In order to protect your investments, it is best advised for you to not save into any other investments especially in the real estate, if you are into a home loan repayment. A prudent investor is the one who invest into realty only after he has become debt-free.
The reason is because, in this crucial time of the markets; both job and money markets, it is extremely risky to invest into the realty sector. But, it is not necessary for you to stop investing into Mutual funds or PPFs etc. Do continue investing in those assets as they can guarantee you a debt free future. If you have a possibility of liquidating your short term assets like a Fixed Deposit or even gold, consider that so that your loan amount can be prepaid or reduced to an extent in order to cut off the burden on your salary in the form of EMIs.
It is best advised for the highest earning member of the family, to take a life insurance cover or even consider taking a cover for the home loan amount. In drastic situations, this insurance cover can help your family where in the loan amount will be taken care of and they are even benefited with the house.
Consider exhausting the maximum level of Rs70,00 per annum, by investing in the PPFs, since they are proved to provide risk free returns. Also, invest more into ETFs than buying physical gold. For your long term needs, you can pick a combination of asset classes that have higher equity exposure. Choose four-five funds including multi-caps, large-caps, mid-caps and balanced funds.