Primary house is paid off. Seeking advice on next step.
I will set up my question with some background info. I am married and 31 years old. I have 4 rental properties ranging in value from 135k-170k. Between these 4, I have approximately 140k in equity. I do not take any money from these. My primary residence is valued at around 230k. I have recently paid it off. With no house payment, I have bumped up my 401K Roth contributions to get to my max for the year ($18,000). I also have bumped up my health savings acct, which is completely non taxable income, to hit my max contributions for year ($6,750). I also contribute $5500 a year for Roth IRA. I give my financial advisor $1500 a month for some stock investments. I am adding to my savings acct as I go also, but it is not as much as it would be if I hadnt bumped up these contributions obviously. I am at 14.5% returns lifetime on money with financial advisor. My 401K is at 16% returns over the last 5 years. This leads me to my question. I think I know what the most popular answer will be, but I will ask it anyway. Should I lower my investment contributions and focus that money towards getting in properties faster? Should I consider an equity refinance on my primary home of maybe 150k or so and look to get in more properties faster? I worked hard to get my house paid off fast and obviously saved hundreds of thousands in interest. After listening to several episodes of the BP podcast, I am wondering if I am wasting that equity in my home. Sorry this got long winded, but I wanted to give some background info and explain what i was thinking. I would love to hear some opinions and feedback.
Thanks, JP
Most Popular Reply
It appears your strategy was to aggressively pay off your house. Why change your strategy?