[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Gerbs

I'm also shocked at how comfortable ppl are at holding 80-99% of wealth in real estate.

I'm wasting money if I am holding $500K Real Estate and < $100K in tax sheltered equity. Feels way better to be $500K equity and $100K RE.

Though most of my friends are holding more equity than real estate, we can't really afford a fat DP without holding equity. The days of holding emergency money in GIC/Bonds/dividend stocks isn't really feasible anymore. Get left behind

For most folks though it's not a choice per se - it wasn't until recently a home was an "investment" so it wasn't in the same bucket as owning stocks or even bonds unless you were quite rich. Buying a home was about having shelter until prices started skyrocketing and then people started investing in it in large numbers. Even when I bought my first place in 2006 it was just so I could have a place to live, there was no calculation comparing it to investing money.

Now homes are so expensive that it factors into your net worth and monthly cash flow (rental income) and we compare the return of it to our investment portfolio but it's still fundamentally just shelter for most people and it just happens to be worth a lot.