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When your final mortgage payment occurs then the sense of freedom is immeasurable. This feeling is beyond dollars and cents so my recommendation is always to bu

When your final mortgage payment occurs then the sense of freedom is immeasurable. This feeling is beyond dollars and cents so my recommendation is always to buy and pay down your mortgage ASAP.

analog31 8y ago
That was our approach. Especially when rates are high, the imputed return on paying down a loan early can beat most other investments. That way, we can pour all our money into college tuition instead. ;-(
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  I've got the opposite "problem" right now -- I have a 30 year fixed mortgage at 3.375% (and since that house is rented out now I can deduct the paid interest against rental income). So basically there's no point whatsoever in paying it down early because there are much better uses of money.
snowwrestler 8y ago
I felt this way when my liquid assets exceeded my mortgage balance, a sort of "I could pay it off if I wanted to" feeling. But I have decided not to pay it off yet, because the return on keeping my capital in equities is much higher than my mortgage rate.
- sys_64738 8y ago
  If you owned you home free and clear then would you mortgage it to invest? That's what your statement suggests. I won't gamble with my primary residence as I don't want the risk or stress.
stevekemp 8y ago
Agreed. I'm not sure what things are like in America, but when I lived in the UK I paid off my mortgage earlier than expected by paying more than the minimum monthly mortgage payments. Once the mortgage was paid off I received the deeds to the property, and in this case it was a bundle of documents about an inch thick recording the details of the property and every single person who'd owned it since it was built in 1893 or so. The first few owners lived there for 10+ years each, then later you'd see a couple of long stretches where one family had it for 20 years, before it came to the 80s and it seemed to change hands every 1-3 years. The initial sale price was around £100, and it gradually jumped up to when I bought it for £97,500 and then sold it for £162,000. Fascinating reading, I wish I'd scanned the documents before I passed them back when I sold the place. The only time I've ever owned a property outright, though I'm getting close to having paid off a place here in Helsinki now so I'll be curious to see what I receive, if anything, when I've done so.

When your final mortgage payment occurs then the sense of freedom is immeasurable. This feeling is beyond dollars and cents so my recommendation is always to buy and pay down your mortgage ASAP.

analog31 8y ago

That was our approach. Especially when rates are high, the imputed return on paying down a loan early can beat most other investments. That way, we can pour all our money into college tuition instead. ;-(

CydeWeys 8y ago
I've got the opposite "problem" right now -- I have a 30 year fixed mortgage at 3.375% (and since that house is rented out now I can deduct the paid interest against rental income). So basically there's no point whatsoever in paying it down early because there are much better uses of money.

snowwrestler 8y ago

I felt this way when my liquid assets exceeded my mortgage balance, a sort of "I could pay it off if I wanted to" feeling. But I have decided not to pay it off yet, because the return on keeping my capital in equities is much higher than my mortgage rate.

sys_64738 8y ago
If you owned you home free and clear then would you mortgage it to invest? That's what your statement suggests. I won't gamble with my primary residence as I don't want the risk or stress.

stevekemp 8y ago

Agreed. I'm not sure what things are like in America, but when I lived in the UK I paid off my mortgage earlier than expected by paying more than the minimum monthly mortgage payments. Once the mortgage was paid off I received the deeds to the property, and in this case it was a bundle of documents about an inch thick recording the details of the property and every single person who'd owned it since it was built in 1893 or so. The first few owners lived there for 10+ years each, then later you'd see a couple of long stretches where one family had it for 20 years, before it came to the 80s and it seemed to change hands every 1-3 years. The initial sale price was around £100, and it gradually jumped up to when I bought it for £97,500 and then sold it for £162,000. Fascinating reading, I wish I'd scanned the documents before I passed them back when I sold the place. The only time I've ever owned a property outright, though I'm getting close to having paid off a place here in Helsinki now so I'll be curious to see what I receive, if anything, when I've done so.