You can get a nice 5% or so return in a nicely conservative portfolio. I too take the tortoise approach rather than the hare... slow and easy, looking for a nice solid long-term gain.
There are plenty of good companies out there that will pay around 5% in dividends, and there are some great mutual funds (pay attention to the fine print regarding "load" if you don't plan to hold them for long-term).
If you have the stomach for it, it makes sense to have a portion of your holdings in real estate. Take your time when investing in real estate... don't go for "flipping" unless you're an experienced contractor. Calculate what your return will be from rents, after deducting for taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and at least some vacancies. If you can realize a good 5-10% return from rents, and can buy in an are that's on the upswing, than it can be a great investment.
Money managers/brokers don't do any better than you can do if you do your research. At least that's been my experience (I have portfolios with SWS and JP Morgan, and the portfolio I manage myself is doing a lot better than they're doing).
Use common sense and listen to your gut... if your gut says something sounds fishy, just say no. You'll get a zillion email "tips" from the "experts"... many of whom are just trying to save their own sorry positions by convincing you to buy the turkeys they got suckered into buying.
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