My brother in law told me a few years ago that I was the luckiest sob he had ever known but it took me 33 years of living below my means and working hard to buy enough rentals to retire with the same standard of living that we were used to.

I envision this portfolio supporting me during my retirement years—though I still plan to work, just in a different capacity than I do today.I recently finished reading "How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide" by Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner, which has been incredibly helpful.

Yeah, you lost money on your investment, but you're not risking our first responders for your views and retirement nest egg.

Because I retired a few years earlier, I don't have a huge runway to recoup after big mistakes but I need reliable investment vehicles, that can still deliver a decent return within a 3-5 yr. window with surety and consistency. 

Range takes an entirely different approach to financial planning, investing, tax, retirement through what they call all-in-one wealth management.

Rates are set based on the amount of non-retirement assets you have with Schwab.

Nonetheless, I am not out to impugn anyone's intentions and I do understand (as Jay rightfully points out) that the self-employed (my situation for the past 20 years) especially run into times in their lives when conventional lending sources are of no use due to limited reportable income and other factors (such as when, for example, you retire in your 50's and begin to live off of your lines of credit, etc.). 

I have been listening to the Rent to Retirement podcast recently and they have been heavily selling properties in Akron, OH and I have read some really good reviews about their experience.

What they all said ^^^^^^ Cops now are just getting lazy (this from a retired LEO friend).

Don’t forget heloc, DSCR, 2nd on primary, borrow from retirement accounts, credit card cash advance, property reserves, home improvement store credit, etc etc.