@Khadarrius WellsHi Khadarrius,"Awaken the Giant Within" by Tony Robbins, andhow to win friends and influence peoplecomes to mind.Good Luck!

They think they can influence things now and they are trying.

I can influence outcomes much easier.One will hear throughout your life, that money does not buy happiness, and while that might be partially true, money sure does provide more happiness "options", as well as opportunities to help others.People are BS'ing to say otherwise.  

I am surprised it took them this long to get organized and start paying for influence.

Richest Man in BabylonThe Compund Effect The AlchemistNever Split The DifferenceThink snd Grow RichHow to win friends and influence peopleCurrently Reading Total Recall: My Unbelievably True life Story

Does being a RE Investor influence that decision?

I would encourage you not to let the ideas of one book overly influence you to the point that you prescribe to only those specific ideas.

Being around people and resources with similar goals and drives will give you the influence you need to stay on take and succeed.

His only benefit was from equity paydown(paying the mortgage) his advice was count on 50%, obviously heavily influenced by tenant turnover.On current strategy, the world is yield starved with low rates of return on everything, so many are accepting formally unthinkable returns as "better than money in the bank"I would be firmly in the "time to re-strategize" camp, and think the artificially low interest rates will cause a lot of malinvestment as financial engineering usually does.7.5% should be doable with multifamily or syndicationAlthough there seems to be no end to those who will overpay, perhaps not understanding actual costs or investing for other reasons(besides cashflow) on the commercial side.

A lot of people without any knowledge or insight will say all kinds of things out of fear or from things they "heard" and it can influence your decisions and judgement.