Do you own your home? If not, buying your first residence is a way to "earn" single digit returns with extremely low risk. You will not get "paid" a return but you will earn it through saving the money you pay in rent(minus property taxes and maintanence costs, which usually will amount of less than half of the rental yield), that is a form of tax free savings. Owning your home is like a having a REIT with 100% occupancy where the income is tax free, and you don't care about the price fluctuation because you will continue to live there. Its also inflation proof
Holding a bond portfolio (50% IEF, 50% SHY) over the last 18 years produced an annual return of about 3.7% (including dividends) and a maximum drawdown of about 6%. Low cost, zero maintenance and regular dividends.
