Should I pay off mortgage

[Jluke]

Didn't you just recently reach the point where your home is now worth more than you paid after experiencing a drop in real estate? what if that happened again after you pay it off?

You are on a whole other stratosphere income wise, but I would treat this bonus as a windfall and that "other forum" has a lot of info about windfalls.

It might be best to let this money sit untouched until you have a clearer picture of what to do with it.

If you want an immediate answer: I could see paying off half of the mortgage balance, then letting the money sit where you can draw from it as needed.

Since you have to raid your taxable and college savings for full pay off, that is red flag to help decide that now is not the time to pay it off completely.

good luck and great to see all of your progress!

[disneysteve]

I just ran the math for if I wait until next year's bonus in March. If I wait, I can pay it off then without raiding anything.

I like that plan better than raiding investments and college savings.

Here's what I predict will actually happen:
You will go with that plan, to pay it off next March.
Along the way between now and then, you will free up other monies, get that promotion, do something else that boosts your income, or otherwise discover that you have an excess and you will throw it at the mortgage.
By the time next March rolls around, the loan will either already be gone or very close to it and you will need very little of that bonus to finish the job.

[StormRichards]

Article on this topic

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/should-i-pay-down-a-mortgage-or-invest-the-money/ar-AAmULcn

[corn18]

Article on this topic

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/reale...ney/ar-AAmULcn

The math says to keep my mortgage as long as possible. My heart says make it go away.

I have decided to wait until next year's bonus when I can pay it without raiding my investments. Then I will decide between the math and my emotions.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

next year bonus sounds like a great plan.

[Gailete]

What fun it must be to get a bonus. In all the year's I spent working I never got a bonus, extcept for maybe a Turkey for the holidays.

I think I would dump the curent years bonus into the mortgage at this point which would get rid of a lot of interest and if you specifiy that it s for the priciple it would take the amount you owe down further. Next year when you get a bonus, you might find that you will not only be able to pay the mortage off, but also have more towards the college fund, retirement, or a small vacation.