I am new to MMM site & cannot stop reading—even though most of it is over my head. Personal finances have always been a huge challenge for my husband and I. And now that we finally have some money to invest, we haven’t a clue what to do with it.
In a nutshell, here is my husband’s and my situation. We are currently empty nesters & retired; my husband stopped working in 1997 age 41(now 57) due to medical issues, I (now 48) only ever worked part-time, but stopped working 2 yrs ago. Our income is Social Security Disability and we live comfortably. Our only debt is the house. At the end of the month we have between $500 & $700 left over. My question is what should we do with the money? Husband wants to spend it, (not going to happen because I control the money) but I am torn between paying off our mortgage and investing. Our current loan rate is 2.25%, our payment is $871/month (which includes taxes & homeowners insurance). Would investing be better for us? We live in California. For the last 2 years we owed/paid no state or federal income taxes. Would an investment be worth the new taxes & interest we pay on the mortgage? My thinking is that years down the road we may need more money simply because the older we get the less we can do on our own. Then there is inflation & who knows what is going to happen to health insurance in the states.