(I work for a tech company in RTP)... but real estate investing will need to be part-time for me until I retire.

If you buy comparable properties with comparable terms your overall returns should be similar to owning the 2 places jointly.But you each get the benefits of owning investment real estate outside of your retirement accounts and none of the hassles of having it in there.

Historically by the time people are at retirement age, their primary residence is paid for and this allows them to live off less income than when they were working and had a mortgage.

Easy for me to say at my age since I don't expect to see any of that when I retire, or at least I am not planning on it.

I'm retired USCG and wish I had kept several of the houses we have owned over the years.

In 2015 I will retire from my 9-5 and plan to do real estate sales and investing full-time.My primary interest are acquiring single family homes, which I rent out.

If your finances / credit are a shambles and your current income isn't helping you sort it out,     then obviously you need to focus on gaining more income.Set your financial issues aside for now - they're not helping you - and learn to work around them.One of the biggest newbie mistakes is thinking that you need your own money and sterling credit to get into REI.While those certainly do help, if you don't have them, you need to find a different solution.Learn to attract and engage private lenders.Folks with large retirement accounts - medical people, attorneys, ... high-income professionals who may or may not be self-employed - need alternatives to the risks, whims and paltry ROI of Wall Street.

The central focus of the article is how the 20 year job with a retirement plan and a pension is practically gone, and the gig economy is now taking over the market place.

Recent events with my family made me realize I want to work to live and not live to work.Ultimately, I am looking to generate enough cash flow to retire in the next 15-20 years with progressively more freedom until that time to spend with my family.I am currently reading and absorbing as much as I can about REI.

My wife and I have a lofty, but achievable goal of 'retiring' (read: no longer working in an office away from home, full time') before either of us turn 40.