I paid off our mortgage last week

[Amethyst]

Everybody is entitled to have opinions. Whether others pay attention is up to them!

Amethyst

T

Anyone who _plans_ to have a mortgage hanging around while retired is a bit foolish, in my opinion...

M

 

[JmfromTx]

I'm embarrassed to say I had to google Heloc but I totally understand the feeling you get when you get rid of the house note. I wrote my last check to Chase Manhattan in 2001 and it still feels good.

 

[nun]

IMHO this discussion is really about what you do with investment returns, double down or used them to pay down debt. In the market run up from 2008 to 2011 I took my gains and decided to pay off debt....ie the mortgage. With interest rates so low there are good arguments for keeping a mortgage, but the recent volatility of the market makes me glad that I took profits when they were available and used them to become mortgage free.

 

[youbet]

IMHO this discussion is really about what you do with investment returns, double down or used them to pay down debt.

Those may have been the two options you visioned, but there are many more considerations beyond either using investment returns to double down or to pay down debt.

 

[nun]

Those may have been the two options you visioned, but there are many more considerations beyond either using investment returns to double down or to pay down debt.

You could by a BMW I suppose

 

[samclem]

Anyone who _plans_ to have a mortgage hanging around while retired is a bit foolish, in my opinion...

Call me a bit foolish. Seems like a good bet to me. I'll have a mortgage at a fixed, historically very low interest rate. It's cheap money, invested prudently. This is among the most conservative options available to allow a retiree to hedge (a little) against increases in inflation.

 

[ripper1]

Call me a bit foolish. Seems like a good bet to me. I'll have a mortgage at a fixed, historically very low interest rate. It's cheap money, invested prudently. This is among the most conservative options available to allow a retiree to hedge (a little) against increases in inflation.

+1.....Well said. To me the bank is in trouble. I have their money.

 

[Nords]

I know I am going to get beat up for this one. Everybody's situation is different. I busted my butt to pay off our last house and never really had any extra money. Ended up taking out a HELOC to pay for kids education. So ended up paying interest on the money I used to pay off the house. In my new house I just put down 20% and kept the rest for investments and cash. I rather have access to my cash than be tied up in the walls of the house. Like I said everybody is different. My pension easily handles the mortgage. Your house is only a place to live and not an investment.

Hey, I'm on the "keep the mortgage" team too.
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...gage-without-losing-your-ass-ets-15237-2.html