I wish people wouldn't have the sentiment, "It's the mathematically incorrect thing to do, but it makes us feel better."
It's not mathematically incorrect. It is a choice. You're trading higher expected returns (based on historical performance) for lower volatility.
And this is a choice that pretty much everyone makes on some level. Even the mathematics of mortgages master race does this as they aren't likely refinancing the outstanding balance of their loan into a fresh 30 year mortgage at every possible opportunity.
I probably posted this earlier, but there is a lot you could be doing in order to leverage debt into capital investments. Most people draw the line at a certain point though. My line was drawn at maxing out the 401k and IRA. Time to throw money at the mortgage until I come up with something better.
Well said. To add to this (and to agree with an earlier poster), many people who choose to pay their mortgage off early may not have been as gungho to throw that much money at stocks (even index). In that case emotion/ motivation does have a real mathematical impact. We are biological not robotic, and even though emotion gets a bad rap in PF, sometimes emotion drive us to make better decisions...sometimes more so than logic. As someone earlier mentioned, logic dictates if we live in some shack with multiple roommates, we can save more money. However we may not be motivated to do so for very long and that's when logic stops at the edge of the paper. Some people are more wired one way or another and that's why it doesn't make sense to tell someone (who you don't know) that it's better for THEM to put their money into something else (especially when often times there's only a nominal difference in outcome between the two...and rarely consistent and never 100% predictable) and assuming because it might work out on paper that it will play out so in real life. It's one thing to lay out the facts and say you prefer one method, and another to try and convince or belittle someone into believing that one is the more correct option. Even when we all have the facts, it's still up to us individually to decide which is better for us.
30 years is a long time....even if that is the standard mortgage term. 1 pound of feathers = 1 pound of lead and 30 years is still over a 1/3 of the average human lifespan. So for me, 30 years is a long spread to determine that historically something is "worth it". I admit I am fickle-minded and I tend to go on spurts of wanting to invest in this or that, or start my own business, and it's that aspect of my personality that makes me hesitant to invest in something that I might need to ride out for possibly years, or lose money if the timing of the market doesn't coincide with the timing of my whims.
For me it's more than feeding my emotions. It's about control. I don't disagree that historically investing in the stock market is a good thing. I do have a ROTH, IRA and a 401k, but for now and in the long-term future, that's all I see myself investing in market-wise. I think index funds are great for the long-term view, for someone with steady and conventional employment, who doesn't expect to need intermittent access to large amounts of capital before they retire.
Also, the original poster simply asked if folks regret paying OFF the mortgage...so why does almost every dissenting reply assume everyone pays it down with an extra $1 per principal per month? Or that we all have $500k houses? I made my first mortgage prepay in December (6 years into a 30 year loan), and have already reduced it by $10k, with about $45k to go and plan to have it paid off in 18 months from the first prepay, to pay off. I'll be 32/33 when it's paid off and will have plenty of years of investing ahead of me should I change my mind. We all have different goals in life. I prefer to invest in real estate but don't earn much money. Paying off my modest mortgage is the only way to get my DTI ratio low enough that I can qualify for a decent 2nd property to rent out. Sure I could apply that to a higher DP on the 2nd property, but then I would have 2 mortgages and therefore 2 liabilities. Sure I could put it in the market, but I'm not throwing $50k in 18 months into the market, when I know I will need access to every cent of that $50k in 3 years or less...and every 3-5 years thereafter until an undetermined date.
You all don't know people's circumstances. Rarely do people who pay off their mortgage accuse, or even think of traditional investors as silly simpletons...however that seems to be the common sentiment against those who choose to pay off their mortgage early, without knowing their story. One equation (no matter how steady or accurate) does not solve every problem and if you think it does, then you are incorrect.
I wanted to add...some people are not seeking "the most". Some people find that idiotic, and that's sad. I am a mindful, calculating (for good, not evil), intelligent person, and while I don't have all of the answers, I live my life purposefully and try to only engage in things (financially especially) that support that vision.