Congratulations! You've figured out how to get ahead.
Paying off that house was the 1st step.
If more people lived debt free, more people would achieve their financial goals.
Debt is a tool. It can be used for good (financing a home, a business, a college education, etc...)
Or it can be used for evil (financing a frivolous lifestyle where true wealth is never achieved...Thus forcing one into a never ending paycheck to paycheck despair)
The Corporate tax code unfortunately also favors debt over equity financing...But that is a whole other discussion.