Today Mary talks about why comparing returns on rental property and shares is tricky. She explains that people usually borrow to invest in rental property, and most don't in shares. Borrowing to invest is called gearing in NZ, leveraging in the US. If you borrow, you get growth on the bank's money as well as your own. So she says a geared rental property is likely to bring higher returns than an ungeared share investment. But Mary warns there are other pitfalls to think about.