I'm now in my 40s and financially independent living off of real estate and index funds.

Maybe because if you do and someone does buy into into, you need to get your referral fee.I have looked at quite a few, and expense ratios/costs are way high, would rather do Index funds which are way low cost and less risks.Also there is a reason many require you to be an accredited investor, which requires you to acknowledge there is now SEC security blanket involved(even if it is overseeing), and that you are on your own.Kind of related, I have a stock tip to sell, I had 200% returns on it.

Since I've invested that cash in a simple S&P index fund and have had 20%+ returns the last 2 years.

Cashing out $400k and throwing it in an index fund is a viable option as well.

You can certainly learn, but I would just invest in index funds right now.

Get a copy of the book "The Intelligent Investor" and invest in index funds.

No owner is going to care if you print a brochure or show up with index cards written in crayon.

Real estate isn't the same as buying an index fund where you buy it and forget about it for years. 

I've done pretty well as a relatively novice investor in the stock market, just investing in S&P 500 tracking index funds.

Otherwise would've just kept 100% control and invested in real estate or index funds myself.