cbad’s strategy is safe and sound. It’s like taking out insurance.
Everyone should have a house that is paid off. I’m not talking about a mansion but a modest liveable home. As your income grows and you move up, then sure, use leverage to build wealth but keep one property paid off. That can be a $200k condo somewhere decent.
You then don’t have worries about taking investment risks because you know that your house will always be there to provide you a decent standard of living should things go to shit.
One of my business partners in the 1990s lost his shirt and mc mansion in Laguna Niguel. He never recovered to this day. If you hit bottom, it’s very hard to recover. It happens all the time.
If/when there is an economic depression, a lot of of highly leveraged “rich” people will be out on the street. Maybe not in out lifetimes, but it will happen.