RE: Diversified real estate and stocks are much better in the long run.
The problem with stocks is there is no guarantee that you will get the price you want at the time you need it. Plus, there’s the issue of capital gains tax.
Also, if you have diversified stock portfolio, how exactly are you going to get a monthly income from these when you retire?
That’s why you don’t sell stocks at the time you need the money. You sell them at the price you want at least a few years before you need the money and move those funds into other safer investments.
Almost all of my stocks pay dividends. For now its all reinvested but one day soon those dividends will come straight to me.