Good discussion. Just a note on real estate that it is far easier than most people suspect. I own seven single-family rentals and one commercial building and spend about 2 hours per month doing the book keeping. There are tons of property management firms that will handle tenants, repairs, etc for you for a reasonable percent of the monthly rent (+/- 8%). Just make sure that is in your numbers when you are doing your analysis. The work and time is in finding good deals (same like active stock market investing).