Real estate investing has been a long-taken path to prosperity. Investing in the stock market side of that age-old business can be a great way to build wealth without the expense and hassle of direct investment and ownership.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are built for just that. These pools of income-producing properties are required to pay out most of their taxable income as dividends and provide a highly liquid way to get in and out of a wide variety of sectors.

That's one more appealing thing about REITs: You can choose your sector. The legendary Fidelity fund manager Peter Lynch preached buying what you understand, and many REITs are an excellent avenue for that approach. That's because many of the 225 or so publicly traded REITs specialize in businesses that average investors can assess on their own as promising and appealing or not so much, given the ever-changing economies we're all navigating.

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Source Fool.com