Hey Christopher,
So are you saying to keep your mortgage for the life of the term along with your IRA’s and 401k’s, pay a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred thousand dollars in interest just to save a few thousand dollars a year on taxes from money withdrawn? Maybe i’m not following correctly, but I’m not sure thats a good thing. I don’t think the tax hit would be greater than the actual mortgage payments. Good point though, i guess it would depend on how much they take out for expenditures…
How about keeping your IRA’s, 401k’s, AND pay off your mtg early? (You can invest after your house is paid off or simultaneously in an IRA, Roth IRA, 401k, etc…) If you have a Roth IRA for 5yrs, I don’t think you get taxed on the money withdrawn (but that’s a whole other topic)
As far as a Real Esate, There is NO real money saving advantage with in regards to tax deduction when buying a house if you’re paying 200%-300% of the actual value of the home over the 30/yr term.
Look, I’m not saying this MMA program is for everybody, but I think it makes sense and it could be useful to alot of people. Being a Mortgage Broker, my job for a long time has been to put people in debt, now I have a chance to help them get out of debt. I don’t see anything wrong with that, maybe there are other alternatives that could better suit some people, but I think if you asked the average American across the country if they really want to have thier home paid off in half the time, I bet they would say yes. It’s a comfortable and psychological benefit that adds peace of mind.
However, If the homeowner decides to sell in 3, 5, or 10 yrs down the road, they’ve accumulated much more equity, saved an incredible amount money on interest, and will ultimately put themselves in a better situation towards thier next purchase and/or investments.
My point is that paying off your mortgage and avoiding interest IS ALSO MAKING YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU. If your paying interest that you don’t have to, your essentially stealing from yourself…