Future proofing is expensive but the savings on the back end are insane.

I am currently in the planning phase of my real estate investment journey and had a few questions I’d like to ask someone more experienced.

Would it be smarter to focus on paying down my own mortgage and then use a...

No one knows what the future holds but assuming a 7% return over the next 20 years those accounts will grow in total to $2.4M.

However, there's an obvious loophole to the claim because if you buy a house for 999K and then the value goes over 1 million then technically you're one of the 90% that just became a millionaire through real estate :) REIT investing is a much less active way of investing into the 11 major real estate sub-sectors, in the US we have 274 listed REITs on the major exchanges of NYSE and NASDAQ, and about 75-80 of them are not equity REITs but rather mortgage REITs, which I like to park cash in when 10yr yields are trending down to give me capital appreciation plus 14-15% dividend yields. check out alreits | Global REIT Researchto do more thorough individual research.

I want to start investing in assets early in life, and possibly become a landlord in the future. 

We got a lot of future Uber drivers in Columbus. 

HEL's = You are trading future equity to receive a smaller portion of the equity today.

Let's discuss how we might navigate this uncertain future together. 

I wish you all the best of luck and can't wait to hear about your success in the future. 

With time hopefully the numbers will be even more in your favor with appreciation of the property and you will have cash flow to continue to invest, also it is building equity in your portfolio that you may want to tap for opportunities in the future.