With $500k, you could put 25% down on a 50 unit apartment complex, clear $12500 per month profit — tax free due to building depreciation — and that’s after the rest of the collected rent pays for property management, property taxes, a repair budget and the debt service — all while building equity in the building that you can then leverage to buy another property. With $500k cash you can turn that into real wealth rather than hoping for S&P rates of return. Cash on cash return for multifamily buildings puts the stocks and bonds investments to shame and other than finding the deals, it is pretty hands-off in terms of day to day work.