> As a landlord [...]
> [...] opt to rent forever, which is not at all a bad thing since owning a primary residence is never an investment. (Although there is room for nuance here that I won't get into.)
I suspect you "won't get into" it because you know full well that you're the one who stands to benefit from that advice, at the expense of the vast majority of everyone else.
I mean this as kindly and respectfully as possible: landlords - you included - are a large part of the reason why there is a housing crisis here in the US (and, from what I gather, other "developed" countries). Y'all buy up housing as investments, acting in a literal-rentseeking capacity and offering no value beyond maybe maintenance that tenants themselves could be performing (whether directly or by hiring the same professionals you'd be hiring). People like you are the ones who exploited my father until the day he died, who continue to exploit the surviving members of his household, who continue to exploit myself, my friends, my coworkers, my neighbors, all for that nice cushy "passive income". People earning "at least twice as much as the median wage" are unable to escape the rent treadmill because of people like you keeping them on that treadmill in the first place - not to mention having the gall to suggest that being stuck on said treadmill is "not at all a bad thing".
Out of respect for Hanlon's razor, I'm going to assume that you genuinely lack the self-awareness to understand how your income derives from economic parasitism; the alternative interpretation - that you are indeed aware of the externalities you impose on the rest of us, and yet choose anyway to peddle advice that's patently to your benefit and to the recipient's detriment - is far less charitable.
You're welcome for all that rental income. You can properly thank me and every other American stuck subsidizing you and your fellow landlords by selling your rental properties to your tenants - at the prices you paid, minus what they've already paid back to you in rents.