<prompt> Human: I live in an area where a suitable house for my family would cost 500k. The conventional wisdom is that if you can afford a home for yourself you should buy it.However if I told you I was going to get a loan and put 500K in my friends business everybody would tell me that I taking a horrible risk. Im worried about having so much liability tied up in a single investment and Im also worried about wasting money on rent.  <response>: Well you should probably take your conventional wisdom behind the shed and shoot it. Conventional wisdom is why so many Americans are house poor putting themselves into debt buying cars that they cant afford. Im hoping this is a troll post, but if its not you need to really start investing your time into browsing this sub. A single house for personal use, is more of a personal investment than a financial one. The purpose is to give you and your family a stable place to live. In the long term you have the option to sell it and recoup a large portion of what you put into it. This could mean giving a head start to your kids or increasing your retirement fund. You should not look at a house as something you intend to flip and make a bunch of money on in a few years. 