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Author Topic: Pay down mortgage or save for retirement?  (Read 6461 times)
pedanterast
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« Reply #30 on: July 30, 2008, 12:12:25 PM »


 However, it would be worth looking into the terms on which you could borrow money from your own IRA, especially the Roth IRA since you won't be taxed on that again (i.e. it's post-tax dollars going in, so there's no tax hit taking it out).

Remember, though, the that the Roth has to be in its fifth year of existence to make penalty free withdrawals of the contributions.
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ideagirl
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« Reply #31 on: July 30, 2008, 08:20:48 PM »


 However, it would be worth looking into the terms on which you could borrow money from your own IRA, especially the Roth IRA since you won't be taxed on that again (i.e. it's post-tax dollars going in, so there's no tax hit taking it out).

Remember, though, the that the Roth has to be in its fifth year of existence to make penalty free withdrawals of the contributions.

Right, but if we're talking about taking money out of the Roth to pay for college of children who are currently little kids, that's not a problem.
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dr_crankypants
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« Reply #32 on: July 31, 2008, 08:50:25 AM »

For what it's worth, paying off my second mortgage was really satisfying.  It was great to pay off the debt, but it was even nicer to have that "extra" money each month that no longer needed to get paid to the mortgage company.  (It feels a bit like a pay raise!) 
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« Reply #33 on: August 07, 2008, 10:32:39 AM »

Here's what we've decided for now: 

We're stopping the IRA, 529 and emergency fund contributions, and funneling all the extra money towards the mortgage.  With those changes, my calculations suggest that we'll be paid off in about 28 months.  We're also investigating the possibility of selling some underperforming mutual funds (tax implications, ugh) to put toward the thing.  There's also the possibility of tightening our belts to save even more money, but frankly, I do believe in all the stock - live a little, your kids are only young once, etc. - sayings. Besides, our only real extravagance is the older kid's activities, and we're not willing to give that up.  And I always have a good chance of teaching summer school, and never budget that money for regular things, so that's more extra cash.

Thanks for all the input.  Very thought provoking.
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ideagirl
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« Reply #34 on: August 07, 2008, 04:04:10 PM »

Here's what we've decided for now: 

We're stopping the IRA, 529 and emergency fund contributions, and funneling all the extra money towards the mortgage.  With those changes, my calculations suggest that we'll be paid off in about 28 months. 

You are keeping up the 403(b) contributions to get the employer match, though, right? Assuming that's the case, congratz--this sounds great.
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