These are the famous last words of millions of Americans who bought homes at the height of the real estate mania in 2005-06.

As a new investor, be careful when someone says “never” or “always” in regards to investments.

While real estate never went down before 2005, the fact that so many people believed it was a “can’t miss” investment made it a losing investment. When too many people act with greed in their eyes and hearts, bad things happen.

Look at the chart below:

As you can see, real estate has gone down since 2006. And Gold has far outperformed real estate or the stock market since 2000.

To learn how invest properly and not get hooked into investing manias, take the Investing 101 eCourse. It has an entire chapter devoted to investing manias, how to spot them and how to avoid them before losing your shirt.