Should I keep paying extra on my mortgage each month?

[DK82]

Bought a house in the fall of 2020... for a variety of reasons, I'm not going to stay nearly as long as I had anticipated when buying.  Ideally I'll put it on the market in a year or two.  I've always paid a bit extra on my mortgage so I can slowly but surely shave off payments over time, but I'm thinking given I intend to sell within two years, it probably doesn't make sense to do so anymore.  Any thoughts? 

[HPstache]

Bought a house in the fall of 2020... for a variety of reasons, I'm not going to stay nearly as long as I had anticipated when buying.  Ideally I'll put it on the market in a year or two.  I've always paid a bit extra on my mortgage so I can slowly but surely shave off payments over time, but I'm thinking given I intend to sell within two years, it probably doesn't make sense to do so anymore.  Any thoughts?

There's worse things you could do with your money... but it's not the most ideal.  The money you are putting extra toward your home has an equivalent interest rate of your mortgage rate (by way of interest not paid to the bank)... so it will in a way return 3%-ish on the money you paid extra when you sell.   
There are a lot of advocates for not paying down your mortgage here, the argument is that you can make more money in the market..  but I still personally do it.  I like the idea of my home being paid off as a FIRE cost reduction .  Since you're only at the place in the short term, it seems not ideal in your situation.  But one thing to remember is that you cannot assume a certain rate of return from the market for only a year or two... your confidence is much lower in such a short amount of time that you will beat your mortgage interest rate.

[nereo]

Do you have any tax-advantaged space left that you aren’t using (i.e. are you maxing out your IRA, 401(k), HSA…)?
If yes, then almost certainly put that money there instead.

Do you have sufficient liquid investments to cover a very bad financial storm (extended job loss, unexpected medical bills, etc)?
If not, then put your money there instead

If you had an equivalent amount of money to invest, would you put it towards something that gave you a 3% return?  If not, then invest your money elsewhere

[bryan995]

With inflation and historically low fixed rate interest rates (<3%), no, it does not make sense.

Paying off a mortgage early is an emotional decision, not a mathematical one.

[SweatingInAR]

Do not pay extra toward your mortgage, especially if you only plan to be there another year or two.

Even if you plan to stay there forever, make sure you are completing priorities 0-7 of the investment order first!

I do agree that having a paid off mortgage is nice before FIRE, but I do not agree that paying a little bit extra each month is the way to do it. I believe that you should invest that money, and then you have the option to sweep it into your mortgage once you are ready to pull the trigger.

I used to pay extra monthly, but successfully broke myself of that habit! Any time I am tempted to pay more toward my mortgage, I put it into one specific brokerage account invested in VTSAX. I convinced myself that at some point in the future, that account will exceed the balance on my mortgage and I can consider cashing it in. Understanding "Mental Accounting" and other Behavioral Pitfalls of investing can be used for positive things!

Now that I've been doing this for a few years, I don't think that I will ever pay it off early!

[Dicey]

Sixty one pages of reasons not to...

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/dont-payoff-your-mortgage-club/

[DK82]

Man I love this forum.  I read often but rarely comment.  Thank you to every one of you who responded and helped guide me! 

[cool7hand]

With inflation and historically low fixed rate interest rates (<3%), no, it does not make sense.

Paying off a mortgage early is an emotional decision, not a mathematical one.

+1 on this sentiment. Even if it doesn't make mathematical sense, you should keep your fire journey moving forward in the way that best fits your own psychology.

[Dicey]

With inflation and historically low fixed rate interest rates (<3%), no, it does not make sense.

Paying off a mortgage early is an emotional decision, not a mathematical one.

+1 on this sentiment. Even if it doesn't make mathematical sense, you should keep your fire journey moving forward in the way that best fits your own psychology.

Sure, but your psychology can change. I used to think paying off the mortgage was the way to go. One Saturday, I made my huge mortgage payment in the bank, in person (remember those days?). I was elated to have paid an extra $100 to principal for the first time ever. Next errand stop was the library. On the "New Items" shelf was a copy of Ric Edelman's, "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth". The first chapter is the most concise list of reasons NOT to pay off your mortgage that I'd ever heard of. Mind blown.

I still couldn't wrap my head around it, until I began dating a guy who had much more wealth than I. Despite earning much more, he had "only" put 20% down, and was not making any extra payments on his home. It took a lot of explaining and patience on his part, but I finally absorbed the lesson.

BTW, that book is terribly dated now, but the first chapter is still pure gold. It should be available at the library and possibly Project Gutenberg, IIRC. The first chapter is a quick read and it's still all you need to know. Unless you're hard-headed, like I was.

[Chris Pascale]

If you like paying extra, do it. The math doesn't have to be perfect.

[trollwithamustache]

I'm gonna say everyone here is wrong why you shouldn't pay extra. It is not about time value of money. Tying up that cash in VTSAX like most of the slow mortgage pay off club could sink your battleship.

Moving and buying/getting a new place in a year or two will potentially cost you a lot of money, so having Cash on Hand means you have the option value to do what you want to do.  The more cash you tie up in the house, the more your next place is contingent on the sale of this one and the less option value you have from your wealth. 

[nereo]

I'm gonna say everyone here is wrong why you shouldn't pay extra. It is not about time value of money. Tying up that cash in VTSAX like most of the slow mortgage pay off club could sink your battleship.

Moving and buying/getting a new place in a year or two will potentially cost you a lot of money, so having Cash on Hand means you have the option value to do what you want to do.  The more cash you tie up in the house, the more your next place is contingent on the sale of this one and the less option value you have from your wealth.

How exactly does that make all the other responses “wrong” - the majority of which were urging to NOT pay down the mortgagw