I’ve been reading this thread with interest. I think part of the differences expressed are because of different ages and stages of life.
I’m hoping to be mortgage free this time next year.
That’s concurrant with my husband retiring.
And I’m hoping, if the market doesn’t tank, to join him in retirement pretty quickly.
As AN said – it’s about cash flow – and our retirement budget works very nicely withOUT a mortgage payment. We need a much larger nest egg if we continue our mortgage. His birthday present next year is the lump sum payoff… But it will be less than $50k at that point.
Trust me – I’ve run every budget scenario past every retirement calculator I can find… It helps that the balance is low following years of dilligent extra principal payments.
We’ve managed to save, including paying down the mortgage, by spending far less than we earned. And this is through unemployment and underemployment during the recession. (Hubby’s an architect and was out of a job for 8 months when the economy imploded.) I think that’s the most effective way to achieve financial independance… spend less, invest more.
For us – paying off our mortgage was not an either/or to investing in other areas. We still maxed our 401ks, funded 529’s, and saved in taxable accounts. AND made extra principal payments. But we don’t eat out a lot, we do our own labor (housework, lawn work, etc.) We borrow books from the library rather than buying them… It’s amazing how much you can save that way.
