40% of those over 65 yrs old have a mortgage

[RunningBum]

I was surprised when my over 70 neighbor told me they were refinancing their house, and I know they lease their luxury cars. Then it occurred to me that he was a VP and a lifer at a solid megacorp, and must have a great pension. I also know they've set up trusts for grand kids and it sounds like they will leave plenty behind. Unless pensions go away for people like this, I don't see a problem with a mortgage. Even without a pension it's still just a choice of whether you want to leverage your house to invest more. I prefer not to, but neither way is outright wrong.

 

[Indigo Mule]

The payment on my mortgage is similar to a SFH rental payment in my part of the SF Bay Area. Unlike rent, the payment is fixed (and I am safe from eviction). Not all of us bought a house in our youth, to be able to pay off the mortgage before EARLY retirement. And some of us are at the "saving" side of the balance but far from the "scrimping" extreme that would have been required to pay off a ten-year mortgage.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Some early retirees might want to take out a mortgage to increase after tax cash money pre65+ to qualify for ACA subsidies of $15K or whatever each year or maybe financial aid for college which could be worth up to $50K at an expensive school. Personally, we would always run the numbers with spreadsheets and do hours and hours of analysis to see which way we came out ahead. I have no emotional feelings towards a mortgage or not. We focus on maximizing our net worth, minimizing our taxes, maximizing tax credits and financial aid for the kids.

There are also asset protection laws to consider as well. In some states it might be more prudent to have a mortgage if there are no asset protection laws and in others personal residences are highly protected. There are many variables we would always consider and do a detailed spreadsheet analysis on before making any mortgage or not decision.