Stocks have long been the most glamorous of the major asset classes. Many a Hollywood film has centered around making fast money in the stock market, and becoming a Wall Street big shot.
But despite their great long-term returns – they’ve averaged about 10 percent annually for decades – stocks are no longer Americans’ favorite long-term investment. What is? According to a nationwide Bankrate survey, it’s real estate.
Years after a housing crash that left the economy hurting, many Americans still see real estate as their top pick. Some 31 percent of survey respondents named real estate as their favored investment for money that they wouldn’t need for 10 years or more. It’s the best showing for real estate in the seven years that Bankrate has conducted the survey.