I'm a noob! Investment and Mortgage Questions??

[angelagrace]

Hi Mustachians! I found the blog recently and have been enjoying reading the posts (a bit too much, haha). It has got me thinking about our financial situation (although I guess I was already mostly Mustachian before finding the blog).

So, my husband and I are 27, no debt (except mortgage), and we just bought our second house (first one sold), and no kids yet, but kids soon. I'm wondering if we should be investing while paying down our mortgage (which we really want to throw money at furiously and pay off as soon as possible) or, if we should just focus on paying off the house for now. I get that investing young is smart for compound interest, but I have little to no experience investing.

My problem with investing in stock is I don't morally feel right about supporting any companies financially whose goals/methods/etc. I don't support morally. So, I don't want to just buy into a big mutual fund and not know where my money is going. I'm also very skeptical about the stock market and think we are facing another downturn in the next few years. I'd be happier picking stocks to invest in that I was happy to support.

I love the idea of investing in real estate and land, but we aren't there yet financially.

So, given all of those things, should we just be paying off our house ASAP, then perhaps save and buy some investment property (and possibly rentals)? I know MMM suggests investing in mutual funds but I just am not comfortable doing that with my beliefs.

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

[pksr]

There are various mutual funds and exchange traded funds that screen investments based on social / moral beliefs. An example is the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund (VFTSX).

Any of these funds will have (slightly to extraordinary) higher expense ratios, but if their screens match your beliefs, you may be in business.

Without any investing experience and with what sounds to be limited funds to get highly diversified, I wouldn't recommend direct investments in individual companies.

And finally, I would recommend investing in stocks rather than furiously paying off your mortgage. The return on paying off your mortgage is probably less than your expected return in the (socially conscious) stock market, but you could start slow to ensure you dollar cost average (google that) over time.

Good luck

[Cheddar Stacker]

I would invest, but I don't have any moral hang-ups about it and there are many others who would prefer to payoff debts as evidenced here.

You didn't mention any details though, so it's really hard to analyze. What's the interest rate? Do you have 401k's - if so read this.