Pay off mortgage or continue to invest?

[ZeroLot]

I wish I was client #4.

 

[paperboyNC]

I wish I was client #4.

It'd be nice. I have a late relative that once owned a Manhattan Co-Op facing Central Park. He sold it many years ago but if he'd held on to it... The last sale was $7.5 million. The crazy part is that maintenance (known as HOAs here) is over $6,000/mo.

 

[scubasteve]

I think the message on TI is clear.  Thanks everyone for reaffirming what I was thinking.  I have 28 years left on my mortgage due to several refi's, so I have a long way to go.  I will probably be in my house for awhile since I'm still growing into it.  I'm so tempted to move up from my 4/3 just to get a driveway, but then I crunch the math and realize that I need another 300k to do so in Irvine and throw that idea out the window.  Then I think about being debt free at 34 years old and how good that would feel, but realize I would be leaving money on the table. 

As someone mentioned, I've been trying to diversify and lower my holdings by selling about 50k a year so for the past two years.  I sell 50k because it doesn't put us over into the next tax bracket after all our deductions. Selling 50k will net me about 30k after taxes, of which I use 17.5k to max out my wife's 403b for tax purposes; the rest just goes into index funds.  I don't really see much of my "yearly bonus" after its all said and done. 

I'm pretty passive when it comes to investing.  I set it and forget it.  If another 2008 were to come (which is what everyone's been saying for the past 2 years or so), I would just ride it out and hope that the market recovers like it always has. 

Since TI is much smarter than I am, any additional thoughts on this strategy? Am I being too conservative by locking up everything until I'm 65 years old? My wife sometimes tells me to live a little, but I guess it's just how I was raised to save save save.  Thanks everyone for the feedback.

tl;dr: TI reaffirmed what I was thinking by not paying off mortgage. I've been trying to diversify my stock options the past two years while trying to not to get taxed up the yin yang; a lot of the diversification goes into retirement which is locked up until i'm old. Am I too conservative?

 

[OpenSky]

8)

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I'm purposely playing the devil's advocate 10th man here.

Get your TI lingo right!

#categoryiforget

 

[usctrojancpa]

I think the message on TI is clear.  Thanks everyone for reaffirming what I was thinking.  I have 28 years left on my mortgage due to several refi's, so I have a long way to go.  I will probably be in my house for awhile since I'm still growing into it.  I'm so tempted to move up from my 4/3 just to get a driveway, but then I crunch the math and realize that I need another 300k to do so in Irvine and throw that idea out the window.  Then I think about being debt free at 34 years old and how good that would feel, but realize I would be leaving money on the table. 

As someone mentioned, I've been trying to diversify and lower my holdings by selling about 50k a year so for the past two years.  I sell 50k because it doesn't put us over into the next tax bracket after all our deductions. Selling 50k will net me about 30k after taxes, of which I use 17.5k to max out my wife's 403b for tax purposes; the rest just goes into index funds.  I don't really see much of my "yearly bonus" after its all said and done. 

I'm pretty passive when it comes to investing.  I set it and forget it.  If another 2008 were to come (which is what everyone's been saying for the past 2 years or so), I would just ride it out and hope that the market recovers like it always has. 

Since TI is much smarter than I am, any additional thoughts on this strategy? Am I being too conservative by locking up everything until I'm 65 years old? My wife sometimes tells me to live a little, but I guess it's just how I was raised to save save save.  Thanks everyone for the feedback.

tl;dr: TI reaffirmed what I was thinking by not paying off mortgage. I've been trying to diversify my stock options the past two years while trying to not to get taxed up the yin yang; a lot of the diversification goes into retirement which is locked up until i'm old. Am I too conservative?

Or you can buy a GT3 with some of the money.  Heck, my car is worth $20k-$30k more than I paid for it at the end of last year...not a bad rate of return.  haha

 

[qwerty]

whatever you decide, i'd just suggest selling off a good portion of the company stock sooner rather than later so you don't have both your income and a very large part of your savings tied up in one company.

Provided you don't raise any eyebrows in the process....

Don't worry about raising eyebrows. Are the eyebrow raisers going to make you whole if your stock takes a dive?  Take care if your family first and foremost.

My experience is if you can cash in enough equity to not need the job, fine. If not, people take notice and perceive you as a short-timer. So growth can be limited at the company, or worse, your name ends up on a list during a round of cost-takeouts.
[/quot

whatever you decide, i'd just suggest selling off a good portion of the company stock sooner rather than later so you don't have both your income and a very large part of your savings tied up in one company.

Provided you don't raise any eyebrows in the process....

Don't worry about raising eyebrows. Are the eyebrow raisers going to make you whole if your stock takes a dive?  Take care if your family first and foremost.

My experience is if you can cash in enough equity to not need the job, fine. If not, people take notice and perceive you as a short-timer. So growth can be limited at the company, or worse, your name ends up on a list during a round of cost-takeouts.

A good leader/boss wouldn't hold it against an employee for cashing any part out. Not their job to tell others what to do with their money.