> Here's a simple personal finance question that seems very hard to answer: should you overpay your mortgage, or put more money towards retirement? it's certai

> Here's a simple personal finance question that seems very hard to answer: should you overpay your mortgage, or put more money towards retirement? it's certainly subtle, and depends quite a bit on a person's circumstances. i feel like i've seen the financial forums answer that fairly well, though, when folks describe their personal situation (and risk tolerance!). > It might be impossible to answer well but I feel someone should turn it into an optimization problem (in the engineering sense). i think it might be hard to turn it into a concrete one (most of your effort would go into accurately estimating the user's current risk tolerance, and their expectations for future interest rates and cash flows), but it would be nice to see a rough flow chart produced, so that people could be walked through the steps that need to be considered.