[Kelly Stilwell]

My husband and I have been discussing buying a rental property. I think we really need more diversification. We are totally in mutual funds. Thoughts?

[Michelle Goth]

We’ve been thinking about doing the same. I have several friends who have either rental hoomes or small multi-family units and they all feel like it’s the quickest way to build wealth. Most of them are generating enough income to purchase an additional unit every 1-2 years.

[Nancy DeFauw – SUM180 Team]

Real estate, especially when it’s generating rental income for you, can help you a) diversify your investments and b) provide you additional non-work related income (good insurance in case something happens on the work front). In general, when you look at your whole investment picture, real estate should be about 25% of the total. Your home is included in that 25% as well, so if you are thinking about investing in a rental property, you’ll want to consider your overall allocation. Carla Dearing wrote a really thorough response the other day – you can find it here: https://community.sum180.com/forums/topic/is-property-considered-a-good-investment/