5 Questions: Paying off Mortgages, Financial Priorities, and College Savings Accounts

We answer your questions about mortgages, how to prioritize your finances, and college savings accounts.

1.  Why shouldn’t I pay off my mortgage as soon as possible?  Unless you get a huge windfall, chances are you can’t cut out years worth of payments.  So you might not be investing for twenty years because you’re paying every penny to the mortgage.  You also lose out on the tax break, you can write off mortgage interest.  If you’re investing and still have some leftover money, go ahead and put that towards the mortgage.

2.  What is a good way to set up a retirement account for my young nieces and nephews?  A trust is the best way to give money to children.  You can set the terms such as, the money can’t be accessed until age 25 or the money can only be used to pay for college.  This also removes any threat from greedy parents stealing the money.

3.  If I’m doing everything right, can I play with Loyal Three?  Loyal Three is a fee free investing tool to buy individual stock.  Invest in what you love but if you think you’re going to get rich off an IPO, you won’t.  So if you have some extra money to play with, why not?

4.  I have an extra $150.  Should I pay down my $3000 credit card bill or re-pay money I borrowed from my roommate?  You can dodge a credit card company but you can’t dodge your roommate.  Pay that money back.

5.  I’m a college student investing a small amount of money into Betterment and there is a $3 a month fee.  Would I be better off putting it into a savings account?  If it’s short term, a savings account would be better.  If it’s long term, check out Acorns, their fees for the lowest tier of investing are cheaper than Betterment.  Whatever you decide, well done for investing so early!

Thanks for the questions guys, keep them coming!

Show Notes

LMM Tool Box:  Everything you need to manage your money.

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