If your place of employment matches your contribution to your 401K that would be your first best investment, free money is always the best choice!

Between the three options you've mentioned I would fund a matching 401K first then the max contribution for an IRA and then I would consider real estate. If the 401k is not matching I would probably still fund it but I would make sure the IRA got a max contribution first.

I'm a huge fan of the IRA's, specifically the Roth IRA's but even the Traditional if the Roth is not an option for you. I think IRA's are the best and most important retirement tool available and can't understand why many people are not taking advantage of this opportunity.

Real estate is generally a great investment but it would depend on how long you have left before you will be needing to liquidate it. Rental income is a great retirement revenue, if I were going to consider real estate for retirement purposes I would absolutely gear it toward the rental income revenue.

No matter what you do, you are on the right track in thinking and planning for your retirement. Max that IRA out...now!

Thank you for the award!