Wealth held in home equity is not liquid, and if your circumstances turn bad, you will not be able to borrow from your equity unless you already have a HELOC in place. Banks grant loans based on your ABILITY TO MAKE THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS, not just on the amount or percentage of your equity.

Home values are established by a market, not by you or your realtor. That means that your home is worth what someone is willing to write a check for. Home values only appreciate around 3% annually, depending on location. Plus, when you sell a house, you’ll only end up with about 92% of the sale price, minus any outstanding mortgage balance(s). The 8% goes to sales costs. So piling dollars into home equity, really only gives you 92 cents on the dollar.

If you were to put the money that would accelerate mortgage payoff into a Private Family Bank™, for instance, the money would be liquid, meaning you could get it in a matter of days, regardless of your circumstances or income situation. The money would be growing, tax protected, at a predictable and dependable rate (currently between 4% and 5%), and you’d have a death benefit, which would give your loved ones an even higher return on your premiums if you pass.

So the question really boils down to, where would that extra money best serve you?

Locked up in your home’s value?
In a pool of money that’s growing, that you access at any time for any reason tax-free?

The money in a Private Family Bank™ can be turned into an income stream in retirement, much like an annuity, which can help offset any continuance of the mortgage payment. That being the case, the actual cash flow cost of the mortgage payment continuing into retirement is lessened as it is by the continuance of the mortgage interest tax deductibility.

So, as you see, it’s not a simple black-and-white issue. Like most of life, it’s different shades of gray, and only you and your family can decide which shade you like better. The word that guides me in these types of decisions is FLEXIBILITY. Which way gives me the most ongoing OPTIONS?

At the core of Private Family Banking™ is a customized dividend-paying permanent life insurance policy which is used to create a money pool that you control. This policy is engineered to grow your pool of money even while you are using it to pay off a mortgage. – John Cummuta