Landlords: Did You Ever Wish You Invested in the Stock Market Instead?

[Dan Brindley]

I know at times you may have wanted to rip your hair out (or maybe not) from dealing with tenants, or going through high vacancy periods, to maybe doing a bad deal on a house.
Did you ever think investing in the stock market would have been less stress, or maybe even more profitable compared to what you're doing now?
If you could go back in time, do you think you might have put your money to work in the hands of a smart investment banker and took it easy, instead of the life of a landlord?
I understand people may be a bit biased in their responses (given the forum this question is asked in), but if I even hear from one objective person, it would make for a great discussion.

[J Scott]

It's all about investing in what you're an expert in. Real estate tends to be less financially complicated than investing in businesses (via the stock market or otherwise), which is why -- I believe -- more people are successful investing in real estate than in business.

But, if you are an expert in fundamental analysis of companies and have the time/discipline to do your due diligence and make expert decisions, you can make just as much (if not more) money investing in businesses than you can in real estate.

Warren Buffett is the perfect example of that...and there are thousands of people like Buffett who make millions doing specialized investment in businesses, whether through the stock market or directly.

Also, I'm sure there are plenty of landlords who I imagine wish they had put all their money in the stock market rather than in bad real estate investments over the past 5-7 years! Just like non-expert stock market investors, they put their money into investments they didn't fully understand, and ultimately lost a lot of money.

The key is to invest in what you are an expert in, and stay away from investments where you are not an expert. The specific investment vehicle is irrelevant...