I've Never Had A Mortgage

The rest of my family has owned real estate. My family on my mother's side was in real estate in a big way in Queensland, Australia.
As a kid, I saved about $2,000 by eighth grade and invested them with a friend who was making whopping returns, something like 30% per year.
Then Paul Volcker took over the Federal Reserve and raised interest rates up to 21% and the real estate market died, along with inflation.
I finally got paid. It was late and it was less than I expected but it was better than nothing.
I remembered my lesson and never invested in such schemes again.
By age 21, I had saved about $25,000 from working construction, mainly landscaping, while going to Sierra Community College and working weekends at KAHI/KHYL radio in Sacramento.
Then I went to UCLA for a year. I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My savings disappeared.
I had another chance to invest. I sold my website lukeford.net in August 2001 for $25,000.
"That's enough money for a down payment on a condo," one female friend told me.
I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking it was enough money for me to live and research a book on Hollywood movie producers and try to launch a new life.
Again I missed my chance to buy real estate.
I've been dedicated to making my life as a writer since the end of 1995. I've often thought that if I bought a house, it could get taken away from me in a libel suit.
I'm now 43. I've never owned real estate. I have no mortgage. I'm not looking to refinance. I just write a blog about.