When I boil it down I owe it all to one 3 hour seminar I attended in Sydney, Australia back in 2000.At the time I was studying Marketing & Economics and wasn’t really to sure what I wanted to do “when I grew up”.

While they do a great job minimizing risks, if we see some sort of catastrophe where their clients stop paying their loans - think of the mortgage crisis of 2008, or is there is a breach, your Bitcoin as it would be in my case, is gone.

I've taken a multi family property course on Udemy as well as real estate economics as one of my college level courses for my license.

(There is such a thing as HELOC's on investment properties, but they're rare and I haven't seen any handed out since the financial crisis in 2008. 

I will say that our management company hasn’t seen a dip in rents, vacancy, or economic vacancy, but our target area isn’t the metro.  

There are very few economic indicators that always hold true.

In Metro Phoenix, especially, we continue to attract economic expansion, which boosts our economy and draws new residents at the rate of 200 per day.

Public and private economic development5.

A degree in finance, economics or business administration translates very well to a career in real estate. 

I am in the max savings camp with @Chris S.It sounds like you are a bit more optimistic than I am on the overall economic trends in AK.