As for dividend vs. growth stocks: I think the difference is minimal. If you reinvest your dividends, you are essentially telling the company to keep its profits, and make capital investment. So any dividend stock can be made to work like a growth stock. Same thing in reverse for a growth stock that has buy-back option. The only difference then, would be in what the shareholders expect, and how that influences the corporate direction.
About the early-mortgage payoff, my financial advisor put it this way: "No one ever got snippy with their spouse because they didn't have a mortgage payment hanging over their heads." Yes, investing in stocks may be better than investing in home equity. But investing in an end to all money worries is even better.
It's interesting to me how some people seem to see owning a home outright as, "an end to all money worries." For me, owning my home, with no mortgage, felt super risky. At least, if you have a mortgage, the lender is carrying part of the downside risk, while the homeowner is still entitled to 100% of the upside potential for growth. When you own the home yourself, if something bad happens, the risk is all yours. I feel much safer as a renter.
Why Your House is a Terrible Investment
I totally see your point, Shane, but I'm scratching my head at your Financial Advisor's comment. Huh?
Do you know that since he wrote that article, the esteemed jlcollins has purchased another house? Yup.
https://jlcollinsnh.com/2017/07/11/kibanda-mr-anti-house-buys-his-dream-house/
I love owning my own house. No one can give me thirty days notice. No one can jack up my rent at whim. I can paint anything any color I want. I can put nail holes anywhere I want. I can remodel or change anything I want to. I can have as many pets as I want. I can have a garden. I can remove the grass and put something more water-friendly in. I can add a fence, I can remove a fence, I can move a fence. I can play any kind of music at any volume at any time. Unless I'm the one making the noise, it is generally quiet. I have a huge garage and plenty of additional parking. I have room for guests. I don't have a lease. I can come and go as I please. If I want to move, I can sell or rent for a profit.
Yeah, it's expensive owning a house, and it can be a total pain in the ass, but it's totally worth it to me. JL Collins thinks so, too.
https://jlcollinsnh.com/2018/08/19/kibanda-part-5-pretty-and-pretty-much-done/
@Dicey Yeah, I took Jim's blog post against home ownership as more tongue in cheek than anything else. Jim says it's important to run the numbers to see if buying a property may be a good investment or if it's just an expensive indulgence. I know he bought a house on the lake a while back and has been fixing it up. Pretty sure Jim has clearly labeled his purchase of Kibanda, or whatever he calls it, as being an expensive luxury that he can afford but that he's under no illusions will, necessarily, ever pay off financially. Jim seems to be trying to keep costs down on the renovation to make it so, maybe, the place might not be a loss for him, but I've never read any claims that he's doing it because it will, for sure, be a moneymaking venture. Jim just likes living on the lake. He got what he thought was a good deal on a house in an area where he wanted to live, and he bought it, knowing it may end up just being an expensive indulgence.
I loved owning a house, as well, Dicey. I wouldn't trade those years of home ownership for anything, but I'm also happy, now, to not own a house. It feels great to be free from having to worry about big, unexpected expenses suddenly appearing out of nowhere. In retirement, I'm happy to have my expenses be more predictable. If a neighborhood starts to go downhill or taxes start going up, or whatever, we can easily just move somewhere else.
I realize this whole discussion of home ownership vs. renting is not, at all, the subject of this thread, and I apologize to anyone who is irritated by my bringing it up. The comment, above, attributed to somebody's financial advisor, that investing money in paying off a mortgage might lead to, "an end to all money worries," just seemed funny to me. If you own a property, there are always going to be expenses for predictable things like a new roof every so many years, repainting or whatever, but there are also going to be repeated unexpected expenses, like when your water heater starts leaking all over the floor and you suddenly have to replace it or when your aquarium gets a leak and the water damage costs $$ thousands to repair. Sometimes, insurance will cover unexpected expenses and sometimes not.