School A, the Dave Ramsey side, for example, is HUGE on the idea of paying off your house at light speed then exploding your investments because you no longer have a rent or mortgage and can just go hog wild investing with that cash.

My issue with this approach is that one thing is certain, you will get old and want to retire. You need X income to comfortably retire and not feel like you are living in poverty. Failure to fund retirement (what if you cannot maintain a high income job towards the end of your working years? Or your income doesnt allow you to pay it off in 10 and it instead takes 15-20?) means you cannot comfortably retire.

On the other hand home ownership is not an absolute necessity in retirement, you have the option of renting even if it is less favourable. With retirement sorted, you will always have secure housing available with the cash you have on hand even if it is rented.

I feel more comfortable having $500k in a retirement fund growing knowing that when retirement comes I have enough money to fund both life and living, than $500k in a house sitting there doing nothing other than giving me a roof over my head. Scrambling to save for retirement in your latter working years seems like the bigger risk here considering you never know how long you will be able to work at any given income.