Walk away from $1 million a year?

[Anonymous]

My mom passed away from cancer this year at the age of 61.

Just sayin'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

I mean, I'd probably pay off the house. I know its not necessary but just a mental thing before quitting work. But obviously you can easily do what you are proposing.

I'd work one more year, pay off the house, get everything in order, then walk away.

Another miserable year, another million dollars that's taxed to death and ends up being a lot less. Then you pay off the house and have no mortgage but your overall net worth doesn't change. You just have more of it invested in your house and not generating any income. So your portfolio generates less money but you have no mortgage.

Isn't that six of one, half dozen of the other, except you've lost another year?

You do not understand net worth, my friend.

You beat me to it. God help us all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

I mean, I'd probably pay off the house. I know its not necessary but just a mental thing before quitting work. But obviously you can easily do what you are proposing.

I'd work one more year, pay off the house, get everything in order, then walk away.

Another miserable year, another million dollars that's taxed to death and ends up being a lot less. Then you pay off the house and have no mortgage but your overall net worth doesn't change. You just have more of it invested in your house and not generating any income. So your portfolio generates less money but you have no mortgage.

Isn't that six of one, half dozen of the other, except you've lost another year?

You do not understand net worth, my friend.

Sure I do. It's gross assets minus liabilities. If you have, say, $5 million in stocks/bonds and a house worth $1 million but with a $500k mortgage, then your net worth is $5.5 million. If you take $500k from the stocks/bonds and pay off the mortgage you now have $4.5 million in stocks/bonds and $1 million in your house -- $5.5 million again. No difference.

[Anonymous]

I personally would work and pay off the mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom passed away from cancer this year at the age of 61.

Just sayin'

+1. And so sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous]

OP here. As others have suggested, I actually could pay off the mortgage today -- I wouldn't have to keep working to do that -- but I'm not sure I want so much of my net worth tied into my house.

[Anonymous]

I would walk away. Because that would be enough for me, but even if not, aren't you presenting a false choice here: stay in miserable $1 million job or retire now? You have a job that pays you $1 million a year -- someone thinks your skills/knowhow are pretty valuable. Can't you switch to a different job or work part-time or consult? You need not assume zero income if you leave this job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

I mean, I'd probably pay off the house. I know its not necessary but just a mental thing before quitting work. But obviously you can easily do what you are proposing.

I'd work one more year, pay off the house, get everything in order, then walk away.

Another miserable year, another million dollars that's taxed to death and ends up being a lot less. Then you pay off the house and have no mortgage but your overall net worth doesn't change. You just have more of it invested in your house and not generating any income. So your portfolio generates less money but you have no mortgage.

Isn't that six of one, half dozen of the other, except you've lost another year?

You do not understand net worth, my friend.

Sure I do. It's gross assets minus liabilities. If you have, say, $5 million in stocks/bonds and a house worth $1 million but with a $500k mortgage, then your net worth is $5.5 million. If you take $500k from the stocks/bonds and pay off the mortgage you now have $4.5 million in stocks/bonds and $1 million in your house -- $5.5 million again. No difference.

Then you don’t understand math?
The money doesn’t come out of investments if you work another year - that’s what the poster was saying. Work another year and pay the house off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As others have suggested, I actually could pay off the mortgage today -- I wouldn't have to keep working to do that -- but I'm not sure I want so much of my net worth tied into my house.

Whether you pay it off or not is totally up to you. If you can live off of $200k happily with your current mortgage as is, there is no reason not to retire if that is what you want.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would for two reasons. Firstly, a decade in a job you hate would feel like a lifetime. There would be a huge cost in terms of happiness and emotional wellbeing. Secondly, even if you are in great condition for your age now, there are no guarantees you would be around or in the condition to be able to enjoy it. The value of money only comes from what it can buy. If there is nothing you want to do with the extra money then it's not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

I mean, I'd probably pay off the house. I know its not necessary but just a mental thing before quitting work. But obviously you can easily do what you are proposing.

I'd work one more year, pay off the house, get everything in order, then walk away.

Another miserable year, another million dollars that's taxed to death and ends up being a lot less. Then you pay off the house and have no mortgage but your overall net worth doesn't change. You just have more of it invested in your house and not generating any income. So your portfolio generates less money but you have no mortgage.

Isn't that six of one, half dozen of the other, except you've lost another year?

You do not understand net worth, my friend.

Sure I do. It's gross assets minus liabilities. If you have, say, $5 million in stocks/bonds and a house worth $1 million but with a $500k mortgage, then your net worth is $5.5 million. If you take $500k from the stocks/bonds and pay off the mortgage you now have $4.5 million in stocks/bonds and $1 million in your house -- $5.5 million again. No difference.

Then you don’t understand math?
The money doesn’t come out of investments if you work another year - that’s what the poster was saying. Work another year and pay the house off.

OP here. Why separate things like that? It's all one big pot. What you're basically saying is work another year and increase your net worth. Ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As others have suggested, I actually could pay off the mortgage today -- I wouldn't have to keep working to do that -- but I'm not sure I want so much of my net worth tied into my house.

Whether you pay it off or not is totally up to you. If you can live off of $200k happily with your current mortgage as is, there is no reason not to retire if that is what you want.

Yes, we figured that if you have a portfolio that could generate $200,000/year, it would be enough to pay off the house. Faced with this situation, though, I'd want to go into retirement with no debt, so I'd work long enough to pay off the house, so you wouldn't be required to liquidate any investments to do so. If your mortgage is $2000/month, that shouldn't even take a year. Then, it would literally be a day-by-day decision - work or retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would walk away. Because that would be enough for me, but even if not, aren't you presenting a false choice here: stay in miserable $1 million job or retire now? You have a job that pays you $1 million a year -- someone thinks your skills/knowhow are pretty valuable. Can't you switch to a different job or work part-time or consult? You need not assume zero income if you leave this job.

I hear you. But in my case it's not a false choice. I'm a lawyer. I wouldn't do anything else. Neither interested nor qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I should add that all the kids are out of college and married. We have a mortgage of about 2k a month and no other debt.

I mean, I'd probably pay off the house. I know its not necessary but just a mental thing before quitting work. But obviously you can easily do what you are proposing.

I'd work one more year, pay off the house, get everything in order, then walk away.

Another miserable year, another million dollars that's taxed to death and ends up being a lot less. Then you pay off the house and have no mortgage but your overall net worth doesn't change. You just have more of it invested in your house and not generating any income. So your portfolio generates less money but you have no mortgage.

Isn't that six of one, half dozen of the other, except you've lost another year?

You do not understand net worth, my friend.

Sure I do. It's gross assets minus liabilities. If you have, say, $5 million in stocks/bonds and a house worth $1 million but with a $500k mortgage, then your net worth is $5.5 million. If you take $500k from the stocks/bonds and pay off the mortgage you now have $4.5 million in stocks/bonds and $1 million in your house -- $5.5 million again. No difference.

No, because he's working another year and paying off the house with that money. You said "six of one, half a dozen of the other, except you've lost another year" which indicates that you do not realize that working another year and making another million dollars, whether it goes into stocks or to pay off debt, will in fact improve OP's net worth. There is a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As others have suggested, I actually could pay off the mortgage today -- I wouldn't have to keep working to do that -- but I'm not sure I want so much of my net worth tied into my house.

Whether you pay it off or not is totally up to you. If you can live off of $200k happily with your current mortgage as is, there is no reason not to retire if that is what you want.

Yes, we figured that if you have a portfolio that could generate $200,000/year, it would be enough to pay off the house. Faced with this situation, though, I'd want to go into retirement with no debt, so I'd work long enough to pay off the house, so you wouldn't be required to liquidate any investments to do so. If your mortgage is $2000/month, that shouldn't even take a year. Then, it would literally be a day-by-day decision - work or retire.

Yes. Why have any debt at all? I wouldn’t want debt in retirement.