Another property or 401k?

[Keaton Vols]

I am a young (26) investor, I’m confused on what to do next. I have had my first house hack for a couple years now. In that time I’ve been trying to pay down debt and have been piling money into my 401k. I want another rental property but am unsure of how much to have in savings before purchasing another, or all in all what to do next. What advice could you guys offer? Any input helps

[Aaron Zimmerman]

A couple thoughts: 

1. does your company allow a 401(k) loan? If yes, you can withdraw up to 50% of the account balance or $50k, whichever is less. 

2. What is the company match? If you're not maxing it out, then you could be leaving the easiest guaranteed return! 

3. What does your debt consist of? If it's high interest credit card debt, paying that down makes sense (and ideally doing a balance transfer). If it's student loans at relatively low interest rates, then probably okay to let it ride. 

4. how much do you have to save? It's important to not over leverage yourself. Depending on property size, I feel comfortable with $5-10k in reserves per property. Then, you'll need a down payment for your next property. Are you able to come up with that down payment?