ADDING TO THE MIX

The time-honored asset allocation—stocks, bonds, and cash—hascome under pressure lately, as stockshave tanked, cash is earning piddlingyields, and even bonds have notfared that well over a 3- or 5-yearspan. To add some spice and growthto their portfolios, some investors arelooking for more lucrative places toput their money. Real estate, in theform of REITs or REIT funds, isbecoming a recognized asset class,even finding a slot in some TIAACREF529 college savings plans.The goal is gains—Vanguard's REITIndex fund (800-636-1511;www.vanguard.com) has a 3-year average annualgain of 13.2%, compared withan average annual loss of 16.24% onits S&P 500 fund.