True that about flyover country having positives. Our property taxes are $1,200 annually -- $100/month for our 3BR2.5B house on 1.5 acres.
About others posting to pay off mortgage before retiring, I can see someone choosing not to do that if the interest rate is low and that person instead puts that money into Roth IRA's and Roth 401K's. But the trick is to do it with the same intensity as you would if you were instead paying off the mortgage. Just treat that portion of your Roth investments as your mortgage payoff amount.
From then it works two ways: either 1) use that extra investment money to pay the mortgage payment while the investments keep growing tax free (in Roths) faster than the low interest rate of the mortgage. Or 2) should you decide to part ways with the bank by paying off the mortgage immediately, you have the money to do it. (i.e. If you want to modify the house but the bank doesn't approve, no problem, you have the extra money in your investments to immediately pay off the mortgage and do what you want with the house).
“...About others posting to pay off mortgage before retiring, I can see someone choosing not to do that if the interest rate is low and that person instead puts that money into Roth IRA’s and Roth 401K’s. But the trick is to do it with the same intensity as you would if you were instead paying off the mortgage. Just treat that portion of your Roth investments as your mortgage payoff amount.....”
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You nailed it, The Trick is correct my friend.
I think but cannot offer proof but my gut tells me that the individual that pays off his/hers mortgage early to lower retirement costs is much more likely to more than make up for the lost savings in tax advantaged retirement accounts after clearing the debt and prior to retirement compared to the mortgage hanger-oner that uses sheer genius to demonstrate investing savvy for all the world to see.
Question: why do you think the lovers of debt make it sound like 95% of today’s mortgage holders are in at <2% APR and have no other consumer debt eating up potential investing dollars and are actually maxing out their Roth 401K? I think we know the answer.
According to the data, 63% of working age people are actually earning W-2 wages, out of that 63%, 85% of them participate in their company 401K (or eq) and out of that only 4-10% are maxing out annual contributions. So even if the stupid argument that holding on to a mortgage forever leads to more investing time in the market is mathematically correct, the data argues that very few actually do it. Hence The Trick.
I think the average age 65-70 in the USA has about $200K in retirement savings so for many the future is not looking too good for some.