My Investment Focus

I am a full-time IT professional, but personal finance has always been my interest.  I love reading market news, investment articles and enjoying managing our brokage accounts and retirement plans.   My investment focus used to be stocks, but the "Lost Decade" really discouraged me quite a bit.  Now I still invest in stocks in my retirement plan, but shift my focus toward real estate investement.  The major advantages of investing real estate over stocks are leverage and tax benefits.  In this market, we should seriously consider investing in real estate.