Real-estate isn't risky. You just need some common sense; one tid-bit is only buy rentals in red-states where their laws let you fsck the tenants over if they complain. You need to use the Liberals & Conservatives to MAKE YOU MONEY, both serve a purpose.
I have a little in stocks, the rest are in two rental properties paid out-right.
I bought a house initially (fixer-upper) in an area I knew would grow. Fixed it up, over paid the mortgage, for over a decade then sold it at a much greater profit (3 times than what I paid for it) and bought two more houses (outright no mortgage) in other growth areas cheap and rent them out.
Investments take time to grow, but unless you got GLOBS and GLOBS of cash, stocks don't make you any real income. They are "long-term" for a reason. A hopeful to help you when you retire or pass down to your kids etc. You need to pay taxes on all that you want to use from it. And if you look at the stock market, it's been getting shittier and shittier with true investment companies besides the normal techie shit.
And yes you can have rental vacancies, but it's less likely if you rent to a decent person than the first person who gives you cash. My houses still have their first renter in it. I'm not raising it every year, I keep up with maintenance etc. Even with the overhead it's still out-performing my stocks as most peoples stocks and sure better than most 401ks. And you get WAY better tax reduction on property than you do in stocks.
Rentals compared to stocks, I get cash every month I can do whatever the fsck I want to do with it (reinvest, travel, etc). No taxes rules on short-term or long-term stocks etc.
It's like all things in life, you gotta use your brain and critical thinking skills. My rents out-perform the market's ups and downs and back and forths. The real estate income is the MOST steady between the two investment types.
And like all investments it takes sacrifices; like when I lived dirt poor doing double payments on my first mortgage to reduce interest and the amortization table of it. My friends at the time were all out partying, going to concerts, "living up life" calling me a debbie downer. Now they're stuck with kids, in either a rental themselves or paying an outrageous mortgage and complaining about life. I'm debt free, have income to spare, and basically semi-retired in my mid 40s.
Everyone now wants to invest in crypto and stocks and hope to be a millionaire within 5 years. Everyone has an excuse why they can't succeed. Very few make a plan, stick with that plan, and chew a little here and there over time till they succeed at it.
