Happiness is a state of mind. If you believe that eliminating the mortgage and being completely debt free will bring you happiness, then do it. Whether it makes the most sense financially is almost irrelevant. Some of the folks recommending against it own a $50,000 auto when a $15,000 one will do fine - because it brings them happiness.
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Yes, but I guess what makes me scratch my head about this, is that it seems to me that most of the reasons that people give for why no mortgage makes them feel good are based on false premises.
It doesn't mean you can never lose your home, in many cases it's the exact opposite. The liquidity will pay years and years of not only the mortgage, but property tax, utilities, maintenance, etc. It isn't time consuming to pay the bill each month, just use auto-pay/deduct.
And while I won't buy an expensive car, it's a hobby for some. I have hobbies that I spend money on that others would not understand. I'm a little pressed to see a mortgage payoff on the same level as a hobby that someone enjoys.
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Paying down/off a debt is never a bad thing to do. ...
Never say never. Even on this forum, I recall at least one person who took their liquidity down to very low levels for that 'good feeling' of not having a mortgage. They were one mini-crisis away from being stuck in a bad situation.
... Payoff of the mortgage is a guaranteed return on investment. Others may try to say otherwise, but having the mortgage is no different than borrowing against an asset to use the funds for something else.
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While that might be true, it's not really very meaningful. It takes a bit to explain, and I've typed (more than) enough on this subject, so I'll leave it at that.
... We paid off our mortgage 8 years ago and life has been stress free ever since. . ...
And my mortgage has been stress free for me. And I've made a lot of money, and accepted the risk that I might lose a little, not enough to get stressed about.
... Cash flow increased significantly and investment/savings was turbocharged going forward. The payoff amount was built up in savings again in a relatively short time afterwards. ...
This strikes me as a really twisted rationalization! One that I've heard before. So you are saying (I'll use real numbers for simplicity),
"Hey, after I depleted my savings by $100,000, I was able to rebuild it since I no longer was paying ~ $10,000 a year in mortgage payments, so in about 10 years (not counting market returns and inflation), I'll be back where I was - yeah!"
Really, you can save faster now, but you had to give up $100,000
from savings to do it? That's a good thing? You don't see the contradiction in that?
If you (and your spouse) believe it's right for you, then you should do it.
Certainly. But isn't it best to make an informed decision?
-ERD50