Will do, thanks. RE: Housing - I've always had a gut feeling that tying your money into an asset like that is a terrible idea because of the infinite number of potential money sucking risks along the way. It seems like something you'd 'get rich' off of on paper, but when you try to sell for that price you'll find nobody is buying. Don't want to end up in that position and again, that's just a gut feeling, didn't really read up on it.
REITs are traded on the market, (pretty much) just like a stock. So you don't have to worry about liquidity being too much of a problem. One example of a REIT is [1].
However, if you really just want to park money for 20 years, you probably want a target year fund like [2] which will have higher risk now (stocks, REITs, etc), and rebalance to lower risk (Bonds) as it gets closer to 2040. It's literally the definition of set it and forget it.
edit: I should add, I'm not your financial advisor, and I don't have a fiduciary duty. You should consult with a financial advisor (who has a fiduciary duty) before making any decisions about investments. However, target year funds are frequently (one of) the best decisions for many people.
REITs:
-are publicly owned on the stock market
-have a legal obligation to pay out 90% of their operating profit through dividends
-can own/operate myriad forms of real estate assets, but I'd suggest sticking with REITs that actually own real estate and not mortgages.
