I do not know what your financial situation is or will be at the end of college, but if you aren't starting out with a significant amount of seed money it will be very difficult to become financially independent and have $8,500 in net cash flow a month after five years.

I recently discovered a passion for RE investing, and like many of you, I hope to create a solid portfolio of investment properties over time to build wealth and provide financial independence. 

Independent, obviously, but living in this little efficiency apartment for 20 years and his mom's name is on his checks, that kind of thing.He also hasn't had a rent increase in five years.

I personally like the cash flow more because I would like to get to the "financial independence" but your right, it's a 1000 things running through my head, I just want to make the best decision for me and my family.

In general I think that if I had much more independent consulting income (in the several hundred k range, for example), I'd probably be more inclined to use SD IRAs or a Solo 401k, as a means of diversifying a retirement portfolio.

And, not for nothing, but the appraiser choice is supposed to be (relatively) independent so that you can't have a loan officer collude with an owner and appraiser to bring "bad debt" to a bank for the sake of commissions and under-the-table kickbacks.

Doctors have to make a living just like everyone else, and financial independence and wealth generation need not be sacrificed because their work involves caring for others.

Daniel,Rather than picking one company that will do all of it perhaps a better strategy would be to find an independent agent that has multiple companies.  

Which I will hold out for until I do.I'm more of the hang back and work independently on my own, type of person.

Although I don't necessarily want to retire right away, I want to reach financial independence, hence the high savings rate, my portfolio is already at around 250k and I should be able to hit my target number within about 7 years.