If you buy stocks for dividends and real estate for rents, instead of just keeping your fingers crossed and hope they go up in value to sell to a bigger sucker later (like the boomers do), then it is irrelevant what the market values the asset as because you have no intention of selling it. What matters is cash-flow. So why would you put your fate in the fickle market? I'd rather set up my state of affairs so no matter what the market does, I'm still taken care of.