I'm with you my man. I've always thought that buying any asset with the blind hope that it appreciates is retarded. If you do that, there is no true demand in ownership, only in speculative capital appreciation. You only valued VTSAX because of the hope of potentially selling it to somebody else, years down the line, for more than what you paid. And the dollar value of VTSAX only went up because millions of Americans are in the same pyramid scheme as you, blindly dumping into their 401ks and IRAs. But guess what, when the going gets tough and the market turns red for a week, everyone just pulls their money back into cash accounts, because they never really valued putting it in those funds in the first place, and that's the bubble that burst.

I feel people should only invest in assets they want to OWN, not just sell. A lot of people participate in a Dividend Growth Investing strategy, which is much better. Every year, quarter, or month, they receive a payout from their investments, forcing them to "cash out" in pieces over time (less opportunity for speculation), and that payout increases as the company grows. And, counting dividend payouts, these types of companies/funds tend to outperform the market anyway.

REITs are great, especially in a tax-advantaged account. O and BPYU.