Passive investing would be buying a Vanguard index fund, and holding for 10 years. 

I intended on contributing 60% of my pay and having it invested in the index fund option.

Let's talk about the stock and bond markets:1) The NASDAQ is down 31.7% as of the time of this post, year to date. 2) The Vanguard Total Market Bond Index Fund is down 10.9%.      

As you get closer to retirement its worth looking at paying down the mortgages to increase cash flow and reduce your risk.For the Solo K you could probably just go with a few general index funds to give you broad access to US and International stock markets at a really low cost.The other thing to think about as you approach retirement is how distributions from pre-tax accounts can increase the taxes on your social security benefits.

**The rate above is going to be after 5 years FHLB (2%-4%...depending on index) PLUS 3.25% so best case scenario is 5.25%-7.25%...its a huge variable on the FHLB..also my payment remains near same but my PRINCIPAL reduction gets cut into half due to interest rate hike @ 5 years contingency...Given my Fixed rate (7) year term @ 4.35% gives me the expectancy principal reduction & payment amount..

My partner and I always try to compare to the S&P because as a rule of thumb if we are not beating the S&P by a certain margin then why not just park our money in an S&P index fund and collect our 10% return with no effort.

I'd rather invest in an S&P 500 index fund, REIT, or just sit on my cash longer to find a deal in my backyard. 

REIT Index fell 2.1 percent.While General Growth bonds were not trading, Rouse's 5.375 percent notes due 2013 rose to 37.5 cents on dollar versus 29.25 cents on Wednesday, according to MarketAxess.SETTING UP A TEAMGeneral Growth's refinancing troubles led to the firing of former CFO Bernard Freibaum in October.

I recall reading an article a few years back that the affordability index was about 11%.

If you want to see something crazy, check out the dollar index.