What are your thoughts?

[kris10]

100% Agree. Owning your home you will save lots of interest and one less thing to worry about!! I bet everybody gets stressed when they think about their $ situation,i am always stressing about it and what I'll have left to actually spend etc!

[debrar]

There is no guarantee with investment's ..unless ofcourse they are GIC's ..which pay next to nothing.

I would pay off the mortgage first ..as I consider it to be a debt ..always pay off the debt first & then worry about investment's

If you invest wisely (go to a financial planner), you can use the investment interest earned to pay down your mortgage, then you still have the investment and making 'free' mortgage payments. The $$ you would normally have used to pay the mortgage could be used to 'bump up' the investment pool, as well as to make as many extra mortgage payments as you are allowed in the year.

There are so many low to med risk options for investing that are earning great interest returns.....you shouldn't panic and sell at the first sign of a drop.....you've got to go in for the long haul. Your financial planner/investment broker, should be able to advise you when it would be in your best interest to drop an investment, or to stick with it for long term gain down the road.

But it comes down to each individual's 'feel good' scenario.

[Retiree]

There is definitely some psychological benefit to being mortgage free so when we had the opportunity to pay off our mortgage, that's what we did. We then took the mortgage money and added it to our investment portfolio. It just seemed like a win-win approach i.e., we retired debt-free and grew our retirement funds.

[MillieH]

We paid it off asap.. at that time rates renewed every 5 years or so.. we paid it off at 15 years.

[Wiseman]

I vote pay down mortgage for security.

Reasoning is, you are more likely to lose your job during an economic downturn. And if you do lose your job in such a period, you will probably be selling your investments at a loss to cover your mtg payment.

[FLA]

Lots of good ideas. It really depends on your age and your job security.

[Natalia Smith]

It totally depends on you. If interest rate is high you should first pay the mortgage. After than you can start investing.

[LCF204]

There is no guarantee with investment's ..unless ofcourse they are GIC's ..which pay next to nothing.

I would pay off the mortgage first ..as I consider it to be a debt ..always pay off the debt first & then worry about investment's

I would agree!

[mrsmac]

I would pay off the mortgage!

[Carlotta]

I vote pay down mortgage for security.

Reasoning is, you are more likely to lose your job during an economic downturn. And if you do lose your job in such a period, you will probably be selling your investments at a loss to cover your mtg payment.

But what happens if you lose your job, and need money to live. You can cash out some investments, enough to cover your living expenses and cover mortgage payments, but you can't sell a few bricks off your house to buy groceries. You have to sell your house and you may have to sell IT at a loss if you need the money quickly. OR you get a LOC using the equity in your house, but that will be at a higher rate of interest than a mortgage would be.

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, as each person's situation is different and each person's level of comfort with risk is different. Just because one answer seems right to one person, it could be totally wrong for another. That's why you have professionals to help with these questions.

[momof5boys]

But what happens if you lose your job, and need money to live. You can cash out some investments, enough to cover your living expenses and cover mortgage payments, but you can't sell a few bricks off your house to buy groceries. You have to sell your house and you may have to sell IT at a loss if you need the money quickly. OR you get a LOC using the equity in your house, but that will be at a higher rate of interest than a mortgage would be.



There is no right or wrong answer to this question, as each person's situation is different and each person's level of comfort with risk is different. Just because one answer seems right to one person, it could be totally wrong for another. That's why you have professionals to help with these questions.

That is why is it always important to have an emergency fund built up first before anything else if you have extra funds.