Quote from @Corbyn R Tower: You are missing the most important piece: owning real estate.Stop learning from books and start learning by taking action.

This would involve recognizing a loss on the portion of the property disposed of due to the replacement of the roof.Your understanding that taxing insurance proceeds and tracking depreciation or partial dispositions are distinct matters is correct.

Being able to strategize and plan out each piece along the way can really help you save money and build up those investments faster.Have fun along the way and best wishes to you!

Has anyone ever bought a piece of heavy equipment like an excavator or a Bobcat as a means to save money because you kept having to rent them for projects?

I Currently own 8 piece of real estate. 7 long term rentals. 1 str that is currently in the furnishing stages.  

The only challenge I’ve been running into is the cyrptos grow so darn fast the percentage keeps becoming a bigger piece of my portfolio than I want it to be.

You got some great advice above from @Nathan Gesner and @Rene Hosman, so I will keep it short.My biggest piece of advice is to get involved in some of the local Chicago meetups.

Also, it appears, (still waiting on the final investigation to close to get the point of entry, but it also appears and confirmed by the PM that they or he/she etc got in through a kitchen window, which was not secure and when I looked, it was then secured by a piece of wood to keep it shut.  

One piece of advice that I often give out to people is to find niche microcommunities that fit either your offer or your profile/personality, and this is a prime example of this.

Ask yourself what you bring to the table and how you're a valid piece in the partnership.