<prompt> Human: My parents decided to come visit me this past weekend and while taking a walk through a local park, we got to talking about retirement. My father is 52 and has owned a residential construction business since about 1995 that he built himself and my mother is 50 and has worked on and off during that time. They owned a rental property from 2003-2015 which they originally intended to flip but ended up renting and managing that property instead.They recently started working with a real estate mentorshipmanagement program because they were looking for the passive income from a rental house, without the stress from managing the property.When discussing my retirement plan with them, my Dad suggested that I at least look into the management company theyre working with because You know, no one has ever saved themselves into retirement. To which I responded Of course people have, meaning saving and investing. My Dad scoffed at me and said, Well what if we have another 2008? conveniently ignoring that it was the subprime real estate loan market that fell through.I wasnt really sure what to tell him at that point. I always figured that the reason they were putting all their eggs in the real estate basket was due to them starting their retirement saving much later than most. But now it seems apparent that my Dad is skeptical of all investment, besides real estate.  <response>: Retired here. Saved. I hold real estate as a small portion of my portfolio. Most Americans are way over-invested in real estate a single house!, and hampered by its volatility and illiquidity in downturns. 