If you came upon an additional $600K, would you invest it pay off your mortgage?
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Anonymous
| This is just a dream at the moment but it is what DH and I owe on our house in the DMV. We are in our early 50s and have a prime piece of real estate in South Florida to which we would like to retire, which has no mortgage. Our primary residence is in DC, which is valued at between $1.5 and $1.7 million. We may sell it in 10 years but would also like the option of keeping it for longer if there is no mortgage. Right now we have $1 million in retirement but intend to keep working while kids are still school age and to support our current lifestyle, which would have to be scaled back in retirement. What are your thoughts? And, I am hoping to keep this positive. |
Anonymous
| Sorry... Heading should have said "invest the money or pay off mortgage..." |
Anonymous
| I guess technically you should compare the interest rate you're currently paying for your mortgage against the rate of return you could earn by investing, but if it was me, I would probably just pay off my mortgage. |
Anonymous
| I think it depends on your comfort level with risk / time horizon. We have chosen to invest, but are also late 30s - since retirement is closer on your horizon, the risks may be bigger cons for you. |
Anonymous
| I would invest it, hands down. I'm in my late 30s, so an easier call for me (per PP's comment about time horizon), but even if you can take more than a 7 year view, I'd invest. Current mortgage rates are free money ... even a super conservative portfolio of corporate bonds and high-dividend equities can be structure to deliver a 4% yield (to match the mortgage rate) with a lot of upside. |
Anonymous
|
INVEST! Just make sure it is diversified. But remember you need to look at the rest of the $$$ you have for retirement when considering diversification. Mutual funds are a great way to go and you can research the best proportion of risky vs. safe investments for someone 10 years from retirement.
Also remember that if the stock market tanks and 30% of your total is in stocks, you will have 70% of your total to spend while the stock market comes back...Even tho you are close-ish to retirement you won't need all of it at once! |
Anonymous
I would do both, but my mortgage is <200k. I'm confused where the hypothetical 600k is coming from- selling your real estate in Florida? If you sell it, how can you retire there? |
Anonymous
| I think you have rich people problems. I would invest most of it, but our mortgage is far smaller, and right now saving for college and retirement is our priority. |
Anonymous
| Depends on your mortgage rate, but assuming under 4%, I'd invest. The rate of return, even post tax, on the $600k is likely to be better. Moreover, it stays liquid if invested |
Anonymous
| Since you "found " it , buy physical gold and hide it in case you need to go off the grid and have the teachers unions confiscate their retirement funds from the idiots in real estate. |
Anonymous
| I'd just hand it over to the colleges, as you won't get any financial aid for your kids in any event. |
Anonymous
| If someone handed us 600K, we would pay off the 200K of our mortgage and invest the rest. |
Anonymous
| I would sell my small townhouse - buy something a bit larger putting down 20%. Then I would invest the remainder. |
Anonymous
| If we came into $600k, we would pay off the mortgage ($200k), shore up the college savings ($75k), donate $100k, put $50-$75k into the house/yard to make it green, invest the rest and use the proceeds annually for a nice vacation. |
Anonymous
| That's a bit more than it would take to pay off my primary residence and rental property. It would be tempting to be completely mortgage-free, but with rates under 4% it doesn't seem like the best use of the money. I'd probably pay off the smaller of the two and invest the rest. |