<prompt> Human: My in-laws are first generation immigrants to the US, came here in 95 with my wife and her sister with literally nothing more than the clothes on their backs from Russia and settled in Texas. Her father worked as an engineer for years while her mom worked as a mortgage officer at a bank until recently. While I do not know how much they have saved in their 401k or IRA, or if they even have one, I do know that besides their home, they own 3 or 4 additional properties which they rent out. They have rented them out for years and used the propertys rent to pay off the individual mortgages faster than the minimum payment until they own them outright and now most of the rent is profitincome to them minus taxes and maintenance. While its not an enormous monthly amount, its enough to enable them to get by and allow my mother-in-law to quit her job and help watch our new kids which she genuinely enjoys.Was talking with my wife recently and was appalled to find out that she has virtually no 401k or IRA savings. Believe she put in only the minimum amount that her job will match to and that is about it, amounting to only about 8k or so. Since I put in at least 15 bumped up to 18 with employer matching specifically because I know Im late to the 401kIRA party within the last 6 years, after I actually had enough to not be living paycheck to paycheck, this seems really careless to me. I know she also raided some of her accounts about 5 years ago to put the downpayment on the current townhome we have, taking a hit there as well. When I asked her why she did that, as well as saving so little for retirement, she replied that she was planning on saving for a downpayment on another houses, move into it after renting out our old house or selling it to buy out the mortgage and if sold, dumping the equity in our new place. While I dont think this is a bad plan in theory, its not something I would have done myself, mostly because I grew up and expected to live in southern California, where I wasnt expecting to be able to save for even one downpayment until I was about 40. After some prodding I was able to get the story in the opening out as this was what her parents did for their retirement and she felt it served them well. From my perspective it doesnt look like this is the best way, as it doesnt take advantage of retirement account tax deferment and real estate may not go up as much as overall market growth. In fact I am wondering if the only reason they did this was specifically because they came to this country with nothing and this was the only way they could save for retirement starting with no accrued savings in their late 30s. However, I am willing to concede I could be wrong, since I have only used a 401k and IRA, and only then fairly recently compared to some. Was hoping to get some more info on the differences between retirement planning with real estate vs. a 401k or IRA., as well as others opinions on which is better.  <response>: Saving for retirement by investing in real estate vs. 401kIRA, which is better?How much do you like dealing with someone elses plumbing issues at 3AM, and chasing after deadbeat tenants for rent? I picked the 401kIRA route, thank you very much. Was talking with my wife recently and was appalled to find out that she has virtually no 401k or IRA savingsSo you married this woman - which is the specific legal act of combining two peoples financial lives - without having any idea what assets you were combining with? That seems unimaginable. What else dont you know about her? 