“There is just a ton of potential downside out there.”
I prefer many tons of rock solid concrete over fixed rate investments whose value is decimated annually.
As for stocks, I only put money I can afford to lose into stocks.
The key numbers to look at in the residential housing market is average income vs average mortgage payment on current transactions.
That ratio is the worst for the homebuyer it has been in the modern age.
That means we are at the top of a housing bubble.
At the top of the bubble everybody has made money—and things never looked better....
;-)