Looking for a place to "park your money"? Real Estate is where I recommend. This is why:

About the 10th of each month, local MLS's look at the sales from last month and report their findings. The table below shows the result of percent change in median price of Sold homes in Sacramento area. As you see, from November to November, home prices appreciated a whopping 12 percent in Sacramento county. That means if you bought a house for 300k last year, your home could worth $336,000. Of course, as you see in the table, not every part of the county appreciated the same (and some even depreciated)
Overall, IMHO, you cant beat investing in real estate. As Mark Twain said"Buy land. They're not making it any more".
If you are wondering how much homes in your neighborhood have appreciated (or depreciated) give me a call.