quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
It would have to take some convincing that paying a 6k tax penalty to the IRS and losing the opportunity cost of deferred growth is better than a tax favored mortgage.

I sincerely hope the math works in your favor.

Yeah probably not the best financial move but the piece of mine is priceless.

I was 50 when we paid off our house which was a big reason that allowed me to retire at 55.

Congrats!
I know it has to feel good!

I am about 14 months, give or take, from being mortgage free. Just in time to file for divorce.

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Originally posted by BigSwede:

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Originally posted by Schmelby:

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Originally posted by sigmonkey:

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Originally posted by Schmelby:...
Got a letter yesterday,they want me to come back. Screw em. I,m done.

Good for you! (on the financial part, too)

If they want you, other people will want you, and likely appreciate you more.

Find you a "happy job" or whatever you decide. Getting out of the game, before your dragged off the field is always better for you. And the fans only care about the score, until the next game.

Thank you. I'm going to take 3 to 6 months off. Find me some menial job. Probably be a
fifteen dollar an hour paycut. I don't care, Just need insuarance for a few more years.

Around here, I know of a few guys that retired and then started driving school busses for the insurance. They pay well and have great benefits

I don't know if I could do that. A bus full of teenagers. They can get into fights, they kick you, spit on you
If you lay one finger on them you get arrested.

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Employer fired me a couple weeks ago. Was there 35 years,
Got a letter yesterday,they want me to come back. Screw em. I,m done.

Don't blame you, however, call them back, tell them you want 150% of what they paid you before, LOL Know a guy that did that,

Now he is paid double his previous pay, open schedule, all the free time he wants, comes in when needed and makes more than he did before and said the place has less stress, since he's needed.. LOL

Paying off your house is awesome. Doing it by taking it from a tax deferred extremely low cost vehicle such as TSP, not so much. Taking from retirement funds to pay down credit card debt, nope. Taking it to buy a camera for business or otherwise, smh.

Piece of mind has a price but you didn’t get a bargain doing it this way.

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Originally posted by BigSwede:
Around here, I know of a few guys that retired and then started driving school busses ...

Beside the fact I utterly detest school busses: There's not a chance in hell I'd ever submit myself to any aspect of any public school system--much less the potential liabilities of taking responsibility for other peoples' kids in this day and age.

Congrats on being debt free. Although, I would have taken a mathematical approach to situation to determine if it's worth the taxes and penalties for me.

35 more payments and the wife and I will have ours paid off. Will be the second time that we have done so. Will be 58 when it’s done. One more purchase of a vehicle for the wife and that may be the last one we purchase. It’s a great feeling when it’s done.

Congratulations lizardman_u!

There may be math arguments against your approach. They depend upon assumptions about the future. Given recent history, one might be wise to question assumptions about the future.

"Getting to write off interest", even if you live in a lousy tax state like CA and are in a pessimal tax bracket means that the government pays roughly half the interest and you pay the other half. Having no debt means you pay NO interest.

Leaving the math side of the equation aside, there is tremendous peace and comfort in knowing that you don't have any debt hanging over you and whatever you make is yours. This makes it much easier to "go lean" if conditions require it. It also makes it easier to invest and make your money work for you if conditions allow.

Enjoy the new feeling!

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Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I'm kinda sorta halfway entertaining the thought of taking a part-time job there. I don't need the money, but it might be kind of cool to work in a tool store

Not me man! The first thought is that it might be kinda expensive to work in a tool store. Had an idea similar to yours about working in a local fun store and quickly dismissed it for the same reason.

Being mortgage and otherwise debt free is a great feeling and takes a lot of pressure off.
Just be sure to save ahead for any cars or other purchases, especially the ones that depreciate (like cars in most markets).

We've only bought, lived in, and owned 3 homes in our almost 52 years of marriage. Yeah, its fun to get a paycheck and not look to making payments.

This last cycle was different. I was already retired, and we decided to build. Had to get a construction loan (they wanted progress payments). I didn't know about that part. Got done and the bank wanted us to convert to a conventional mortgage. Wife was still working and making good money (nurse). She made the payments for about a year, and was crying about having to come up with the mega-bucks each month. It was kind of fun hearing her whine about it. I'd only had that problem for 40 years, now she doesn't like it for 1 year. I didn't take it from a 401k, I just cashed government I bonds. It had been my retirement vehicle for the last decade or so. If I were still working (I kind of am), I'd consider it still. Even if the rate is variable, they're paying 7+% currently. With Biden in there, not sure if the government is trustworthy.

And for those still making monthly payments, consider how good it would feel to not need to do that. Part of freedom is the right to make your own decisions on things. How well or poorly they turn out is your own doing. Good or bad, you only have yourself to blame or credit. Hard numbers folks might tell you that you're screwing up. You need to factor in all the items on your list of expenses. Also how stable your marriage is, along with other sources of income.

There are other ways to pay off a house, including doubling up or adding to each payment. Some folks live below their means. Live in modest housing and choose not to pay as much to the bank in interest. That sounds attractive at first glance. Others decide to not take expensive vacations and just bank the money or pay down their mortgage, or invest along the way. It still called freedom, and its better than having commies in charge that want to steal your hard earned wages for their own purposes or to pay expenses for the lazy and shiftless.

You are right. Life’s about choices. Some choices are better made using a pad of paper, a sharp pencil, and a calculator rather than your feelings. This is one of those times and congratulating people on poor thought processes is one of the biggest problems in America. When did we stop telling people that better decision making leads to better results? It’s why we have TV shows about the Thousand Pound Sisters. Instead of praising bad choices we feel compelled to pat everyone on the back.

Regardless of what the market does or doesn’t do, plundering a tax protected retirement account to pay off a low interest loan is stupid. Using it to pay off accrued credit card debt? Come on.

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Originally posted by pedropcola:
You are right. Life’s about choices. Some choices are better made using a pad of paper, a sharp pencil, and a calculator rather than your feelings. This is one of those times and congratulating people on poor thought processes is one of the biggest problems in America. When did we stop telling people that better decision making leads to better results? It’s why we have TV shows about the Thousand Pound Sisters. Instead of praising bad choices we feel compelled to pat everyone on the back.

Regardless of what the market does or doesn’t do, plundering a tax protected retirement account to pay off a low interest loan is stupid. Using it to pay off accrued credit card debt? Come on.

You sure are a really smart guy to know all the answers to the OP’s situation. And knowing what is coming in the future and how that is going to effect how everything plays out. It must be amazing to be so smart.

You are right. Life’s about choices.
The OP did not ask for your advice, he was stating what he had done and his POV on doing so.

Others (and myself) have offered our own POV on doing similar things.

You have no standing to fundamentally call the guy a dumbass, although that was your choice.

Maybe lead off with being kind, and follow with your input. Might be better recieved.

We attended financial freedom courses at our church before Dave Ramsey was even known. I can remember chuckling over people talking him up - and we had already paid off our house. That happened when I was fifty and since, we buy cars with cash, live under our means, pay off the only credit card monthly, and got four of our children thru homeschooling. The last has another college semester - and they have all purchased their own cars because they worked.

Get the finances squared away and there are a lot of positive benefits - like not being a serf for wages dependent on Corporate. Millions of us are just walking away, debt free and completely independent of their control.

I don't think they say it coming, and whoever started the Be Debt Free movement has cut them off at the knees. It's good, man.

I'm going to ramble and tell my story of paying off my house. Took out a loan in 1998 - 20% down thru a local bank that I was one of the founding stockholders. % rate was 7% and loan was going to be kept in house.

About 2, no more than 3 years later rates were down about 2 points so I went in to see about refi. I'd also hit a big lick in real estate a couple months earlier and had that money in a money mkt acct same bank.

Lender came back with appraisal fee, loan orig fee and a couple more profit center fees that pissed me off because I thought I was special and original loan was so fresh it didn't need re-appraising.

Anyway I said figure the payoff and I'm paying it off - lender goes oh no, bad move, lose deductions etc. - I said nah I'm making 7% by paying off loan and I'm also saving profit center fees of refinancing. I was 50 at the time and have been debt free since.

Don't know if it made sense pencil and paper but it suits me to this day.

How long do you think it will be before our Gov't creates new ways to sack and plunder our 401k's and IRA's?

Maybe the OP made a smart move?

I'm timing my extra payments towards principal to have my house paid off at the same time I'm eligible for retirement around age 50. (28 years for full pension, and I started at age 21.75.)

That way, if I decide to punch out then, I can afford to do so.

And if I don't decide to punch out then, I can still utilize that house payment money for additional investments until whenever I decide to finally retire.

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Originally posted by 1s1k:
Yeah probably not the best financial move but the piece of mine mind is priceless...

So, it is the best financial move for the OP, after all.