[quote=Myriad]I’m sure a lot of the advice is for people that haven’t saved enough in their 401k, IRA/Roth 401k, IRA. Since the majority of Americans haven’t saved enough in general.

For those that have significant amounts in a tradition 401k/IRA, moving money prior to RMD requires a lot of planning. Converting as much as possible prior to RMD to lower AG taxable income.
It’s hard to imagine tax rates for the 0-90% of income really going up more than a few % points. There would pretty much be riots in the streets if it goes up by 5%. More likely, the step-up basis will be eliminated – a stealth estate tax for the relatively wealthy.

As for real estate, prices are pretty high now and lots of places in SD/CA are cash flow negative. And if interest rates ever go up, the appreciation will be pretty limited.[/quote]

It won’t be cash flow negative if the property is free and clear. Then it’s more or less simply cash on cash return

Hyothetically, one can spend $300k on a 1/1 in MM that rents for $1600 month. Factoring in HOA, insurance, and ptax costing $450/month, that’s still
$13800/300000 or 4.6% return