I’d love to hear from people that have had skin in the game for a while.

But the bills etc still have to get paid, from all the people clicking around on random websites. 

You need to build a solid boots on the ground team with people who you trust.

What is wrong with this website is the majority of people on this site have no idea how to evaluate risk.When you have 25 year old hot shots trying to brag about how easy real estate is only to see them go crying to mommy in five years when they are completely underwater and are like "oh me" - ask me how I know.

I can tell you what people here have done to set themselves up for retirement.

Im not knocking these people, but there is a reason there are professionals around doing this all day long in the first place 

People are retiring here.  

People commute for work to Muncie, Anderson, and Indianapolis.

Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can.

This is the toughest way to start in Real estate, with over 95% of people failing.