It is said that real estate has created more millionaires in the United States than any other investment class. While this may be true -- it certainly seems plausible -- real estate is not without its risks. Ask those who bought that flipper condo in 2006. They lost their entire investment (their down payment) and still owe tens of thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, more than it could be sold for. In this presentation, we take a close look at real estate as an investment. We also take a quick look as some other investment alternatives and find that although these may be rewarding vehicles for some individuals, the vast majority of us are better off avoiding them altogether.