Historically, stocks have slightly outperformed real estate in average annualized returns, but both have been reliable long-term investments! 🌳

But investing in real estate can be very different from investing in the stock market, and each has its own pros and cons.

Let's compare the two! 🔍

First, real estate is a physical, tangible asset that you can see and touch, while stocks represent ownership in a company that exists on paper 📜

Some people prefer to own physical assets like real estate, watches or gold since in theory, intangible assets like paper money and stocks could disappear but physical assets can’t 👀

Real estate investments usually require more money upfront since buying an entire house, apartment or building is usually more expensive than buying a slice of stock.

In addition, real estate investments are usually less liquid, meaning it’s harder to convert your investment to cash 💸

With stocks, you can sell them any time the market is open, but selling property takes much more time and there's not necessarily anyone out there who wants to buy your real estate ⏳

However, with REITs that are on the stock market, you can get exposure to real estate assets with the liquidity of stocks – the best of both worlds 🌎

Lastly, directly investing in real estate (not through REITs) can offer unique tax advantages and the ability to use "leverage," or borrowed money, to increase your returns 💰