It was addressed for all of 30 minutes in a complete bachelors degree in accounting for me. 

Hello Amir, I went to college for psychology/business knowing that I would likely use my degree and become a real estate agent/investor.

I had a pretty standard upbringing here in England, resulting in me spending around £21,000 on a university degree and spending the few years after working sometimes 60 hours a week for £15,000.

@Drew PoniewazThe first step is to identify the type of self-directed retirement plan that will best suit your investment goals.Self-Directed IRA custodians, of which there are about 3-4 dozen with varying degrees of customer service, responsiveness and fees hold accounts and document investment transactions. 

Now that I have my finance degree, and tons of carpentry and labor oriented work under my belt, I started looking for small reliable real estate companies to apply to.

Hi there @Stanley Yang - I would typically agree with your CPA, that active endeavors (i.e. flipping) should be held and operated separately from passive income assets (i.e. rentals) due to the varying degree of risk exposure with each.

This is a major oversimplification, but I hope it helps clear up the issue to some degree!

FYI, I have no certifications/degrees/college education, dropped out of high school, and hardly any work experience.

I have a business degree from a very prestigious university, that had taught me how to expand my mind to the extreme.

@Anthony Dooley Everyone I have talked to locally has been pushing me away from class C properties with the assumption I should "own a property I would live in", which makes sense to a degree as higher quality tenants that maintain a property are looking for more upscale accommodations.