I want to be as educated as possible before I begin investing and start off very slow and cautious. 

Yes, I'm a pretty slow and patient investor.

Have a strategy, follow that strategy, let NOTHING and NO ONE stop you or slow you down!

That's my rock-bottom cover-my-nut number in the slow season for my properties in the Smokies, and I hit it, no problem. 

Personally, I wouldn't want to incur the tax penalty for withdrawing a 401(k) early.

It starts slowing for months and the early warning sign is increased inventory (non seasonal), then prices travel down over months or years.

This means we decided to grow slow to begin.

I started slow, but as I learned more about real esate investing and uncertainty about the market has continued to grow, I've moved more and more from the stock market.

Also, interest rates rising will play a major factor, on hold at the moment, very nice However, in many markets there is still huge demand and not enough inventory and no sign of slowing down.

As I said above, we do not want to slow down on account of not having the cash on hand for another 6-8 months.