magdadela, once again good job and three cheers. of course if you went in immediately or even some time after 9-11 in TELCO stocks you made a killing. Sonus went from $0.10 to $9.00. huge killing. anywhoo.. about Real estates.. if you are looking at REIT's then good for dividend earnings. Now, but if you are looking for actual REAL ESTATE investment, then if you have a decent change.. then it is always a good idea. In long term. real estate's value increases from 5% to 6% p.a. if you are interested in stocks then i do have some tips for serious investors (O: TISA, you are smart. real one. maxing 401K and contributing in ROTH IRA's in early age very good move. You would retire @ least a millionare.. guranteed. Based on your income level think whether it is good to invest in ROTH or traditional IRA. there is a provision of conversion of traditional IRA to ROTH IRA. [ but not vise-versa] so ... think about it. I did convert series of my traditional IRA into ROTH in 2004-2005. these days I am a poor student )O: about the capital gain taxes.. its not like old time.. .they are taxed in an income tax rate so it depends which bracket you belong in. Timing is everything in stock market. But we can never do that.. too much risk. my suggestion would be choose stocks based on fundamentals and performance and go for long term. =====================================================