Looking for some financial advice...

[bobarian]

Whether you go with a big company or a personal advisor, find someone with whom you are comfortable. Discuss your personal and family goals. Where you want to go will help determine how to get there. College tuition, future medical care for family members, a legacy for your children are all things to be considered. Seek guidance before you pay off your mortgage, sometimes payments are not a bad thing. It sounds like you are in a position to look at the big picture for your family, congrats.

[forgop]

Originally Posted by bobarian

Whether you go with a big company or a personal advisor, find someone with whom you are comfortable. Discuss your personal and family goals. Where you want to go will help determine how to get there. College tuition, future medical care for family members, a legacy for your children are all things to be considered. Seek guidance before you pay off your mortgage, sometimes payments are not a bad thing. It sounds like you are in a position to look at the big picture for your family, congrats.

I know some people advise against paying off a mortgage like that, but given what all of us witnessed in the last 2 years during the economical meltdown, there's nothing like owning your home outright. I'm a little less inclined to pay off the student loans at 4.25% when I feel like I could certainly get a better return on my money than that.

Even on unemployment as I am right now, I could still manage to put a little into savings every month if my mortgage were paid off even after taking care of food, utilities, student loan, and cobra insurance.

[PeteSB75]

The problem with paying off the mortgage is that it generally costs you less to pay the normal schedule than it does to pay it off. Even if your interest rate is 7-8%, once you take the tax deduction off the top, you are looking at 4-6% for that money, so it is very cheap, basically the cheapest debt you, as an individual, will ever have. If you refinanced within the last year or so, make that 4-5% and 2-3%. So, if you throw that money you would use to pay down the house into a mutual or index fund(I'd suggest an S&P 500 index or Russell 5000 Index unless you have multiple millions to invest) and assume the historical average return for the market - about 7% a year, you are making anywhere from 1-5% return on your money over what you would be saving in payments.

Obviously, this is your money and you should do what makes you comfortable. If you feel better about the opportunity cost and owning the house free and clear, do that. But make sure you understand what it is you are choosing and what the alternatives are.

[forgop]

Originally Posted by PeteSB75

The problem with paying off the mortgage is that it generally costs you less to pay the normal schedule than it does to pay it off. Even if your interest rate is 7-8%, once you take the tax deduction off the top, you are looking at 4-6% for that money, so it is very cheap, basically the cheapest debt you, as an individual, will ever have. If you refinanced within the last year or so, make that 4-5% and 2-3%. So, if you throw that money you would use to pay down the house into a mutual or index fund(I'd suggest an S&P 500 index or Russell 5000 Index unless you have multiple millions to invest) and assume the historical average return for the market - about 7% a year, you are making anywhere from 1-5% return on your money over what you would be saving in payments.

Obviously, this is your money and you should do what makes you comfortable. If you feel better about the opportunity cost and owning the house free and clear, do that. But make sure you understand what it is you are choosing and what the alternatives are.

Sure, my mortgage is only 4.5%, but the bigger issue is that my principal balance is down low enough that I may not even have enough interest paid to be more than my standard deduction, thus there's nothing to gain in that regard. On the other hand, if I were paying $10k/year in interest like when I started, I certainly agree with the concept of the tax advantage of the higher deduction.

All told, there will be ~ $515k. Certainly far from wealthy, but enough to get a good start and work my way there. It'll just be a huge piece of mind to put my head on my pillow knowing I'll never have to worry about being homeless compared to what so many other people have gone through.

[WyoBob]

I'd say talk to a number of different professionals: Insurance folks, bankers, personal investors.

And this would be the last thing I'd do. All of these entities make money off your money, a lot of times, without doing any work at all but collecting their commissions. No one has as much at stake in this inheritance as you.

An insurance agent will want to put you into annuities or whole or universal life. If you need life insurance, buy term.

Banker's? Look at the messes they've gotten themselves into over the last few years. When I was in the land/cattle business, I found banker's to be excellent contrarian indicator's, i.e. - do the opposite of what they advise. I also know of several very sad stories of people who's inheritance was completely wasted away buy a consortium of lawyer's and banker's and their fee's for "services rendered".

Personal Investor's? Like Bernie Madoff? Great line of work, though. They make guaranteed money on commissions or through management fees. Whether you make money or not is up for grabs.

The wealth you inherited accumulated over a long time. You don't have to be in a hurry to invest it. Put it somewhere safe and educate yourself to manage your own destiny. That could put you 1-5% or more ahead right off the bat. There are lots of resources out there. You will eventually want to open a discount brokerage. Schwab and Scottrade are a couple that I've done business with for quite a few years. Fidelity and Vanguard seem to have good reputations, as well. At least, when you call your own shots, you'll always know for sure who is responsible for your success.

WyoBob