If you had a Performance Bond from the contractor then that would cover the contractor’s obligations.

At least if you bought a bond or something with a 4% return you could get your $ back without trouble.

They must be very qualified, licensed, insured, bonded, good with documents and a very procedural bank.

Right now, your retirement plan most likely has minimal choices to invest in (some stock funds, bonds, ETFs if you are lucky) so you are rather limited in choosing an investment vehicle that will help you reach your goals.From first hand experience, I can tell you that getting a solo 401k was rather easy and I have checks that I write to pay for properties free and clear or to put a down payment if I want to get a loan.

And has the same long term goals as me (both young 20s and want to replace our current work income with passive to travel).I'm looking for advice on the risks of investing it in real estate (currently in stocks and bonds).

I think of it a lot like retirement funds - start aggressively with value/growth stocks and ETFs when you're young and have time to play with, move into highly rated bonds and low-fee dividend funds as you get closer to retirement.

For a few hundred bucks, hotel & air fare... you can immerse yourself in a pool of hundreds of sophisticated and accredited investors.Step #2- Follow up with all the people you met and strengthen the relationship you started. 

well if you do dump it into an index fund make sure it’s heavily bonds.  

I have always loved real estate and would spend lots of bonding time with my dad, driving around wherever we happened to be, looking at houses, playing "guess the price" on the for sale ones, and dreaming about owning this or that, or having a rental here or there.

Instead of finding a job, the tenant cashed his grandmother's bonds and goes out to casinos and strip clubs every weekend, he verbally told me this.