I know a few people who have walked the tightrope between taking their equity out in advance and investing it wisely – and others who have spent it foolishly, paying extra interest every month, and ended up wondering what happened to all their good intentions when the house finally sold and they had to bring a check to closing.

Some have thought their “genius” at buying property which increased in value would mean even more luck in the stock market and didn’t do their homework when investing.

It takes a supreme amount of discipline to do what you have done – commendations for that. I just find it difficult to think of putting 28 years into a payment plan where the balance continues to ballooon instead of going down…. that said, I knew a guy who paid $32K for a really nice house on a hill in PB in 1962, and when he died in 2005 he owed that and much more!