Monopoly“Well, real estate is always good, as far as I’m concerned.” — Donald Trump

One of my first posts way back when was about reading obituaries and noticing that often times rich people seem to have made their money through real estate. Wachovia recently ran an advertisement in Fortune Small Business called “Building Long-Term Assets” discussed trends with real estate investing. Now, clearly, Wachovia is trying to sell more loans with this ad, but the article still had some noteworthy points.

“Whether the blistering real estate market cools down or not, investing in bricks and mortar can greatly leverage one’s retirement savings plan.” As a matter of fact, “Only the top fifth of American households build retirement wealth from stocks and bonds. For the rest, real estate is the primary source.”

“Real estate investment opportunities aren’t limited to the family home. Owning a rental property can provide a source of supplemental income as long as costs such as the mortgage and maintenance are more than covered by the rent.”

I’ve always been an advocate of the buy and hold strategy with real estate but recently considered unloading my properties. Real estate is a relatively illiquid asset, but this is one thing that has always made it feel safe to me. When I see stocks fall like they did last week, it always makes me happy that I have a hard asset like real estate.

Whatever your view might be on the housing bubble, most of my real estate investments have been good ones. They were purchased in markets where the rents cover my monthly costs of owing the property. As I pay down the principal, rents will increase over time and rental income is just one way I intend to fund my retirement.

If you’re part of Gen X or Gen Y, then retirement might seem like a long ways off. But time is money and you have time on your side if you start now. FRONTLINE on PBS is planning a special on Tuesday night called, Can You Afford To Retire? The show focuses on Baby Boomers, but Sarah Ligon, a writer at PBS plans to cover the views of Gen X and Gen Y on the web site. Check it out if you want to weigh in or hear what others are thinking.

I’ve said it before and will say it again, “The only thing worse than being young and poor is being old and poor.” We should think about it now while time is on our side.