Why would you pay down a 4.5% mortgage when you could, theoretically, receive a better return in the markets?

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I’ll preface this with the disclaimer I may be missing something obvious but considering these assumptions:

– a person has a mortgage (at say 4.5% today) and they choose to pay that off monthly (not interest only)

– the opportunity cost of this investment would be a conservative 6%/year in ETFs or REITs (of course this is tentative and an average over the long run)

(See for return references: https://www.fool.com/research/reits-vs-stocks/)

Why would a person choose to pay down their mortgage rather than invest in the markets? The pros of greater liquidity in the markets and greater diversification in REITs seem to make it the preferable choice?

For context, I am a 24M considering the best route to financial independence for myself and future family.

Thanks in advance.

In: Economics

29 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

This is the rent vs buy dilemma. Probably if you rent and invest the difference, you end up ahead in the long term. However, the peace of mind of having your place sometimes is better for some people, also most people aren’t disciplined enough to rent and invest the difference religiously, if you have a mortgage you pretty much have to pay.

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