Paying off mortgage

[stevegee58]

Someone selling financial services and earning his income through commissions, in my opinion.

I'm 30 years younger than you, and therefore won't presume to offer any financial advice about your own situation, but it sounds absolutely insane, to me (and I know my father would agree).

If my financial advisor disagreed with that, I'd be looking for a new financial advisor.

Fortunately he's not my financial advisor. We were shopping for one and sat down for a "free" 1 hour consult.

My father would agree with your father. Mine was a CPA so I learned frugality and prudent money management at an early age.

 

[Sig]

That depends upon how much money was spent to get the degree from the worst university in the country with no debt following graduation, vs. how much one had spent getting the MIT degree and being $10K in debt following graduation.

Which was the better value? What would the time-ROI difference be between those two choices, from time of entry into the respective colleges, and time to break-even on that investment? Not to mention the countless other variables that would go into that calculation. While the MIT grad is working to pay off his debt for the student loan, the lowly CIS BS student is now building up his savings and is investing some of it into retirement funds.

You realize how ridiculous you look flailing around here don't you. Let me summarize for you.
1. You made an unsupportable "never statement".
2. I disagree and provide 3 examples of "sometimes".
3. The examples are inconvenient for you so you ignore them.
4. I again point out the 3 examples.
5. They're still inconvenient for you, so you try to divert to another example in a stunning lack of basic logic.
4. I figure that maybe 3 examples was too many, too confusing, so I narrow it down to one.
5. You are then so set on not admitting, ever (see how I did that), that you could be wrong, that you try to argue that a degree that gets you a $10-25K signing bonus on day one in the Valley isn't worth as much as the same degree from the worst school in the country.

At this point you're disagreeing to be disagreeable, and making yourself look like a fool in the process. Remember, law of holes "if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging"!

 

[ironchef]

I just explained with 3 examples, do I need to spell them out for you, or are you just being purposely obtuse? Lets just go with one example, if that's easier for you. Are you better off getting a BS in Computer Science from the worst university in the country with no debt or graduating from MIT with the same degree and $10,000 in student loans? According to you, "Debt is not a good thing. Not now, not ever." I would say you would be the ultimate idiot to pass up the MIT degree over $10,000 in debt, and in this case if the debt enabled you to get a degree from one of the best schools in the world in that particular area it was in fact "a good thing".
Sure there are times when debt is a bad idea. I've no doubt you could provide many examples of times when it's a bad idea. However the statement "Debt is not a good thing. Not now, not ever." isn't proven by an example of when it was a bad idea, or even 50 examples. It is disproved however, by a single example of when it was a good idea. This is how logic works my friend.

Overnight understood what you said perfectly. He is a Millennial, he simply doesn't like debt no matter how good. I am a boomer, I like debt but paid off my house because I could.

To each his own.

 

[algofy]

Overnight understood what you said perfectly. He is a Millennial, he simply doesn't like debt no matter how good. I am a boomer, I like debt but paid off my house because I could.

To each his own.

Who the F "likes" debt??? This thread is unreal. Find another advisor, terrible advice from him and terrible advice from most people here.

 

[stevegee58]

Debt is a tool, plain and simple, just like a hammer. I like hammers and debt insofar as I can use them for something productive.

 

[Sig]

Who the F "likes" debt??? This thread is unreal. Find another advisor, terrible advice from him and terrible advice from most people here.

Again, I gave 3 examples.......if it's "terrible advice" then at least have the courtesy to explain why.

 

[ironchef]

Who the F "likes" debt???

If I can borrow at 2.5% (15 year mortgage in 2012), able to deduct the interest from my income tax @ 39% marginal rate, and get 3% - 8% dividends (e.g., HSBC in June 2016 paid 8.5% dividend rate) and only paid 20% marginal tax rate on dividend income, I love it. It is like free money from the IRS.

 

[Overnight]

...I am a boomer, I like debt but paid off my house because I could.

...

If you like debt, why did you pay your debt off?

 

[stevegee58]

If I can borrow at 2.5% (15 year mortgage in 2012), able to deduct the interest from my income tax @ 39% marginal rate, and get 3% - 8% dividends (e.g., HSBC in June 2016 paid 8.5% dividend rate) and only paid 20% marginal tax rate on dividend income, I love it. It is like free money from the IRS.

Are there any good discussions here or elsewhere about this kind of safe (relatively) dividend investing? I've been focusing on option spreads for so long I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[ironchef]

If I can borrow at 2.5% (15 year mortgage in 2012), able to deduct the interest from my income tax @ 39% marginal rate, and get 3% - 8% dividends (e.g., HSBC in June 2016 paid 8.5% dividend rate) and only paid 20% marginal tax rate on dividend income, I love it. It is like free money from the IRS.

I think the finance guys on ET have a name for it: A carry trade?