should I pay off mortgage with extra $

[FANOFJESUS]

Good wrichards58 another way you can look at it is a CD that pays 4.87%. Now where can you find that nowadays?

 

[Alan]

Just to let everyone know that we paid off our mortgage and our equity loan...we have no debt not even credit cards at the age of 58 and three years to retire, it feels good. Thanks for all your response.

Congratulations

 

[wrichards58]

besides paying off our house we sold our 44 foot sailboat yesterday. I have maxed out our 403b and roth.... where should I put the extra $100,000. Just in a reg. account ? we have our roth with vanguard should I go with vanguard or another brother? thanks

 

[Alan]

besides paying off our house we sold our 44 foot sailboat yesterday. I have maxed out our 403b and roth.... where should I put the extra $100,000. Just in a reg. account ? we have our roth with vanguard should I go with vanguard or another brother? thanks

Congratulations again.

I expect there will be plenty of advice coming as to where to put that $100k.

If you already have a VG account and relationship with them then that is as good a place as any.

Since you are retiring in 3 years, do you need access to that money to begin funding your retirement?

If so, here is one idea.

You could put $20k in I-Bonds now and another $20k in January. (Limit is $10k/person/year). You could park the rest in a short-term bond fund and/or CD's, then put another $20k in I-Bonds in Jan, 2014 and Jan 2015. In 2016 after retiring you can use the remainder towards your expenses and by October 2017 you can start drawing down the I-Bonds without loss of interest.

 

[foxfirev5]

I come from the pay it off and retire with no debt camp. However you do need a cash cushion as well. I would probably accelerate my payments with additional principle to meet my target retirement date.
As far refi goes that's not always as easy as you would think. As loose as the banks were several years ago they've now swung to a much more conservative position. I know several people who have been trying to refi but are getting rediculous appraisals even with comp sales in the neighborhood to support their valuation. But don't get me started on the whole fed interest rate/ bank rate scam.

 

[wrichards58]

where do I learn about I- Bonds

 

[JoeWras]

where do I learn about I- Bonds

From the horse's (Treasury Direct) mouth:

Individual - I Savings Bonds In Depth

Just be sure to look on the left for a list of topics you can dig into. Their web design is, uh, a bit lacking IMHO.

 

[Alan]

Once set up with your bank details, buying & selling is very easy.

If you do buy bonds you can enter the details in a Savings Bond Wizard that you can download. With the wizard you don't need to log on to see the value of your bonds as it runs on your PC. Every 6 months you update it with the current rates.

Individual - Savings Bond Wizard