Hi All,
I'm a relative newbie here, but have been putting money into retirements for about 20 years. I'm approaching a cross roads, and I'm sure its been a topic here previously - so would appreciate thoughts and any good threads to review.
The two paths
Bold road: retire with stache + large, long term, lower rate debts vis a vis investment order logics
Safe road: smaller stache + low overhead, no debts, paid off home, etc.
So - I have loosely followed the bold road for my investing philosophy - without really overthinking it - tried to stay out of high interest debt, didn't worry about low interest debt, aimed to maximize tax advantaged investments.
my debt payments will be about 3000/month for the next decade or so. (Mortgage PI and student loans). To retire with those outstanding, would need an additional $864,000 invested to think about retiring, vs paying off about 400k in debts.
I could likely refinance to longest payback terms - extend the payback to 30 years - so really indefinite in terms of retirement planning - to maybe 2000/month and just need $576,000 in invested funds.
On the bold road, once the debts are finally paid - definitely find yourself in clover. But bold road is a long one carrying those debts, and economic and market forces might throw a spanner into things. I've been aggressive so far - but I am worried about a potential prolonged bear market.
I'm putting together my plan to retire in the next 5-10 years, and now is the time I need to decide on this. I see a lot noting paid off houses, then there is the keep your mortgage thread. How does one choose?