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Home > Don't have a mortgage when you are 60!

Don't have a mortgage when you are 60!

March 4th, 2009 at 02:56 pm

Things are really getting tough in this area. We are a mountain town and have grown a lot in the past 20 years. Most work here is involved with building and it has just stopped.
I have had two friends in their early 60's who have lost their homes in the past few months.
Yesterday, really hit home. I have worked with the head bookkeeper at the local building supply place for at least 15 years. I have paid my bills to her, she makes me copies, she does my notary work, etc. I was so upset when she was laid off last summer because things were slowing down, building wise.
We saw them at a picnic last summer. Our husbands had just gotten their building licenses for Georgia and we were all so proud. Her husband was working on a house and so was mine.


About 2 years ago they bought 10 acres and built a new house.
Now, her husband has finished the house he was building and she cannot find work. I heard yesterday that they cannot make the payments on their house, so they are being foreclosed on. I feel so badly for them. He is in his early 60's.

I have been critized a lot for paying off my home early instead of investing in stocks and mutual funds.
To be trueful, when I was young, I knew nothing about stocks and mutual funds. IRA's had not been invented yet. So, I paid off my house.

I can't tell you how good it feels to have my home paid for and know that I am not in danger of losing it. My dh is almost out of work too, he finishes his last house next week, but we will be ok.

I just reccommend that no one has a mortgage to pay when they turn 60!

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Don't have a mortgage when you are 60!”

  1. kdmoffett25 Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 03:01 pm 1236178879
    1236178879

    I don't even want a mortage at 35, but it will have to wait 10 more years or so and I will be doing your happy dance then!

  2. monkeymama Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 03:08 pm 1236179294
    1236179294

    I would definitely agree it is not a good idea to have a mortgage in your 60s! Unfortunately I know way too many people, out here, who do. Most of them have McMansions. So a side lesson is don't buy up. Not until you can afford cash for it anyway.

    As a side note, it annoys me to no end that people seem to think you have to have a mortgage well into retirement, or pay it off in your 30s. There is a LOT of middle ground. In the grand scheme of things "Pay it off before 60" seems to say it best.

  3. Aleta Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 03:38 pm 1236181136
    1236181136

    You are so right Ima. I am sorry to hear of your friends plight. Not a great thing to happen before retirement.

  4. nance Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 04:06 pm 1236182762
    1236182762

    My daughter's mother-in-law is seventy, and she has a large mortgage as well as a large home equity loan. She can't pay her bills, so her only son has to pay them for her. Fortunately, he can afford it, but it is wrong of her to live beyond her means and expect to be bailed out. It seems to be a sign of the times.

  5. Analise Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 04:29 pm 1236184173
    1236184173

    As a rule of thumb, it is good to pay off your mortgage by the time you retire. However, some folks choose to have a mortgage for a variety of reasons. One size does not fit all. My dh and I have a small mortgage on our CA home (payment is <10% of our monthly income), but our ID has no mortgage. In 5-6 years, we will either rent or sell the CA home and move to ID permanently. If we rent, the mortgage interest will offset our income and keep us out of a higher tax bracket. We also want to preserve our cash right now due to the economy. The important thing is that we live below our means and could pay off the mortgage if we had to.

  6. boomeyers Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 06:50 pm 1236192627
    1236192627

    Good advice. Pay it off as soon as you can1

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 11:00 pm 1236207627
    1236207627

    Good advice that I will definitely plan to use!

  8. Renee Says:
    March 6th, 2009 at 03:52 pm 1236354766
    1236354766

    I agree!!! My mother-in-law has three homes and has mortgages two of them??

    We still owe a lot on our home( 126,000.00)but we have no other debt. We are 39 years old with two children (15 and 12). I want to put a little extra on each house payment.

    I don't listen to broke people!


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