OP, after “playing with stocks and high yield funds” and apparently losing your butt, desiring a better way, and emotionally choosing to swing the pendulum to the other far extreme where you might in turn lose your butt to inflation, or to real estate, where you will work your butt off, you face an important tortoise vs. hare decision and a fork in the road:
Choose either the quiet, long Investor’s Path that many others have taken successfully to build wealth or attempt a quick Gambler’s Path through a field of landmines chasing an illusion that a person can consistently beat the markets and earn quick wealth. I chose the former a long time ago early in my career after experimenting with the latter, and the choice has made us wealthier than most, so I believe in the Bogleheads Way. You’ll see others on this forum addicted to the Gambler’s path of the hare and susceptible to a massive greed-based financial industry that is only happy to serve them. I spend time here and on Bogleheads, where the predominant investing philosophy is the longer, slower and repeatable path of the tortoise.
I will second and double down on the excellent advice above to read the Bogleheads material. I suggest after 27 years on my investing journey that the simplest and entirely effective products to explore and that are clear expressions of the Bogleheads principles reside at Vanguard.com/mutual funds/All In One Funds/and either their Target Date or Life Strategy funds. Those two products are simple, maintenance free, balanced collections of ultra low cost bond and stock index funds with all the proven principles and investing wisdom baked in. Pick one, stick with it and, in time, you won’t own a Lear Jet but you also won’t lose your stake to the casino. Vanguard also offers some active funds but their defining core is index funds.
Vanguard itself is unique in the industry, as it’s a co-op in which we investors own the mutual funds and the funds, in turn, own Vanguard. So the goals, values, and objectives of the company are aligned with the investors more than all other companies, which are designed to drain the maximum fees from your pocket. Vanguard has quietly, frugally, become the largest mutual fund company in the world, yet does not have fancy store fronts downtown or Super Bowl ads. Go figure? It’s hard to argue with massive success like that.
Others will no doubt disagree with parts or all of this advice but I can say that it has worked to make and keep me - a history major with relatively poor math skills who has had a career in non-profit service - a millionaire and then some, so I believe in the water I have drunk. Good luck!
