I'm currently 20 years old and active duty military and hoping to switch to the reserves at the end of this year and focus on real estate full time. I have a high credit score, 0 debt, and a decent amount of capitol saved up. My plan is to pursue my real estate license immediately upon getting out just to get some experience in real estate but my ultimate goal is to be an investor/flipper. I'm leaning more towards flipping as I would prefer the instant gratification and not having to sit on deals for years. Looking for any advice from someone who has done it already. Thank you.

@Andrew Cowles

My advice is to leverage the VA loan and focus on residential multiple families for a buy and hold. My goals are aligned with a long-term buy and hold, not flipping. If you want to make this your full-time job when you get out, flipping is a definite possibility, but I would be careful. Flipping is considered earned income and is tax differently, not to mention the marketing fees you will pay, initial capital invested, and your rehab budget. 

Your young and one of the most powerful principles I can think of is time. From my perspective, to gain generational wealth, buy and hold maximizes the full potential of REI (depreciation, amortization, appreciation, and cash flow). Eventually, you will hit a tipping point, and money will no longer be a variable. I highly encourage you to shift your "instant gratification" mindset and look at the big picture. The forum below can point you in the right direction. Take the time now to map out your goals and WHY. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Also, look at BP Episode 447

Sincerely, 

Josh

@Andrew Cowles Multiple streams of income. That is the path to wealth creation. Whichever path, just keep that in mind. Having a job in the military or a W-2 job will greatly help your ability to finance your deals starting out for bank loans, money down, etc. 

Learning to be an agent takes some work and time. Same with flipping and wholesaling, the number 1 and 2 areas new investors show interest in starting out....Because they appear easy. 

All three will require learning, educating, trial and error, etc. I say this so you understand, the income during this trial and error period will be nil or very little. 

All to say, do not give up a stream of income before you have another stream of income eclipsing the previous. Wealth is not created by random speculation or gambles. Far greater wealth is built on multiple streams of income. Always.

I recommend getting that trial and error now, while in the military. Best time to make mistakes. Take action now!

@Chris Levarek  

Thank you for the advice. I would love to start my investment journey now as like you said I have a stable income right now that isn't going anywhere and I'm tired of waiting. But I'm not in the area that I want to invest in. 

My goal is SW Florida real estate but I'm stationed in Delaware and the only way out of Delaware is to get out of the military. I still research the market here every single day looking for potential deals but in all honesty I'm not finding what I'm looking for. 

I wish I could find deals here because in that case I would be able to focus more on learning and not on having to rely on these deals as my sole paycheck. But like I said I'm not finding what I'm looking for.