To pay off my home mortgage, I would have to liquidate tax deferred investments, causing a taxable distribution and corresponding tax bill at an incremental State and Federal tax rate of 39 cents on the last dollar.

I'm unwilling to reduce my investments by the amount of the mortgage payoff + the tax payoff, simply to say I'm debt free. The emotional pain of giving up the earnings on the lost tax deferred principal far exceeds the emotional pain of the loan cost over the
long term. My pretax portfolio return last year was 6.8% vs a mortgage rate of 4.11%. All things equal, this 2.7% margin is huge over 30 years in my portfolio. Consequently, I am in the "carry the loan" camp and I agree with ERD50. Do I like the debt...no, but it has become a necessary evil and I have ample fixed income with which to service it.