Which Assets, how much?

It seems evident that to build wealth you need to save money and invest it in appreciating assets. Only then can growth occur without you having to work at it. But if this is obvious, it is far less obvious which assets you should choose. The topic of investment selection can and has filled shelves of books, and made careers for many people.

For me, my working assets are basically equity mutual funds and real estate in the form of my primary residence (containing a rental suite in the basement). Each of these has now grown to the point that I feel I have a solid foundation in these two areas, and as I save new money I am faced with the decision of where to invest it. My choices include more mutual funds (possible refining the asset allocation), paying down my mortgage, buying rental property or talking to someone who sells some product that is the answer to all my financial needs.

The solid foundation throws me off though now, because I wonder if I have too much money in these two places. I am growing reluctant to put more money in the markets in particular, and the turbulence of the last couple weeks has only intensified this feeling. On the other hand, if I actually reached $1 million, where would this money be? I suppose it would have to be invested.

I already have cash piling up in my business accounts again, and my commitment to catch up on my invoicing means that within the next 30 days I ought to have a lot of income arriving, so this question is slightly more than academic. I will need to be deciding soon what my next investment move might be so I am sure I will come back to this topic soon....

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