Should I Being Using iCloud for Document/File Storage Vs. My Mac Desktop?

Hello. Would be remise if I didn’t first mention how much I’ve benefited from you posts. Thank you.
My situation deals with iCloud vs. Documents for where to place my Word and Excel docs. I purchased an iPad to use for work in tandem with my Mac. When I needed remote access to files/docs I was told to save on my Mac. But, this did not give me access thru my iPad. While the majority of my work is now on Mac due to working from home, I would still like to have access thru my iPad for convenience in the future. So question is, should I move my document folders to iCloud (and then how to do it)? Also, should there be any concern of losing these docs if they’re on the cloud? My current system of saving Word docs is probably clugy vs. what I should be doing. I save to the desktop…then drag to the correct folder. Often a message window comes up with something about it was saved in iCloud and will not be available of something to that effect. Would appreciate your guidance. Thanks. Take care and stay safe. Jeff
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Jeff