how long and at what age? at any age when you re putting money aside for a short-term, we call that savings and that s five years or less. when you re investing, you re going to be leaving the money alone at least five years or more. that s how we define those terms. steve: okay. you also like mutual funds. a lot of people try play that casino called wall street. you say invest in mutual funds for roth ira and 401(k) as well. a lot of these scandals that are out there had to do with single stock problems and companies recommending certain single stocks. you avoid that if go into the diversionification of a good growth stock mutecal mutual fund. that s what i have my money in. ali: after all of the real estate woes of these past couple of years, how do you recommend people treat that now? real estate is a great investment. it s on sale. we re at k-mart and the blue light is on. this is a great time to be buying real estate. understand, you ve got more involvement than with a