I'm about 2 years from retirement. For the last 40 years I've kept my mortgage at about 70% f the value of my house, always refinancing when rates are favorable. I keep the money realized in the refinance in secure tax free investments. This has worked for me, I will continue until I need the income flow.
-- Peter Arnold Windsor, CT ----- Original Message ----- From: "WILTON" <wilt...@nc.rr.com> To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 9:51:58 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [MBZ] check your credit card due dates I'm 75; mortgage interest is only 4.25, but the thing that's really making me pause in paying off the $17k is income tax hit all at one time on the cash from the IRA. Wilton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Curt Raymond" <curtlud...@yahoo.com> To: "Diesel List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 9:03 AM Subject: Re: [MBZ] check your credit card due dates I thought about this one over night. I was going to suggest that mortgage debt is almost always "cheap" debt because its a tax writeoff and recently has been pretty low interest. Plus with the economy coming back an IRA may suddenly start making pretty good money. Thats the young person long view though. I forget, you're early 70s Wilton? Thats about time to start taking the IRA money back. My Dad just started drawing social security, he's 66 and still working. If he waits he gets more money of course but he did the math and he's got to wait 16 more years before its worth it. He decided he'll take the money now and bank it. Social security will be paying for the addition on our camp this year. Probably the most I'll ever see out of social security... -Curt Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 21:36:52 -0500 From: Wonko the Sane <don.b...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [MBZ] check your credit card due dates To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> Message-ID: <61dfb08b0908041936o661315f9uec30e59e29335...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Go for it. Be debt free, and the first of every month buy a Starbucks for some homeless person -- just to make the paranoid folks who might observe it wonder. As a warrior, I am sure you have way more "best experiences" than I do. I got to do 20 years and get to retirement without anyone shooting at me in anger. I collect my retirement pay with a sense of gratitude but also a sense of shame. But I said that to say this. In the mid 80s, there was an individual who used to hang out by the turn-in for the Woodbridge VA Ikea. Typical sign -- "hungry, will work for food" stuff. Saw him there for a few weks -- went to Ikea a lot. Never saw anyone else stop to even acknowledge him. I stopped one day and asked him to get into my Acura. Drove across the street to the Subway (same strip mall as the Ikea) and took him inside, and said, "Order whatever you want." He didn't ask me for beer money (as most of you would expect) and looked a bit stunned and ordered a 12" -- said half was for now, and half was for tomorrow's meal. A few of the "yuppie" folks in there gave him strange looks as he sat there and ate half of the sandwich, but 'to hell with them' -- he had his first good meal in a while, shared the experience with a new friend (me), and left with his stomach full for the first time in a while and the next day's meal taken care of. Why? Well, I have been pretty close to that man's position -- out of money (literally) and searching the couch for lost quarters to buy food until the next pay check. Nothing like "been there" to make one charitable. I have no idea what that story has to do with you being our of debt, but I would encourage your doing it. I'm pretty much there now and it feel very good. Don -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090805/f9140189/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090805/2659f4cb/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
