Invest in stocks for now and focus your energy on building a business (on the side).

I am not a stock person but know people with 8 to 9 figures worth of stock.

I remember the tale about the neophyte stock market player who went to his mentor and said "I just bought a block [100 shares] of IBM."

Hey @Devin Bost, so if I need to ship something direct, I just ship it to my lake house and my neighbor will go and put it in the garage for me.I then let my cleaner know about whatever it is, usually toiletries and the like, so she can put them away.I am about 7 hours away from our rental so I do drive over 2-3 times a year to take a look, make small repairs and stock up stuff.

Many people were making money hand over fist from low interest rates, strong stock prices, hugely appreciating real estate (both LP, GP and housing prices).  

I’ve been saving and investing in forex and stocks until I start real estate investing.

But the fact is even if you pay retail, the numbers on real estate work better than any other invesmtnent you can think of - unless you can tell me you know which stock will be the next amazon or microsoft boom. 

Stock Brokerage firms don't want you to know that you can invest in things other than stock-related investments, but a true SDIRA can really take your real estate investing to new heights.

I'm currently a grad student, but am looking to invest in multifamily properties outside of CA with my current savings ($25k to 50k, depending on how stocks are going).

If they're public, look at their stock prices, look at their income.