Good overview. I believe that where you live is a liability because it doesn't actually make you money. It is a cost to be minimized, rather than an asset to be maxamized. Getting this wrong is what traps a lot of middle-class folks in a vicsious cycle of debt that doesn't allow them to build wealth. Minimize your expenses (including living expenses) and invest the rest, as you say, in stocks, investment real estate (not where you live), and businesses. That is the way to wealth.