So, long story short, my siblings and I inherited my parents' house, and I took on the job of paying off the solar panels. I didn't have enough to pay the balance in full (maybe half) so I just paid extra principal every month. Anyway, several years later, it finally dawned on me that the money I had invested had grown to more than the balance on the loan. The loan was only at 4% which would be a steal in today's economy, but I was so debt averse that I was paying extra on it instead of investing that money.

So now I just pay the bare minimum on it. Heck, even a money market would give me a better return.

[–] sevan 3 points 9 months ago

I'm also debt averse after 20 years of paying off student loans, car loans, and periodic credit card debt. At this point, if I had enough money in my brokerage account to pay off my mortgage, I would probably do so, even though the interest rate is low.

Also, be sure to include taxes when comparing rates. For example, last year I took a loan to buy a car at 5% interest and was also receiving 5% interest on cash in my brokerage account. It looks like a wash, but I have to pay tax on the the money market interest, so I was actually better off paying off the loan (which I did last week).