I get it that those starting out need to heed @Thomas S. advice and philosophy.. but there is a balance and much of it is personal desires and what your comfortable with.. me personally its limited to no debt at least long term contingent debt.

I have a personal philosophy regarding problems and money and that is "spending money to fix a problem should never be my first step to fix the problem". 

I've only been at this for a few years now but here's my philosophy:- Only buy a rental that you'd be happy to hold for 30+ years.- Don't love your properties...They won't love you back. 

Second, the philosophy on managing your personal finances he set forth in his book is not only sound, its accessible and practical for the average person.

A conservative management philosophy (without greed) combined with experience and expertise is the way to go. 

Get enough cash flow to cover mortgage, average expected capital expenditures (which should be less with an excellent turnkey provider who does the rehab), and average tenant turnover with its associated expenses (which again should on average be less with a turnkey operator who does excellent tenant screening in an area where tenants tend to stay put (better schools etc).In the long run, this seems to be my key to maintaining the income I am earning without a 40% reduction by the government and build equity wealth which can be converted to greater cash flow when I decide to stop working 24 hours a day and enjoy my children without dragging them to every locums assignment and telling them to stay out of the camera when dealing with a telestroke.As you may know from my previous posts and this forum, I have looked into Memphis Invest based on forum members' recommendations and think they have the philosophy and the reputation based on feedback that meets my needs.

Love him for his philosophy on "under promise, over deliver model".    

I'm basing my philosophy here due to the Toledo market and how hot East of the UT is.I'd love feedback from all of you Dayton and Cincinnati investors.

I'm currently doing two flips and a new build and the philosophy has panned out so far. 

@David Cohen  David sounds like our philosophy is the about the same it looks we're both close by both being in Decatur.