I just finished Scott Trench's book "Set for Life" and let me start by saying it is a awesome read and I fully recommend it to anyone and everyone.

In the book Scott bashes on typical retirement plans such as roth IRAs, 401k plans, and etc. and considers them a foolish investment that majority of Americans fall victim to every day. (he does dive into this idea more in the appendix about to take advantage of retirement plans properly and does not bash them completely but this is not the point of this post). 

I want to give two scenarios and get the opinions of others about which way is more effective at reaching financial independence. 

1.) For example, I am 22 years old with a college degree and an above average income of 55k a year (very similar to the income range Scott references in his book). Unlike many of my peers, I worked through college, lived at home, and currently have no debt to my name. My company offers a 100% 401k match that can either be a traditional or roth. The only thing is that if you choose roth 401k then the match will be put into a separate traditional 401k. With the max individual 401k contribution at $18k/year, I could potential put in 18k/yr and match 18k/yr from the company combining to a total savings of 36k/yr. 

I have learned that 401Ks throughout history have returned 8-10% (obviously with some variance and this post isn't to argue this return). From a simple spread sheet and figuring a 8% annual return on a 36k annuity, I would have roughly 773k in 13years which would return 54k per year and would be "financially independent" based on my current salary as this would yield $61,900/yr in interest minus the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

The downfall with this approach is that if I max this plan out then my take home pay is largely cut and hurts my ability to save and invest in real estate (which is my ultimate goal)

2.) Do not contribute to the 401k plan and save 15-20k per year to purchase buy and hold rental properties?

*I am stuck between these two because I understand all of the upsides of real estate investing but I see and immediate 100% return on my 18k/year "investment" with the 401k not including the 8-10% return the market could bring. I would love to hear peoples opinions on these approaches as my plan will start in 2018. I would also love to hear Scott's opinion on this (so fingers crossed that he reads this) as I am a full believer that people in general and especially millennials like myself are very under-educated in the subject of personal finance.