Saving for college vs paying off house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I come from very different money backgrounds. My family has always had stocks and invested. His has always paid off their house (and didn't pay for college)

Every time I want to put more money into investments, we have a big discussion. He ALWAYS wants to put the money into our mortgage instead. Last night he was upset he learned I had been putting 4k in DD's 529 plan. He thought that 4k a year would be better put to our mortgage and then if we wanted to help her with college, our mortgage would be gone and we could help her more.

FWIW our mortgage isn't THAT much (300k at 4%) and our salaries aren't high (180k) so we do have to make smart decisions about money. Is there something we could read or get information on what to do? I don't mind having a mortgage forever and he wants it to be our primary focus. We have 150k that I wanted to buy a rental property with, but he can't get over our huge mortgage balance and wants it paid off instead. I'm just sick of having the same discussion about paying off the mortgage over and over again.

Reality check: at 180k, your HHI is close to 4x the national median and roughly 2.5x the DC median. Your salaries are high by definition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I come from very different money backgrounds. My family has always had stocks and invested. His has always paid off their house (and didn't pay for college)

Every time I want to put more money into investments, we have a big discussion. He ALWAYS wants to put the money into our mortgage instead. Last night he was upset he learned I had been putting 4k in DD's 529 plan. He thought that 4k a year would be better put to our mortgage and then if we wanted to help her with college, our mortgage would be gone and we could help her more.

FWIW our mortgage isn't THAT much (300k at 4%) and our salaries aren't high (180k) so we do have to make smart decisions about money. Is there something we could read or get information on what to do? I don't mind having a mortgage forever and he wants it to be our primary focus. We have 150k that I wanted to buy a rental property with, but he can't get over our huge mortgage balance and wants it paid off instead. I'm just sick of having the same discussion about paying off the mortgage over and over again.

Reality check: at 180k, your HHI is close to 4x the national median and roughly 2.5x the DC median. Your salaries are high by definition.

OP here. It was sort of sarcasm because there's several threads about 300k being poor on DCUM. We know we have good salaries. Salary is sort of relevant to this thread, so that's why I posted it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

That's great. ...I think most people here will have a paid off house in retirement. That's not making the case for paying the house off in your 20's though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

Don't the vast majority of people have their house paid off by retirement? I come from humble stock and nearly everyone has paid it off by then, even if it's just a 70k house in rural America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

That's great. ...I think most people here will have a paid off house in retirement. That's not making the case for paying the house off in your 20's though.

Perhaps not for you, which is fine. For us, it was a game changer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

That's great. ...I think most people here will have a paid off house in retirement. That's not making the case for paying the house off in your 20's though.

Perhaps not for you, which is fine. For us, it was a game changer.

What do you do now that your house is paid off? The mortgage interest deduction is a big one for us too. If that was eliminated we would definitely be throwing money into our mortgage. As soon as we made too much money for the student loan deduction we paid those off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

Don't the vast majority of people have their house paid off by retirement? I come from humble stock and nearly everyone has paid it off by then, even if it's just a 70k house in rural America.

Not necessarily. See here: http://www.money-zine.com/financial-planning/retirement/retiring-with-a-mortgage/

Roughly half of homes with heads of households 55-64 still have mortgages. And close to 2/5ths of homes with HOHs 65-74 still do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay off the house! You never know what it coming. Your child may get scholarship, decide to go a different route than college. Once the house is paid off you will be amazed at how much easier it is to enjoy life. Plus, stock market investing is a bad idea right now. Market is overinflated and bound to correct.

+1. We're in our 30s and paid it off in our 20s. No regrets. We're still saving for college, but our retirement is essentially covered by a paid off house.

...what kind of house do you live in that your retirement is covered by a paid off house and you're in your 30's?

I mean that if necessary, we could pay our property taxes,utilities, and food via social security if we didn't have any savings or income beyond our house. It wouldn't be the fanciest retirement, but if necessary, it would work. The only house it takes to make this work is one that's a.) paid off and b.) has manageable property taxes. This is essentially the main retirement strategy around the globe (owning your home), along with being cared for by family.

That's great. ...I think most people here will have a paid off house in retirement. That's not making the case for paying the house off in your 20's though.

Perhaps not for you, which is fine. For us, it was a game changer.

What do you do now that your house is paid off? The mortgage interest deduction is a big one for us too. If that was eliminated we would definitely be throwing money into our mortgage. As soon as we made too much money for the student loan deduction we paid those off.

We upped our charitable donations (remembering that compared to the rest of the world, we're all 1%ers here) and throw the rest into investments, from which our retirement funds and kids' college funds will come from someday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I come from very different money backgrounds. My family has always had stocks and invested. His has always paid off their house (and didn't pay for college)

Every time I want to put more money into investments, we have a big discussion. He ALWAYS wants to put the money into our mortgage instead. Last night he was upset he learned I had been putting 4k in DD's 529 plan. He thought that 4k a year would be better put to our mortgage and then if we wanted to help her with college, our mortgage would be gone and we could help her more.

FWIW our mortgage isn't THAT much (300k at 4%) and our salaries aren't high (180k) so we do have to make smart decisions about money. Is there something we could read or get information on what to do? I don't mind having a mortgage forever and he wants it to be our primary focus. We have 150k that I wanted to buy a rental property with, but he can't get over our huge mortgage balance and wants it paid off instead. I'm just sick of having the same discussion about paying off the mortgage over and over again.

Reality check: at 180k, your HHI is close to 4x the national median and roughly 2.5x the DC median. Your salaries are high by definition.

OP here. It was sort of sarcasm because there's several threads about 300k being poor on DCUM. We know we have good salaries. Salary is sort of relevant to this thread, so that's why I posted it.

Gotcha. But yeah, we're risk averse (and the PPs who paid off our house in our 20s), so I'd vote knocking out the mortgage. Yes, you'd get more if it were in the market, but there's not a single person out there who lives solely for money. No one's working 18 hours a day 365 days a year in the highest paying job s/he could possibly find while spending nothing but the money necessary for basic sustenance. We all do things that reduce our finances to increase our perceived quality of life. Paying off the mortgage earlier (much earlier) for the peace of mind of a virtually foolproof retirement plan was more than worth whatever % we could have gotten if we'd kept it all in the market. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope your husband can consider the possibility that his strategy might not be the best one for wealth accumulation.

Perhaps print this article below and see if he'll read it? I find Ric Edelman to be very sensible.

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/education-center/articles/1/11-great-reasons-to-carry-a-big-long-mortgage

OP here. I just read through that and it was very interesting.

A point my dh keeps coming back to is that over the course of a 30 year mortgage he will pay 300k in interest. That number is what bothers him the most. He doesn't think that he can get 300k in investment over 30 years (I think we can).

Most of these PPs are lunatics. Do you all like just giving your money away to the government when you don't have to? The tax benefits of the mortgage interest deduction and 529 plans aren't nothing. Paying off your mortgage for "peace of mind" when you're perfectly able to otherwise pay it monthly is just stupid. Why don't you point out to your husband how many 100s of thousands of dollars he'll be LOSING in interest if he doesn't stick some money in the 529s. Someone pointed out that your husband doesn't like carrying a lot of debt. I think it's pretty sh*tty that he'd prefer to just saddle your kids with it instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope your husband can consider the possibility that his strategy might not be the best one for wealth accumulation.

Perhaps print this article below and see if he'll read it? I find Ric Edelman to be very sensible.

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/education-center/articles/1/11-great-reasons-to-carry-a-big-long-mortgage

OP here. I just read through that and it was very interesting.

A point my dh keeps coming back to is that over the course of a 30 year mortgage he will pay 300k in interest. That number is what bothers him the most. He doesn't think that he can get 300k in investment over 30 years (I think we can).

Most of these PPs are lunatics. Do you all like just giving your money away to the government when you don't have to? The tax benefits of the mortgage interest deduction and 529 plans aren't nothing. Paying off your mortgage for "peace of mind" when you're perfectly able to otherwise pay it monthly is just stupid. Why don't you point out to your husband how many 100s of thousands of dollars he'll be LOSING in interest if he doesn't stick some money in the 529s. Someone pointed out that your husband doesn't like carrying a lot of debt. I think it's pretty sh*tty that he'd prefer to just saddle your kids with it instead.

There's really not that much tax incentive to put money in a 529. No break on federal taxes, just state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope your husband can consider the possibility that his strategy might not be the best one for wealth accumulation.

Perhaps print this article below and see if he'll read it? I find Ric Edelman to be very sensible.

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/education-center/articles/1/11-great-reasons-to-carry-a-big-long-mortgage

OP here. I just read through that and it was very interesting.

A point my dh keeps coming back to is that over the course of a 30 year mortgage he will pay 300k in interest. That number is what bothers him the most. He doesn't think that he can get 300k in investment over 30 years (I think we can).

Most of these PPs are lunatics. Do you all like just giving your money away to the government when you don't have to? The tax benefits of the mortgage interest deduction and 529 plans aren't nothing. Paying off your mortgage for "peace of mind" when you're perfectly able to otherwise pay it monthly is just stupid. Why don't you point out to your husband how many 100s of thousands of dollars he'll be LOSING in interest if he doesn't stick some money in the 529s. Someone pointed out that your husband doesn't like carrying a lot of debt. I think it's pretty sh*tty that he'd prefer to just saddle your kids with it instead.

There's really not that much tax incentive to put money in a 529. No break on federal taxes, just state.

Earnings are tax free. That's a LOT of tax incentive.

[Anonymous]

I pay a few hundred to $500 a month extra into principal a month into our mortgage. I don't find the tax benefits worth much. I also put a few thousand every so often into our child's college account. Why not do both?