[quote=cvmom]Ninaprincess, I think you are smart. I just went through a job scare (they laid me off, but hired me back within a couple of weeks) and the fact that we live in a small-but-paid-off house allowed me to sleep at night during that difficult period. I am nearing 50, and definitely feel that I am no longer as marketable as I once was.
Don’t buy into this culture’s mantra of over-leveraging to buy a bunch of stuff you don’t really need!![/quote]
This!
Sure you lose the tax advantage. But you also aren’t paying interest… which is really improving your long term bottom line.
Middle aged workers (like me) are definitely more disposable in this current job climate. The mantra seems to be to lay off senior folks and hire fresh grads with no experience or outsource/offshore/inshore for lower cost. And the older you are – the harder it seems to get the next gig. The fact that my mortgage retirement is in site gives me comfort for the same reasons cvmom mentioned.
