I lost sight of your message and got off track a bit. My fault. We're in agreement that it's close to a wash. It doesn't bother me if others put undue importance on getting rid of debt when the numbers show it's not a big thing. I'm bowing out.
Thanks for the acknowledgment - sorry if I came on too strong with the response, but I try hard to remain neutral on this. All I try to do is encourage people to check the numbers for themselves.
The first step is realizing that there are two equally valid approaches to financial decisions: emotional and logical. The two camps don't appear to be able to tolerate, let alone appreciate, each other's perspective.
That is often is the case, but all I can say is - I am well aware of the differences (being analytical myself, and married to a non-analytical type). So it does not mean one cannot understand/appreciate the other, it takes work, and that is what I'm trying do with all this silly typing I do on the subject.
So when an emotional type makes a decision which seems contrary to a rational view,
there is usually *something* behind that emotional response. That is what I'm searching for. Generally, these people are not stupid, they are not incapable of understanding the rational view, they may not be ignorant of the data - it is just that the *something* that drives them emotionally is *stronger* (for them) than the rational drivers. An example:
My wife is very afraid of flying. Of course I repeat the statistics, of course I tell her she has more to fear from our drive to/from the airport than the flight. Yet, she is white-knuckled and a wreck on the rare flights I can get her on. She isn't stupid, nor ignorant of the facts, and she can understand the significance of the stats. But she is still afraid.
Why? I think it's pretty simple.
She is 8 miles up in a machine with only air between her and the ground. Machines break. If this one breaks in a serious way, she dies. She doesn't know the pilot, or the mechanics, or the history of the plane, or what that funny noise means, or is that normal routine turbulence, or is that "tear off a wing" turbulence? It's friggin' scary to her. Regardless of the numbers.
OK, so cars are more dangerous statistically. But, she has ridden and driven in cars her whole life. She has been conditioned, she has some control, she has some history, she knows what noises her car makes and that when her car makes a funny noise to pull over and call me. She can't do that in a plane. Even if something bad happens in a car, she knows it usually ends without much drama.
So her fear does not make sense by the numbers, but analytical me still understands it, and I do what I can to comfort her on a flight. I think I "get it".
So people keep repeating that they feel so great w/o debt - but their reasons seem to based on economics (lower cash flow requirement, avoid interest payments). So when presented with other economic data, why not consider it? But so many seem to want to ignore it, in favor of....what? That's what I am so curious about.
OK, so you could say "fear of the unknown" (basically my wife's fear of flying). But most of these people invest in stocks and realize that a 100% fixed investment is not "risk free". I can understand no debt and 100% fixed income - even though I don't agree with the approach.
So I just don't get why so many people feel
so strongly about paying down a mortgage. I can appreciate doing it or not doing it, that is personal preference. But I can't understand
feeling strongly one way or the other. What is the
strong emotional driver that overcomes the numbers that usually say "no big deal"?
-ERD50