Originally Posted by SonicFlyer

Exactly... this makes complete and total sense (except for the index fund part).

Having one's excess income moved to an "aggressive growth" set of properly diversified minimally managed mutual funds is the safest way to accrue wealth over the long term because you own thousands of different businesses in different market sectors and locations.

Index funds tend to be actively managed and are not quite as diverse as one might think.

Having all of one's money tied up in real estate is actually pretty high risk, as is tying up all of one's money in a single business or two.