She had had no idea what these were...I think many of my friends and family just view investing of any kind as 'very risky' (with nightmarish stories of great-aunt Molly that lost her life's savings with a bad Investment/investor flashing through their minds)...Savings is a great first step, but it is the financial education and subsequent investing that will make the wealth happen!

The problem is that wealth accumulation often causes people to want more, so the scale slides.

In fact, with 25+ years of flipping and investing, I have never had a claim other than a roof due to hail damage years ago.In early August I had a tenant who left a pan of oil on the stove and the subsequent fire destroyed the property. 

And more than likely it will come back even stronger in subsequent years and will more than make up for it.

Too bad they are blasting the AC with 110 desert heat, and leaving windows and sliding glass door open all day. 

We'll never be 'super wealthy' but will impact at least 2 subsequent generations. 

And not much less in subsequent years.

It's actually the worst out of the 20 major cities and barely slides past national inflation rate.

Bottom line, I don't think the biggest risk to housing prices right now lies within the housing sector; if they crash in the next several years or so my guess is that it will be due to a bubble somewhere else in the economy.One final thought:  the sub-prime mess originated under Clinton when he and his congress eased regulations on mortgage lending in/around 1999; it took eight years for the subsequent crash to manifest.  

After the move in and subsequent  violence in which the cops were repeatedly called we found out that he had an extensive rap sheet from a neighboring state.