[greglepore]

I retired early. Have enough in the bank that I'm covering living expenses without invading pricipal, for now. We've not had a mtg. in 10 years, have a small farm in Pa. Keeping up with the work here and the winters have become a chore, so last year we bought a single floor retirement home in Va. Financing was too good to pass up, low 3%'s and Wells basically paid the bulk of our closing costs.

Our current home is under contract and should settle in August. Our initial plan was to use the majority of the proceeds to pay off the Va. house mtg and bank the remainder. A back of a napkin calculation, however, seems to indicate that at 3-4% return the revenue on my settlement proceeds would cover about 85% of my annual mtg payment (assuming that the interest deduction would offset any income tax on the investment if I put it in something other than a tax free bond fund).This would appear to be a financial no brainer, right?

But...I get tremendous peace of mind from not having debt. Really no debt. Older cars, no cc balance, nada.

Am I being foolish?

If it matters, I'm 59. 3 kids, but they all have some cash from inheritance, no student debt etc.