.), and stay away from tertiary assets (stocks, bonds, 401(k)'s, etc). 

Assets = $100 (real estate, stocks, bonds, retirement plans, bank accounts, cars, annuities, etc)Liabilities = $80 (mortgages, car loans, credit cards, etc)Net Worth = $20IMO, it's an important financial practice to maintain a monthly personal balance sheet.  

I have been investing in stocks, bonds and REIT for years. 

A company sponsored plan is traditional investing, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, securities, etc. traded on the NY stock exchange.

I had money invested in real estate, the stock market, and in mutual funds.

Pittsburgh also has older housing stock so you can find a good amount of houses with the potential for forced appreciation.

I like real estate because I can control it but the stock market never has a leaky roof to replace.

I don't want to start a discussion on whether REI is better than stocks, this topic has been debated extensively.

Certainly the stock market appears to have legs, which attracts money from bonds, leading to higher bond yields.

To compare, I wouldn't make my first stock market a $400,000 trade in one company....I would spread out $20,000 into 10 companies and get the feel of things.Hope this helped a bit!