of Form 1040;Roth solo 401k funds are subject to RMDs;A Roth 401k may be transferred to a Roth IRA (Note that from a planning perspective, it may be advantageous to transfer Roth Solo 401k funds to a Roth IRA before turning age 70 ½ in order to escape the Roth RMD requirement applicable to Roth 401k contributions including Roth Solo 401k contributions and earnings.)

She is truly a real estate investor....but on the conservative (not comfortable with debt) end of the continuum.Others could have taken that same precious capital and invested it in 4 similar properties, with 25% down payments and 75% loans/leverage, and controlled $900k in property that doubled to $1.8M by now.

So basically a professional seller of coins/baseball cards/cars/trinkets/gold/jewelry is demanding that you do not have your own professional to evaluate the deal?

I would echo the advice to buy a quality used car in the 5-10k range and invest the rest of the money.As a side note, anytime you see lower than 5% interest on consumer products like cars, jewelry, solar panels, whatever... it is always done by the retailer increasing the price and using that money to buy down the interest rate.

@Jonathan Twombly Thank you for taking time sharing your precious advice with this Forum. 

By having tenant's responsible for water they are ideally less wasteful of the water which in San Diego is a precious resource.