Real estate investment will likely be a great form of diversification outside of the restrictive platforms of your IRAs and 401k.

I have been able to achieve good income levels with diversification across a variety of geographic markets and asset classes. 

While there's potentially more upside with equity, debt and preferred equity deals feel more stable.There's actually quite a few players in the game at this point.Fundrise.com has just launched two new "eREITs" that provides diversification among several properties.RealtyShares.com is another good one.  

I'm just getting into the RE investing world to add in some diversification to my existing portfolio.  

@Rollan Dizon Way to go man, you have great diversification and balance.

You could always try to approach it from an angle of diversification. 

What hit home was the statement that typical diversification, which I had been reading quite a bit about lately, was not true diversification.

But I really like diversification and passive income is my biggest goal.  

Fund Diversification: Similar to the way a mutual fund works, a real estate fund diversifies the investment across a group of properties instead of a single property.

As you begin evaluating different metros and opportunities for your first properties some metrics that can be helpful are items like population growth, job growth, rent growth and job diversification.