It is increasingly likely in today's world that your retirement preparation will involve a defined contribution retirement plan:a 401(k) or other similar tax-sheltered savings program.This means that YOU must assume responsibility for the composition of your retirement assets.Common advice for your portfolio is to rely heavily on index funds rather than individual stocks or actively managed mutual funds, and avoid short-term strategies such as attempted market timing.Thus you may emphasize index funds based on such stock indices as the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 indices, the Wilshire 5000, or bond index funds, etc.Being in a real estate class raises an additional possibility:if you are not investing directly in rental real estate - not a good choice for most persons - or if you are not investing in a private real estate fund, should your portfolio include REITs?If you own a home, does this constitute a sufficient real estate investment?The purpose of this exercise is to give you a start in exploring these kind of questions.

The exercise will rely heavily on the website of the National Association of REITs, NAREIT (www.reit.com).The good news is that though one might expect a trade association website to lean toward their sponsors, this one remains remarkably -if not completely - unbiased and informative.It offers a rich and accessible array of REIT explanations, guides, data and REIT links.

The first reference for you to follow on the NAREIT site is as follows:https://www.reit.com/data-research/research/third-party-research

REIT Stocks: An

Underutilized Portfolio Diversifier, by Rubin, Buller and Wald.While the authors are portfolio managers affiliated with Fidelity, they present an accurate, thoughtful and informative case for including REIT funds in a diversified portfolio.Read this to answer parts a through d of question 1, below.

1.General REIT Questions (see REIT Industry Financial Snapshot on the NAREIT website):

https://www.reit.com/data-research/reit-market-data/reit-industry-financial-snapshot

What is the market capitalization of NYSE traded equity REITs today?

How many NYSE traded REITs are there today? 225 REITS

Use the article by Rubin, Buller and Wald (link above) to answer these questions.(Expand the space as needed.)

a.Why might one what to add real estate investment to a retirement portfolio containing stocks and bonds?

One may add real estate investment to a retirement portfolio to further diversify the portfolio. In addition, many REITS have shown to be quite profitable.

b.Why might REITs be preferable for this purpose compared to direct investment in income producing real estate?

REITS allow consumers to profit from real estate without having to own or manage property. Investors also will not need to pay high upfront costs of acquiring real estate.

c.If you own a home does that substitute for diversification of a retirement portfolio?

d.What, if any, features of REIT investments make them attractive investments relative to typical S & P 500 stocks.