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Here is the next installment in our theReader’s Questions Serieswhich highlight questions emailed to me by you, the readers ofMoney Q&A. This one deals with whether you should pay your mortgage off first or invest for retirement. Be sure to find out at the end of this article how you can receive a free copy of Dave Ramsey’s book,The Total Money Makeoverif your money question is chosen to be featured inan upcoming blog post.
If you’re not familiar with Dave Ramsey’s book, you should run right out and get it. It is one of thebest personal finance booksthat everyone should read. Now….on to our reader’s question.
Should you follow Dave Ramsey’s baby steps to the letter? Or, can you switch them up a little bit? For example, one reader just asked if he should use $2,000 per month to fund his retirement or pay off his mortgage early?
This is a great question, and it is one that a lot of people struggle with when they tackle in Dave Ramsey’s seven baby steps. Should you do all the steps in order? Should you delay investing to pay off debts? Do you really need to invest 15% of your income for retirement?
These are all great questions. I asked Zack a few more questions over email these past couple of weeks to get more of the back story. After fully funding his emergency fund, he will have $2,000 per month to either invest for retirement or pay off his mortgage early. Here are a few more questions he asked me about.
He asked, “Should I pay extra $1,000 per month on the mortgage and put $1000 per month into Roth IRA for each of us? Or, pay the total $2,000 per month on the mortgage and $0 into the Roth IRAs and be done with the mortgage four years earlier?” Is it a big deal to delay investing in the Roth IRA for four years?
This is not exactly your cut and dry financial problem that a planner would face. There are quite a few moving pieces to Zack’s situation and back story that goes along with his family’s individual situation.
It is important to remember that each family’s situation is different, and all of the different aspects need to be weighed in order to come up with the best possible outcome. This can also be difficult if you’re living paycheck to paycheck.
Some of the other factors that made Zack’s case unique were that he already had $350,000 in a 401k retirement plan, no children living at home, a wife earning a military pension, and several other factors.
So, with all of that being said, here are a few things to consider about Zack’s own personal financial situation.
How Much Does Delaying Retirement Savings Hurt?
One thing that Zack has going for him and his wife is that they are very close to retirement age, and they have already been saving some for their retirement. Zack told me that he is 50 and his wife is 52.
If you were just starting out and in your 20s, delaying the start of your retirement investing could be disastrous, but delaying in your 50s isn’t much better either. If we assume that Zack and his wife will retire at the age of 65, he would have 15 years to invest in a Roth IRA if he started now at age 50 or he would only have 11 years if he delayed investing.
Putting $1,000 per month into two Roth IRAs for Zack and his wife for 15 years earning an average annual interest rate of 8% would grow those Roth IRAs to $346,000. That is quite a lot of money to forgo in order to pay your mortgage off.
How Much Do You Save In Interest Prepaying Your Mortgage?
One great aspect of Zack’s plan is that he will add a $1,000 monthly principal payment to his mortgage even if he invests in a Roth IRA. But, should he skip the Roth and double his extra principal payments to $2,000 monthly?
When Zack told me about his plan to pay off his mortgage early by paying the extra $2,000 of monthly cash flow that he and his wife have coming in, he said that doing so would help him pay off his house four years early. His mortgage balance is currently $225,000, payments are $1,300 each month, and his interest rate on his 30 year fixed rate mortgage is currently 4.5%.
Typically, at these levels with these specific details about his situation, Zack would pay off his 30 year mortgage without adding any extra principal payments and would pay $185,000 in total interest over the course of the 30 years he had the mortgage.
If he started paying extra to his mortgage according to his plan starting in 2014, he would save approximately $57,000 by paying an extra $1,000 per month or approximately $76,500 by paying an extra $2,000 per month on his mortgage.
Wrapping It All Up
On a $225,000 mortgage with an interest rate of 4.5% for 30 years, Zack would only pay $185,415 in interest payments and a total bill of $400,415 for his house ($225k + 185k) when he decideswhich bill to pay first. While $185,000 in interest payments is nothing to sneeze at, they are a drop in the bucket to the potential $346,000 nest egg he could build investing in a Roth IRA.
Speeding up his mortgage payments and throwing large sums of money at his mortgage may make him feel better, but it most likely is not the best use of his resources. Zack’s mortgage rate is so low that it would be a better use of his capital and a betterbill to pay firstif he earns a higher rate of return on his investments.
In most cases, he would not even save enough in interest than he was putting into his mortgage payments since most payments at the end of the mortgage are comprised of more principle than interest anyway.
In the end, you should definitely follow the Dave Ramsey baby steps in order. They are set up for a specific purpose based on years of data collected. There is a reason that investing for retirement comes before you payyour mortgage off completely.
Past Readers’ Questions:
- Is A $1,000 Emergency Fund Enough To Start?
- How To Prioritize Which Bills To Pay First
- Should You Put Your Emergency Fund In Mutual Funds?
- How Do You Start Saving If You Live Paycheck To Paycheck?
- How To Find A Payment Plan Without Cutting Necessities
- Is My Money Safe In A Bank?
- What To Invest In After The Company Match
Do you have a money question that you would like to ask? Email me your money, investing, retirement, savings, or other question to Questions[at]MoneyQandA.com. If I pick your question for the next article in the series, I’ll send you a free copy of Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover, or you can pick from any of these other free books instead.
Thank you all so much for all of the questions! I would really like to turn this into a weekly series of blog posts answering your questions every Monday. So, please keep them coming!
