Now, my Vanguard brokerage fund could lose money (December 2018), or I can make gains (up 14% in 2019).

 You need to:  A) Know thyself  B) Develop an understanding of what REIT's are and factors that effect their pricing  C) Develop an understanding of where you're going to invest if you buy physical propertyFor this comment Ill be talking about publicly traded REIT's as they're available to everyone through a brokerage account.

If you want to take your real estate game to the next level and get into real estate investing, this is the top resource on the Web.Best For Discounted Home Buying Fees: RedFin RedFin is both an app and a brokerage firm.

I own a Real Estate Brokerage, Construction company, Property Management company, Title company & an Insurance company.

Any reputable brokerage is going to require that their agents be a member of a local association of Realtors.

I have a good friend that owns a brokerage that I would run under. 2.5x of the gross seems way to rich!

@Chad BaileyThe following IRS document sheds more information on the ROBS 401k program. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/robs_guidelines.pdfAlso, here is how the ROBS 401k program works in a nutshell.A new C-corporation is established.Corporation sponsors a new 401k/PSP.The IRA funds are transferred to a new brokerage account opened for the 401k/PSP.The new real-estate corporation issues stock shares to the 401k/PSP for the benefit of the participant.The 401k participant must be an employee of the corporation and he or she may take a reasonable salary.The corporation owner's family members may be employees of the franchise business and receive reasonable compensation for their services.To the extent that the corporation generates profits and elects to distribute those profits to the owners of the business, the percentage of the profits associated with the shares held in the 401k/PSP will flow back to the 401k/PSP brokerage account.

No.If you are the sole owner of the holding LLC, and the holding LLC is the sole owner of the real estate LLC and trading LLC, there is zero tax difference between a brokerage in your name vs this structure. 

Personally, I found that the 100% online school (which had been recommended to me by an investor-broker) fit my learning style best, and didn't feel like the afterthought of a school that really wants to get you in their classroom.I'm not familiar with Illinois law, but I'm guessing you don't currently have a brokerage where you're working?  

I love the Keller Williams model & they are my top 3 choices for brokerages.