My parents made a fortune in real estate not because they are wheeler-dealers, but because they are hard workers and patient. They don't have a salesman mentality and never flipped a property in less than 10 years. But they knew they could trust themselves to work hard, and spent most of their spare time acquiring, repairing and maintaining rental properties. These investments provided positive cash flow as they raised kids, and the houses appreciated 100% to 400% with the proceeds now financing their retirement.

It's interesting that they also dabbled in day trading with more wins than losses, but it wasn't a great fit for their risk tolerance. Also, their different personalities probably caused friction re: approaches to day trading, while with real estate they were completely on the same page. Real estate was just a much better fit for their strengths, providing the right balance of risk-reward, personal control and timing. Most of their properties were purchased while they were in their 40s, providing income and financing additional purchases during their 50s and 60s until they started selling them off, and creating a substantial nest egg for their 70s and beyond. It worked for them.

Their initial motivation was to generate additional income to meet the needs of a large family, but as they followed the market, sought advice from experts, and learned the future value of their assets it became the focus of their retirement as well. Maybe they lucked out a bit, but all their efforts and decisions were moving in the same direction, and taking the first steps gave them the experience to map out an attainable financial destination. It took many years of discipline and work, and as kids we always felt poor because our parents were investors and not spenders. But then we watched the value of their portfolio compound just as Acorn spells out above. Thanks OP for the reminder.