Many middle-class people insist that their home is an investment, or perhaps their best investment. Indian ladies insist that their husband buy a house for security. The truth is that your home does not make payments to you every month, and might not even go up in value, making it not an investment.
To become financially stable, you need assets that produce revenue.
Stable stocks that pay dividends, investment properties that make systematic profits, and businesses are good investments. Of course your business requires your time and effort and does not guarantee exact income. But, supposedly you understand your business well, and that superior knowledge provides security to your investment that someone else who was a beginner wouldn’t have.
Your house goes up and down in value with the market.
If your neighborhood goes downhill, so does your house’s value. If your area becomes more affluent, so will your house value. Houses also need repairs. Your water heater, paint, roof, and other components of your house need to be fixed from time to time. In actuality, your house is a money drain. You will never become rich if you invest in a money drain. You need assets that produce income.
To preach to Hindustani ladies:
I’ll add that your life doesn’t become any more stable by your husband owning a house. If you put your life savings into a down payment on the house, and the house loses value, you just lost all of your equity. Where is your stability now? You would have been better off putting the money in a bank. Additionally, if your husband loses his job, you’ll have no way to continue the house payments. Stability is having superior work skills and having a certain amount of financial liquidity. If all of your funds are tied up in a hard to sell asset, you are actually in a lot of danger, and the myth of security might deceive you.
On the other hand, if you purchase a multi-unit building and rent out the other units, you might find that your cash flow is excellent. Sure, you might have to call the plumber a lot and deal with nitwits, but the cash will come in, and you’ll be happy assuming you pick decent tenants (and decent plumbers.)