should we pay off house
we are now retired and wondering if we should pay off the house. some say never pay the house off, not really sure why. house interest is 4.3% can only get 3% guaranteed interest on money. in...
Forum Discussion
tonymull wrote:bbaker2001 wrote:
unfortunately I don't have enough write-offs to use the interest. yes at this moment it is liquid. looked at long term investments, but Schwab says do not expect over 3-4 % for some time.
our funds have lost 21% since last year. we really do nor want to lose more.
First move your money to Vanguard. Lowest cost you can find. Then park it in a 500 index fund or a total market fund. I think the outlook for the market is considerably more than 3%.
Can't imagine how you managed to lose 21% on investments in the past year. I just made a rough check of ours and we are down 6% since 12/31/14, not counting dividends taken as cash. That said, we are way up from where we started 10 years ago, even after the "Great Recession". I agree with Tony's suggestion to move to Vanguard low cost index funds.
You may find http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/ to be of interest in improving your investment outcome.
To answer your original question, I would pay off the mortgage, especially if your itemized deductions aren't greater than your standard deduction by at least the amount of the mortgage interest. There is an old saying "You can't deduct your way to wealth."
