Beefcake wrote:
Or if you pay off your house, but maintain other debt, or don't maximize your savings for retirement, education, etc.
Home mortgages are subsidized by the government through the mortgage tax deduction (assuming you itemize), so the effective interest rate on a mortgage is 3-4%, which is pretty easy to beat with either bonds or stocks. So for many people, it makes sense to keep a large mortgage and invest any excess cash in retirement or other investment funds, rather than paying off their house.
Winner.
