Pay mortgage or invest in today's (Jun'19) market

[free2020]

I am 60, retired 12 years, have been 100% in stocks for decades, and never have trouble finding stocks to invest in that I consider undervalued.

That said, when I was 43 I paid off my mortgage early to celebrate reaching an important financial milestone. Although I would have come out ahead investing that money also, the joy of being debt-free outweighed it for me. Sometimes, you just have to splurge.

I'm also in your camp. Also 60 years old. I have been in 100% stocks for about 15 years now and have done well with it. But, unlike you, I do have a mortgage currently and have posted earlier on these pages that I'm in no hurry to pay off the mortgage. I don't see the need to own 100% of our home, now or until we die. We have not had luck with our home ownership (always lost money). Very comfortable letting the bank own most of our house while we live in it. Barring some extreme event, plan to be 100% in stocks. Even if we do modestly lesser with our portfolio, expect the mortgage to be a smaller piece of our net worth, especially if one of us lives a long time. We hope

 

[jmp470]

Pay off your debt.... then do as you please..

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

On a side story, in the mid 2000's we purchased a new car, and paid cash. Everyone at the dealership looked at us like we were crazy ...

Of course they did. You were cutting into their profit, so they tried to make you insecure about your decision. Old car dealership trick.

 

[jmp470]

Of course they did. You were cutting into their profit, so they tried to make you insecure about your decision. Old car dealership trick.

I have had a dealer ask me to use their 0% financing so they could get a kickback. They even reduced my car by a little bit. I took out the credit, made 4 payments, then paid it off.

Cash is king, negotiate. The worst they can say is no!

 

[dirtbiker]

I've found that cash is NOT king when buying cars, at least new ones, which is crazy! But, as has been said, they make money off of the financing (whether that be directly financed or kickbacks from banks), and will often offer you a better final price if you finance. Of course, if you pay for the entire term of the loan, you'll pay far more. But, if you've got the cash, you can always take the better sale price, get the financing, and just pay it off way early and come out ahead.

 

[corn18]

I've found that cash is NOT king when buying cars, at least new ones, which is crazy! But, as has been said, they make money off of the financing (whether that be directly financed or kickbacks from banks), and will often offer you a better final price if you finance. Of course, if you pay for the entire term of the loan, you'll pay far more. But, if you've got the cash, you can always take the better sale price, get the financing, and just pay it off way early and come out ahead.

This is what we are doing right now. We negotiated a cash price and then got an additional amount off if we financed. The salesman said I have to keep the loan for 3 months for them to keep the kickback, so I will pay 99% of the loan with the first payment (no prepayment penalty). Win for both of us.

 

[OldShooter]

... you can always take the better sale price, get the financing, and just pay it off way early and come out ahead.

Yes. This kind of deal caused me to take the second car loan of my life when I bought a Mazda RX-8 about ten years ago. $2500 price reduction if I financed with Mazda, so I did.

The F&I guy advised that I not pay off the loan until the car title was processed through the state and I received my copy. Apparently things get bollixed up if the lein changes while the title paper is still moving. So I waited and paid. It worked fine.