It helps if you can live somewhere where (a) buying your own home is achievable without giant cost (this is still do-able many places if you ignore posh areas)

It helps if you can live somewhere where (a) buying your own home is achievable without giant cost (this is still do-able many places if you ignore posh areas) (b) amenities e:g decent shops, schools etc are walkable , work is remote or cycling distance or reachable by half decent public transport, and living without a car for some time is feasible. This enables you to overpay a mortgage once you have one, and/or be resilient to loss of income due to layoff , or increase in costs. Or continue to run a car but know its not the end of the world if it breaks or you have to go without one for a while. All the above are of course much easier to achieve in UK or Europe than much of USA though I dare say .....