{"id":5992,"date":"2015-06-05T04:34:51","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T11:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paladinregistry.com\/?p=5992"},"modified":"2015-06-05T04:34:51","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T11:34:51","slug":"best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best (Safe) Investment You\u2019ll Ever Make &#8211; Paying Down Your Mortgage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for peace of mind, and significantly improved monthly cash flow?\u00a0 This could be a great time to pay down or pay off your mortgage.<\/p>\n<p>There is a certain sense of euphoria that comes with paying off a mortgage, or making the last payment on a car loan.\u00a0 Your monthly expenses drop significantly, and you now have cash flow for savings, spending, or maybe working just a little bit less.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/retirement\/retirement-in-america\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Retirement<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span> is much more achievable if you own your own home.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at some different options for &#8220;safe money.&#8221;\u00a0 30-year fixed mortgages average about 3.9% in the greater Philadelphia area, according to <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">BankRate.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Meanwhile, current rates for 1-yr CD&#8217;s average 0.27%.\u00a0 Five-year U.S. Treasury bonds yield 1.5%.\u00a0 Five-year fixed annuities pay about 2.5%, depending on the issuer.<\/p>\n<p>Comparatively speaking, you may be paying a higher rate on your mortgage than you are receiving from some of your investment holdings.\u00a0Carrying a mortgage does offer a tax deduction on the interest paid each year.\u00a0 However, this tends to decline over time, and may be reduced further if you are subject to <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/Businesses\/Small-Businesses-&amp;-Self-Employed\/Alternative-Minimum-Tax-%28AMT%29-Assistant-for-Individuals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Depending on your situation, it may be possible to obtain a greater tax benefit by paying off a mortgage, and increasing monthly contributions to a 401(k) or other retirement plan.<\/p>\n<p>This all suggests that owning low-rate bonds and CDs might not always make sense, particularly if you still have a mortgage.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that it is always good to have a small nest egg available to cover life&#8217;s surprises, but if\u00a0you want\u00a0real stability and security, it may also\u00a0makes sense to own the roof over your head.<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure: Information contained herein is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment advice.\u00a0 Consult your advisor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>To learn more about James Lee, view his <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/financial-advisor\/wilmington-delaware\/James.Lee\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Paladin Registry profile<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for peace of mind, and significantly improved monthly cash flow?\u00a0 This could be a great time to pay down or pay off your mortgage. There is a certain sense of euphoria that comes with paying off a mortgage, or making the last payment on a car loan.\u00a0 Your monthly expenses drop significantly, and you now have cash flow for savings, spending, or maybe working just a little<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":5997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[765],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-finance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Best (Safe) Investment- Paying Down Your Mortgage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pay off your mortgage and get that certain sense of euphoria. Your monthly expenses drop significantly, and you now have cash flow for savings or spending.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best (Safe) Investment- Paying Down Your Mortgage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pay off your mortgage and get that certain sense of euphoria. Your monthly expenses drop significantly, and you now have cash flow for savings or spending.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paladin Registry Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-05T11:34:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/mortgage-paid-off1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Lee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@stratfi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PaladinRegistry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Lee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/\",\"name\":\"The Best (Safe) Investment- Paying Down Your Mortgage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/personal-finance\/best-safe-investment-youll-make-paying-mortgage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/mortgage-paid-off1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-05T11:34:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-05T11:34:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.paladinregistry.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6ea91a08318f4dff181121d7143a13a6\"},\"description\":\"Pay off your mortgage and get that certain sense of euphoria. 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