@Jason White,My first impulse is to say no matter how much you have available you'll want to invest for income in retirement to ensure that your money is growing at such a rate that you drawing your living expenses from it will not deplete the principal during your expectable lifetime.You may want to read up on self-directed retirement accounts and other ways of being a private money lender.My personal thoughts on buying property with no loans is that its roughly equivalent to gambling in the Wall Street Casino.

ANYONE THAT IS COUNTING ON FUTURE APPRECIATION is taking a HUGE GAMBLE!

So there being an intermediary doesn't matter as long as they get their money.My personal opinion on buying a note at it's face value is like taking a gamble.

I think I'm with Luis here, I'm very uncomfortable gambling on future tax rates and the future structure of the tax code, and it is a gamble, make no mistake.

Later she obtained a paid transfer to the UK.

Drink only water while gambling!

Anyone working a regular job who is living paycheck-to-paycheck or  month-to-month, and without any substantial savings is taking a huge gamble. 

While I am not one to gamble, I do think I have a lower risk aversion than others. 

Throwing a dart at the map in a market you don't know intimately and putting your money in the hands of complete strangers thousands of miles away seems like the greater gamble in this situation to me.

I'm not gambling on appreciation, but I do assign a value on the benefits of owning and holding real estate outside of cash-flow as well because there is a value there and it isn't the same in every deal.