What is the difference between rich and wealthy? The difference could be described as either working for a living or your money working for your living. In other words, when you are wealthy, your money works for you such as real estate property providing a cash flow so you do not have to work an 8 to 5 job. That is being wealthy.

It stands to reason that the purchase of a rental property today can make your retirement comfortable because the added income is a positive cash flow. Achieving financial wealth through real estate investments is long term, and can be risky if you dont do your homework.

There are so many get rich quick scams out there, and some of them are get rich quick using real estate investments. Some of those infomercials are really so much hot air. They have the right idea but the wrong way to achieve it. That is why it is crucial to work with your tax advisor and a knowledgeable real estate professional rather than taking advice from an infomercial at one oclock in the morning.

The problem most people face at retirement is that the cost of living has gone up faster than the increase in their 401K. Investment property can make a huge difference at not only what you can do when retired but also when you can retire. Working an 8 to 5 job generally does not allow you to save enough out of each pay check to acquire real wealth. Even those high paid executives can fall into a security trap thinking their income is assured, so therefore their retirement is assured. We dont have to look any further than Enron or Worldcom to know that nothing is totally assured in this life; which is why you need to take control of your life and your retirement.

If you were to take $50,000 and use it as a 10% down payment on a $500,000 investment property, assuming: a breakeven cash flow and not including any tax credits or tax breaks, the value of the property appreciating over 20 years, the value of the property would be three times as much as when first purchased. That means that your initial investment of $50,000 has equity of over $1,400,000.

Take that same investment of $50,000 to a market fund or other bond-type, non-risk investment, and you can expect an 8% to 10% increase on average. After 20 years, you would realize $266,000 to $366,000.

When you put it into perspective in a real life type of comparison like this, you can see that real estate investment can provide a very lucrative retirement with little or no risk to you. The added benefit is that you are able to leave a nice legacy to your loved ones which is priceless.