Karen, I won't be attending but I can recommend a tip that could save you thousands of dollars: Leave your credit cards at home.Most of the free / low cost seminars give you a few crumbs of information but are mainly sales presentations designed to "upsell" you on more expensive "boot camps" and/or "mentoring programs".They all follow the same classic sales formula, they'll tell you that it normally costs $X (you can even go on their website and see that price) but "today only" or "only for the first N people to sign up" they're putting on a special deal.They'll do the whole "this is how much it would cost individually but here's an incredible package deal" etc.

I'm trying to decide whether to invest as an individual, through my personal checking account, or through my small business.

I was thinking of putting it in an index fund but that would be more for a 5-10 year timeline. another option would be individual stocks but there is a lot of risk involved in that.Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thank you.

I agree to what the other posts here had to say....just one point, I find that I  don't put such a focus on 3 times the rent, simply because it's  not a one size fits all, a single person has much much less expenses than a married couple with 3 kids.........I look at each situation individually 

You should NEVER, never put anything in a letter indicating that you have any personal information.

Take it from a guy who's had the good fortune (or bad judgement) to buy many new cars and trucks that aren't nearly as wise of a choice as a Civic: you're decision to pick that model is an indicator that your judgement is sound and will enable you to successful in the long run.

In addition to that, one individual might be perfectly situated for one strategy, like flipping, while another is better positioned for something else, and both will find success doing very different things.

Hey, I was wondering if any landlord has had experiences renting to T.R.A approved individuals?

My further research indicated that any deficit in return on original loan amount is considered a "non-business bad debt" treated as short-term capital loss, but foregone interest is excluded (because individuals operate on a cash basis). 

I will also indicate that due to this additional cost that we are going to have to defer  some improvements  due to this expense.