Should You Carry a Mortgage into Retirement?

The brief’s key findings are:

• More than 1 in 5 households aged 60-69 in 2007 had a mortgage and had sufficient assets to pay it off.

• Paying it off makes sense unless a household:
• can earn a risk-free return that exceeds its mortgage interest rate; or
• cannot satisfy its demand for risky assets without borrowing money.

• Few meet these exceptions, so the payoff option is the best bet.