The afterlife is one of mankind's greatest mysteries.
In the world of personal finance, we "cross over" the moment our last mortgage payment is made, and for many folks, what lies on the other side is also perplexing.
While many of us dream of the big day when we'll finally have our mortgage paid off, most of us probably haven't put a lot of thought into what we're going to do with the extra money we'll have once that happens. That's the boat a reader named Susie found herself in. Here's a snippet of her letter to me last month:
I had to address a similar "now what?" question several years ago after I reversed course and came to the conclusion that it no longer made financial sense for me to pay off the mortgage early. That decision suddenly freed up an extra $500 per month in additional principal payments we had been making to pay off our home loan early.
If you sit down and think about it, plenty of options are available to people who have paid off the mortgage on their principal residence and are looking for ways to use the additional cash.
Source: http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=9d335a08-b022-42f1-8fe6-b162ce9acb85
In the world of personal finance, we "cross over" the moment our last mortgage payment is made, and for many folks, what lies on the other side is also perplexing.
While many of us dream of the big day when we'll finally have our mortgage paid off, most of us probably haven't put a lot of thought into what we're going to do with the extra money we'll have once that happens. That's the boat a reader named Susie found herself in. Here's a snippet of her letter to me last month:
Do you have any thoughts on what you would do once you've paid off your mortgage? My husband and I will be fortunate enough to face this question at the end of the year and we are kind of scratching our heads as to what's next. We max out our 401ks and we will probably start saving more for college for our two sons, ages 6 and 8. I know we are very lucky to be in this situation, but I'm really having a hard time trying to answer the question "now what?"
I had to address a similar "now what?" question several years ago after I reversed course and came to the conclusion that it no longer made financial sense for me to pay off the mortgage early. That decision suddenly freed up an extra $500 per month in additional principal payments we had been making to pay off our home loan early.
If you sit down and think about it, plenty of options are available to people who have paid off the mortgage on their principal residence and are looking for ways to use the additional cash.
Source: http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=9d335a08-b022-42f1-8fe6-b162ce9acb85
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