Retirees Should Think Twice About Paying Off the Mortgage
   Text Size   Published: Monday, 26 Sep 2011 | 9:41 AM ET By:
Shelly K. Schwartz, |Special to CNBC.com  Indeed, mortgages
consume 20 percent to 30 percent of the typical household’s
fixed expenses.  While some maintain that using savings to pay
off one’s mortgage is unwise, as it leaves you less cash on hand
for unexpected expenses, such as medical costs and home repairs,
Anthony Webb, the research economist who authored the Center for
Retirement Research study, believes that argument lacks
validity.  Households “need to consider what they would do if
the bad event actually happened,” he writes. To wit, how they
“would maintain their mortgage payments once their financial
assets had been spent.”  Remember, too, says Bedel, you can
always take out a home equity line of credit on your paid off
home, which can satisfy the need for cash reserves.  If you
can’t pay off your mortgage in full without depleting your nest
egg, says Fierstein, at least shoot f