A recent survey of Americans found that more respondents named real estate as the best long-term investment over stocks, gold, savings accounts/CDs, or bonds for the second-straight year. The results, recently released by Gallup, showed 31 percent of Americans chose real estate, followed by 25 percent of participants who said stocks/mutual funds. This wasn’t the case as recently as a couple of years ago, however. In fact, both real estate and the stock market suffered a significant slump in public perception following the housing crash and financial crisis. Since then, a stabilizing housing market and rebounded stock market have led to increasing confidence. Now, real estate is either the top choice or tied for first among all gender, age, and income groups. Gold, on the other hand, has been on a downward trajectory in recent years. The most popular choice in 2011 and 2012, gold came in third this year, falling five percentage points in just the past 12 months. More here.