[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by scfr

I think if more people monitored their home equity as a percentage of their net worth, especially as they start to get "older", it might prompt more people to downsize earlier on. For example, if someone is 55 and realizes their home equity is too large a fraction of their net worth, and they go ahead and put their home up for sale, they are in an infinitely better position than someone who comes to the same realization at 65 and who is forced to have a "fire sale" on their home.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't see where it matters. If at 55, I determine that we are on track to have a large enough nest egg to support the retirement lifestyle we wish to have and cover all of our expenses on a 4% withdrawal rate, what difference does it make whether our home represents 10% or 20% or 50% of our net worth? If the equity in the home is not going to be needed to cover expenses in retirement, who cares how much it is worth or what percentage of net worth it represents? It is a non-issue in my mind.