Best long-term planning — what would you do? [v4]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019.

This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks. There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019. Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing.