Replies

>>The APR I was paying at the time I “paid it off” was 6.95% And I had RE-finanaced _down_ to that rate from an original rate around 8.5% from when I bought it in 1988.<<

Mine was 4.5% — I refi’d when rates hit the hard deck: pretty cheap money.

>>There is NO comparison to being mortgage-burdened vis-a-vis being mortgage-free. Free wins every time in my book.<<

I am not sure it is that simple (although, as I said, it seems you are debt averse as I am). had you been hit with a $50K emergency the day after you wrote that check, you may have found how expensive free can be. That is why I accelerated while hanging onto my nest egg.

>>Getting out of the 401K might not be so wise.<<

It is tax deferred, so you have to calculate your marginal tax rate (now) into determining its value. I had the same hit you did, but moved some things around a few years ago and was able to get it back to performing like I need. I have been able to get about 2:1 from inception to the last statement. When you calculate the tax advantages it seems like a “can’t miss.”

But as we have seen on this thread, everyone’s opinion of risk, cash, leverage and investment are spread very widely.

But I think we can agree that unsecured debt is not good, eliminating debt is good if you can do it, keeping a good cash reservoir is better still. No matter what your situation, frugality is always a good strategy.