Land may not be smartest place for one's nest egg

BUY land: They're not making it anymore. That often repeated adage sounds like good financial advice.

But over the long run, it hasn't been. Despite solid price increases over the last few years, land and homes have actually been disappointing investments.

Let's start by looking at the numbers. The best long-term data on land in the US is for farmland, which is valuable in its own right and can also be considered a great reservoir that can be converted to housing and other purposes at opportune times.