At what age should your mortgage be paid off?

[Anonymous]

We've chosen to live below our means and pay it off quickly. Hopefully next year. We are not HHI in this area by any means.

My husband is in finance and we fully understand the argument on mortgage vs interest deduction... but for us the peace of mind of having it paid off and having that $$ to invest elsewhere is worth it, especially in our personal tax situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One major reason to have a mortgage is to write off the interest. As long as you have income against which you can deduct the interest, it makes sense to have a mortgage, as long as the interest rate is low.

Or, pay off the mortgage - be debt-free. Take the money you would have paid for interest and donate to charity and deduct the charity payments on your tax return.

Or invest it and actually make money off of it.

[Anonymous]

I used to be obsessed with paying off the mortgage. We had a 20-year loan and didn't have a lot of extra $$. I'm not so stressed anymore. We're moving into a slightly bigger house and will start anew with a 30-year mortgage. But we really only plan on living there until the kids head off to college (in 13 years). Then we'll sell it and downsize, most likely with the ability to pay cash for a smaller place. As it is, we're rolling $400k of equity into a new house and would expect home values to increase in the next 13 years.

[Anonymous]

before your income is reduced to the point where you can not make the payments.