My goal for 2025 is to close a minimum of 1–2 deals per month as I work toward creating financial freedom for my family.

It keeps things professional while giving you room to grow your expertise.I admire your perspective on keeping your parents’ resources separate from your own—it’s smart to want to succeed on your own terms.

Your taxes are none of the ex wife's business and this would seem to address your concerns.I would also put her on notice that future requests for financial discovery will be two-way and if a discrepancy is seen in the other direction you will seek support from her.

How would you recommend, or what resources would you refer for us to properly figure out how we spend our time and appropriately get compensated for it?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

I know that the general guidance is that emergency funds aren't to be invested, but given our financial security and the fact that we already have a personal e-fund in a safe, non-volatile location, would it still be crazy/unwise to invest this 15k in an S&P500 index fund in a brokerage? 

The idea of ownership is changing with the emergence of web3.0 :)Just my 2 cents, not financial advice.

Here's my free resource; https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qCD_XIgmg-2BGGzsDbWq...

There are a lot of great resources here and around the web for people looking to invest in Birmingham.

BiggerPockets is full of resources designed to help you along your journey, whether you are just getting started or a seasoned investor.