BUY REAL ESTATE!!!! Seriously. Think about this...there are many many people who have just up and left their homes, mortgages etc. behind but they still need a place to live. What are they going to do? Rent. Well, most of them anyway.
Buy as many rental properties as you can get your hands on. If you do it right, the property will provide you with a profit on a monthly basis. Increase amount of units...increase profit. Then you can take the profit from your properties and buy whatever you like.
At the end of the day, your properties are building equity, and when refinance time comes around, guess what...EVEN MOAR money in your pocket. There hasn't been a better opportunity to get into the real estate game in my lifetime (I'm 29) and those who get into it now will reap the rewards later when the market recovers and everyone scrambles to try to get a piece of the pie before it gets eaten up.
More millionaires are made in a down economy than at any other time. Not sure who said that...so I can't quote, but it's true. If renting residential isn't your thing, go for commercial or industrial.
Someone said in an earlier post that land doesn't depreciate..which is not true. Land will however always hold some value...unless it's been part of a nuclear meltdown....and even then...maybe? Simply put, land doesn't generally depreciate but it generally doesn't pay you back either unless it's rented out to a farmer.
Bricks and Mortar FTMFW
PS...was just thinking... Here in Canada we refinance our mortgages several times during it's amortization period, but I remember someone telling me that in the States, your mortgage is set for the full amortization period and there is no option to refinance...is that true?