We re-fi’d our mortgage during the last low interest rate cycle and got 2.5% 30 year fixed. Keeping that mortgage rather than paying it off preserves our cash for other things. AND, the interest fraction of the mortgage is tax deductible, so it’s an effective interest rate of 1.5%.
“We re-fi’d our mortgage during the last low interest rate cycle and got 2.5% 30 year fixed”
Yes not much in the way of decision making with that low rate. We refinanced three times since 1997 to get it down to our current rate. I just didn’t want to go back to 30 years. Of course principle balance weighs into the decision to pay off, stay put, or re-fi.