Everything Iron said is true.
I took that gut punch in the early 80's.
I made the decision to stay out of real-estate, it's a ton of work.
Build a rock solid base all div. aristocrat stocks. I don't care how old you are.
Then take a percentage to get in and out stocks. My 1 rule is " if you don't know your sell
point before you buy do more research".
The hard part is selling!