Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

A reserve is unnecessary, but I still keep around $15,000 - $20,000 in my account.The point is, that you should sit down and assess your finances to determine what the worst-case scenario may look like, how much you would need to cover it without impacting your life, and whether you will need to build a reserve.

As others have said, it's all about your life situation.

To set the scene: A cost seg study breaks your property into two important categories:1250 "real" property aka the building, foundation and other long life assets.1245 property aka anything that can be accelerated such as 5, 7, or 15 year property like carpets, cabinets, or other site improvements.

We would never do a modern style as we are all rural.

If you live paycheck to paycheck and do all this you are never going to become an investor because you aren't willing to change your lifestyle now for something you can have in a few years.  

But IRS allows an IRA to be invested in anything except life insurance and collectibles.

Life took some twists after my husband passed away...

Don't make your life more complicated than it has to be.

HELOC can be good for this situation - then you can pay it down and use it again for other life events etc.