[krschultz]

You can get a mortgage on a physical residence but not a fund. You can buy insurance on a physical place but not a fund.

[aianus]

You can certainly get a "mortgage" on a stock portfolio. It's called trading on margin and the interest rates are even better.

But it's true you can't get quite as much leverage and the dividends and capital gains are not tax deductible like they are for your primary residence.