The Gallup organization recently released a survey in which Americans were asked to rank what they considered to be the “best long term investment.” Real estate ranked number one, with 35% of those surveyed saying it was a better long term investment than stocks & mutual funds, gold, savings accounts or bonds.

Here is the breakdown:

The survey revealed that real estate was the number one choice among each of the following groups:

• Men
• Women
• People between the ages of 18-29
• People between the ages of 30-49
• People between the ages of 50-64
• People 65 and older
• People with annual earnings of less than $30,000
• People with annual earnings between $30,000 and $74,999
• People with annual earnings of over $75,000
• People with a college degree
• People without a college degree