Good questions and it's one of those "it depends" answers again.
Personally if I had a fixed rate - LOW - mortgage there's no way I'd pay it off or make extra payments.
The interest is tax deductible so your real cost of money is even lower than the "rate" you're paying.
Saving for IRA/401K is "tax deferred" growth and income. Even better if you get company matching participation!
ROTH is TAX FREE GROWTH AND INCOME
Your payment is fixed... so with inflation - your costs are going DOWN...
Time with dividend reinvestment and TOTAL RETURN is on your side to double or triple or quadruple your investments... and without the time on your side you'll never get that kind of return.
The "key" to homeownership WAS (note that key word - WAS) supposed to have growth of the home value... and when you calculate that return on the actual money invested (down payment and payments) you're getting the growth of the home price without having much of an investment.... etc. If it's paid for - and the value only goes up the average 4% a year -- then that's all you're making on your money and you can't spend it.
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