My goal is to make real estate my primary investment vehicle.

This book was truly inspirational and left me hungry for a deeper knowledge of real estate as an investment vehicle.  

I would suggest your decision to join a REIA is similar to buying a new vehicle.

I am strongly considering opening a Self Administered, Self Directed i401k so that one of the investment vehicles can be - you guessed it - real estate notes and mortgages.With that said, I don't want to preclude myself from having a brokerage account to hold cash and hopefully earn some money in the stock market when I don't have the money lent in real estate.My question is this:  Do the brokerages (IE: Fidelity, etc), understand this arrangement?  

I would suggest your decision to join a REIA is similar to buying a new vehicle.

Any vehicle payment you use aside from our normal operations?

I personal have 50-60k in debt from 3 vehicle loans, student loans, credit cards.

What is your first thought about the vehicle your contractor drives?

Non-retirement accounts that are investment vehicles (stocks, mutual funds, etc) will count at 70% of face value. 

There's nobody to tell us what trees to cut, what colors are acceptable to paint the home, when to mow our lawn, what kind of vehicles can be parked in the driveway, where to place our garden hose and trash can, etc.