[Supertacks]

I am interested in getting some opinions from some of the folks on the boards. I think there is a good mix of folks in my situaion all the way up to retirement age.

I know conventional thinkers and money managers will tell me this is a bad idea. But so far I am not sure.

I am 44, wife and two children ages 4 and 3. The idea is to cash out enough money from my retirement investments to pay off my mortgage. I realize I would be paying a penalty plus income tax on the money as incomed earned for 2008.

I have a reasonable mortgage rate at 5.35. Over the life of the note I will be paying 98K in interest. My early estimates put me at about 45K in penalties and income tax on the early disbursement.

The easy math suggests that over the life of the note, the difference of 98K minus the 45K in penalties and taxs in 08 still provides me a net gain of 53k.

The real value to me is the financial independance of owning my home free and clear.

This would free up a significant amount of cash to re-invest on a monthly basis as I see fit. (I am discplined enough to do this)

I know a lot of folks that are retired and do NOT own their homes. The biggest single obligation they have is their mortgage.

If the economy goes south as bad as some predict, and I own my home. I could make ends meet on a 10 dollar an hour job.


It seems to easy to me. What am I missing?