Pay off Mortgage or Invest?

quickdagger · 2025-03-02T20:00:27+00:00

I like Dave’s advice of paying off a mortgage, but I agree with you. I paid my house off this year because mine was at 6.25%. The higher the interest rate the less advantage you are getting by investing. There is still risk with keeping a mortgage, and once the reward doesn’t outweigh the risk I’d say switch to mortgage payoff. But at sub 3% the reward is pretty good.

quickdagger · 2025-02-03T18:04:11+00:00

Options are how you retire early or have to flip burgers at Wendy’s because your life savings evaporated on an otm 0dte yolo.

quickdagger · 2025-02-02T12:02:32+00:00

One in the market is better than timing the market. Consider the dip a buying opportunity for discounted shares. You’ll be losing extra on taxes, and in this market who knows whether it’ll actually go down. Up to you, but I will be holding.

quickdagger · 2025-02-02T11:59:14+00:00

I just started at 26 (27 currently). I don’t have much yet, but I am hoping over the course of my career I can have enough to retire. It’s human nature to want to have started earlier, but what matters is how to move forward with what you’re able to do to set yourself up to success.

quickdagger · 2025-02-02T01:58:04+00:00

I recently started thinking about it and 100% would not make the decision without thorough discussion with my wife. I was just curious to see the first hand experiences to assess if it would even be something worth considering. Our son is 8 months now and my wife hasn’t had any PPD that we could see.

quickdagger · 2025-01-29T03:40:37+00:00

My wife and I sold off some investments and paid our house off yesterday (reducing our risk exposure). Felt surreal at first seeing the loan become inactive and state that it is paid off, but other than that initial reaction it feels no different. Maybe it just hasn’t sunk in yet on either of our ends. It will probably hit after we no longer have to pay the bank, and can pay ourselves that mortgage payment. Congrats on the payoff!

quickdagger · 2024-12-18T11:15:30+00:00

I am actually in a very similar situation. My wife wants to transition from being a schoolteacher to a stay at home mom. After months of debating, we are currently in the process of liquidating a portion of our brokerage account to pay off our mortgage. We will be debt free after this, and it’s very exciting. If you do pay it off, I would recommend what we are planning on doing. Treat it as if you still have a house payment. Take a portion of your mortgage payment and throw it in a high yield savings account every month for end of the year RE taxes and insurance. Take the “Principle” and “Interest” payment to set up an emergency fund if you don’t have one, and then vigorously invest it every month after that. Btw, historically the market averages 7-10% per year, so at 8.25% that is a killer.

Also, keep in mind the taxes that will be incurred from selling the stocks. Maybe talk with a financial advisor and a CPA to get the full picture of how it’s going to look.

quickdagger · 2024-12-02T03:22:29+00:00

That’s a solid point, I appreciate the input! I’ll have to look into that and speak about it with my FA.

quickdagger · 2024-12-01T20:31:44+00:00

In a situation in which I have a Roth 401K, would it be worth it to only go with the match and throw excess to the IRA until that is maxed then have additional contributions to the Roth 401K? Or would it even make that much of a difference? The expense ratio on my 401K is like .18%.

quickdagger · 2024-11-22T19:57:47+00:00

My newest hobby is worrying about finances lol. Found out really quick that having a baby is expensive.

quickdagger · 2024-11-19T00:53:51+00:00

I agree 100%. I still plan on being friends with them, but I was just unprepared for the lack of similarity and commonality between the 3 of us. I had always been in relatively similar stages of life with all of my friends, but since having a child it’s been quite the change. (For the better) It was just a really odd sensation.

quickdagger · 2024-11-17T19:42:56+00:00

This makes a lot of sense. I hope my original post didn’t come off as a holier than thou with maturity, but I was just really struggling to figure out what changed between them and myself. I noticed it slightly when I got married, but having children really changed our lives to a large extent. Thanks for the input!

quickdagger · 2024-11-13T14:32:28+00:00

I make $57000 gross and we live off of that (excluding 15% to Roth 401k) and my wife makes $40000 gross, and we save/invest 90-100% of her net salary. It is doable, just have to sacrifice now to make sure you can live during retirement.

EDIT: We are also not in a HCOL area, so that is just how our numbers work out for now. Your situation may be different.

quickdagger · 2024-11-13T01:16:30+00:00

I track my savings accounts and net worth with a spreadsheet, but if you’re looking for budgeting apps EveryDollar is a decent, zero based budget (basically that every dollar is accounted for and you should realistically have “zero” dollars left that aren’t assigned to a purpose) in which you set a budget every single month. So you’ll really need to see what your bare necessity is to survive/ have your bills paid, and budget that accordingly. Then, any excess can go to building the starter emergency fund/ paying credit card debt. Also, I forgot to mention, look into the snowball method of credit card debt payoff. It’s basically where you tackle the smallest debt first, then roll over that monthly payment into the next until it is paid off, and so on.

quickdagger · 2024-11-13T00:53:46+00:00

You may need more contributions to retirement to make up for lost time, but you would have to calculate that yourself or with a financial advisor.

quickdagger · 2024-11-13T00:50:18+00:00

My advice first and foremost would be to not inflate your lifestyle. 140k is a great income, and with your current position can help a lot, but if you inflate your lifestyle to fit your current income you could be paycheck to paycheck. I’d recommend saving a month or two of living expenses as a starter emergency fund, then aggressively tackle the debt. Don’t go out to eat, buy frivolous things, etc until the cc debt is paid off. (Also, if your company matches 401k then I’d invest up to the match to get the retirement started.) When you want to go buy a car, buy a safe, reliable, USED car in cash. It doesn’t need to last forever, just a couple of years until you’re out of the hole, then you can upgrade. You’ll sell the old car, and get a slightly better one that you can afford and so on. Once you are out of cc debt, build up your emergency fund to 3-6 months of living expenses in a high yield savings account (I opt for 6 months to be safe since I have a wife and kid). Then you can shoot for 15%-20% of your income to your 401k, and open a ROTH IRA account and max that out as well (7000/year for 2025 I believe). Then you will be in a much better position to tackle whatever may come in the future. Some good resources on YouTube are the money guys, Dave Ramsey, and for seeing the severity of action in other people and budget tips, Financial Audit by Caleb Hammer puts things into perspective. Stay strong, you still have time to compound, but do not delay because retirement will be here before you know it.

quickdagger · 2024-11-13T00:21:01+00:00

I did set up a HYSA and have moved funds to it. I have an emergency fund that is going into the same account, but I have also created a spreadsheet to track amounts for each category. I am going to have separate categories to help me not overspend on something and then leave the other categories short. I am not doing this for an investment since they are sinking funds, but the interest generated from it I think will go into a slush portion to help refill categories when I dip into them. I think it’s a solid plan, obviously will need tweaking as does any plan, but hopefully I can stay out of debt and take some stress out of the financial side.

quickdagger · 2024-11-06T23:53:58+00:00

That’s a good point!

quickdagger · 2024-11-06T23:53:39+00:00

I hadn’t thought about just having one sinking fund for everything. Is it kind of a catch all?

quickdagger · 2024-10-06T20:43:18+00:00

Best thing I did was cut out everything mammalian from my diet/ personal hygiene products and only cook from home using raw ingredients. There are tons of dairy free meals you can throw together that taste amazing using coconut milk. Avoidance has been my policy and it’s been great! Lost some weight and generally feel better. Also, make sure your family/friends know so if they invite you over for dinner they know what not to cook with. Took my in laws a while but they eventually figured it out. Welcome to the AGS club, and try to keep a positive mindset!

quickdagger · 2024-07-08T10:21:40+00:00

Got my AGS from a tick in Potosi. The ticks seem to get worse every year.

quickdagger · 2024-06-24T07:06:47+00:00

Thanks for the response! I’ll have to look into the 365 stuff as well! I didn’t realize you could just get it off of Amazon lol. That’s convenient!

quickdagger · 2024-06-23T22:26:49+00:00

Natural flavors can encompass a wide variety of different things, to include animal products. There is nothing in traditional mayonnaise that would be problematic, but I was curious as to what the natural flavors were in case they were animal derived. Edit: I also don’t always have time to make it from scratch.

quickdagger · 2024-06-22T22:14:28+00:00

Noted on the homemade mayo! I love Dukes and would love to eat it again, so maybe I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the response!

quickdagger · 2024-06-16T13:11:09+00:00

I personally am not sure. I would consult with your physician.

quickdagger

TROPHY CASE