:-) My husband is a retired Navy officer and a long time Monterey residence.

My final goal is financial independence and early "retirement", and I hope to achieve that through many different investments, real estate included.

I am 38 and working as an IT consultant.My wife and I bought our first triplex 2.5 years ago after realizing that we would not get very far by just saving our money for retirement.

BP'ersThanks for the quick responses.My quick thoughts:#1 The perk for me is a long term investment that will cost me 12k and yeild me a 500k property after ten years (about 1 year after my military retirement date)#2 I allocated 10% in property management b/c i dont have the ability to manage from afar.

I run a landscaping and construction company and am building my rentals as my retirement and they provide me with the cash flow for each of my next property purchases until I get it off of the ground and it self supports.  

I love my family and spending time with them but just not all my time :)  I used to think that I wanted to retire by the time I was 40...but what would I do with myself all day?  

Right now my focus is wholesaling or flipping SFH (minor) and holding one property a year to cash flow until I retire (8 years).This member introduction is about a month overdue since I've realized I've missed this step.

With a buy and hold strategy accumulating SFR rentals into a portfolio for retirement, let's say you cash flow an average of $300/mo per house (after all expenses/mortgage).If I was to generate like $9k/mo in order to "retire", that means I need 30 houses, correct?

I will be retiring soon and am eager and enthusiastic to learn about this world as my post-retirement occupation.

Retirement savings drained, college savings put on hold, skipped family vacations, 9 and 12 year old vehicles in the garage.