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My DH retired from NPS in 2013, got his real estate license, then in about 2015 we started buying rental properties - we now own 2 with his mom - 1 with one of our daughters, and 5 others - all have mortgages. Only 1 is a short term rental - AirBNB. I will be retiring from NPS myself at the end of 2024.
If you have sufficient income, and you have a good interest rate, why delay retirement? I retired with a mortgage and paid it off after a couple of years.
My main reason to pay it off was to simplify my estate. Whoever inherits my mess won't have a mortgaged property to deal with.
From a pure dollars and cents point of view it would have been better to invest the money rather than paying it off since the interest rate was low. But there are more important things than squeezing out the last possible penny.
I notice it's one of those threads where the OP makes a post and then doesn't return to comment on the responses. No rule against that, I just find that behavior a bit annoying, almost like they are tossing out a firecracker into a crowd to see what the reaction will be.
But I just reread the title, which is slightly different from the question in the OP. "Should you delay your retirement..."
I remember when I bought my condo, the first home I ever owned, at the age of not-quite-52, taking a 30-year mortgage, thinking I might well never live to see it paid off.
But things changed, including my financial situation, and I not only refinanced after ten years to a 15-year, I paid ahead, so there's a good possibility I could have it paid off by the time I am 70 or before.
Or I might sell and move before then. But no, I would not have delayed my retirement until I was 81 years old, lol.
If you have sufficient income, and you have a good interest rate, why delay retirement? I retired with a mortgage and paid it off after a couple of years.
My main reason to pay it off was to simplify my estate. Whoever inherits my mess won't have a mortgaged property to deal with.
From a pure dollars and cents point of view it would have been better to invest the money rather than paying it off since the interest rate was low. But there are more important things than squeezing out the last possible penny.
Thank you, I agree. My mortgage is 3.25%. I pay an extra few hundred dollars on the mortgage each month so that I am paying off at least $1000 a month against the principal. I know the conventional wisdom is that I should pay minimum and take that $300+ and put it into an investment/CD/etc where I get 4.5% or 5% or so, but really? Is it worth doing the backflips for a few dollars a month vs. just paying off the mortgage?
I think this year I won't even be able to itemize for the first time, the interest portion is so low.
For me personally, renting would cost me much more than paying my mortgage, at least double. Just in the last 4 years, rents have skyrocketed while my mortgage payment has stayed the same.
Same here. More than double in fact, here in the land where everyone wants to live.
Even if I was on SS, my mortgage payment would be only a fraction of my SS payment. I'm good at keeping this going.
Quote:
Another question that could be asked is how do you manage retiring not having a reasonable mortgage but having to rent instead.
Simple. Some chose to spend money in keeping up with the Joneses, nice car, eat out all the time, etc. Others simply could not come up with a down-payment, or having a decent credit score.
Same here. More than double in fact, here in the land where everyone wants to live.
Even if I was on SS, my mortgage payment would be only a fraction of my SS payment. I'm good at keeping this going.
Simple. Some chose to spend money in keeping up with the Joneses, nice car, eat out all the time, etc. Others simply could not come up with a down-payment, or having a decent credit score.
My mortgage was 1/5 of what my SS payment is so I had no issue living only on SS, but that was me. I planned it that way before I retired. Being single with just one not very high income, one has to be more careful about planning and making things work. Well, either that or drop dead still working in my 70s or 80s.
Last edited by marino760; 09-01-2023 at 10:59 AM..
My mortgage was 1/5 of what my SS payment is so I had no issue living only on SS, but that was me. I planned it that way before I retired. Being single with just one not very high income, one has to be more careful about planning and making things work. Well, either that or drop dead still working in my 70s or 80s.
Being in a HCOL of your old stumping ground, my mortgage will be 1/4 of my SS payment. But since I'm married I have one additional mouth to feed, plus need to take her on vactions just to keep happy That's why men die young.
Being in a HCOL of your old stumping ground, my mortgage will be 1/4 of my SS payment. But since I'm married I have one additional mouth to feed, plus need to take her on vactions just to keep happy That's why men die young.
until death do us part isn’t a marriage vow as much as a goal.
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That's why men die young. 
