Early Retirement Sounding Board
All:
I am active duty military - been in for 6 years. My goal is to do a full 20, get out at 42 years old, and be done working with enough money to cover expenses + have ~$10K/month excess. I currently own a 4plex that will generate between $1200-$1500/mo after expenses, and a single family that gives me $325/mo after expenses. I am planning on buying a duplex in the spring as well (hoping to find one that nets $700-$800/mo. Every time I get reassigned somewhere, I try to buy a property or two that has a positive cash flow. By the end of this assignment (I move again June 2021), I will have 3 properties netting ~$1700/mo.
My question is, on my timeline I have another 14 years of active income to turn into passive income - should I start rolling my $1700/mo back into my mortgages to increase cash flow from rents, or should I focus all of my funds on acquiring new properties? I can have my single family paid off in 8 years if I start rolling that money back into it, and if I do the same to my 4plex I can have it completely paid in 8 years after that if I commit those funds I budget every month to live on my employment income - what I don't know is if I should allocate my passive income back into my existing investments to maximize long term cash flow, or focus on buying new properties. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!