Pause IRA contributions for 5 years to pay off house… Yes/No?
I feel like this is sort of the age old question of whether to pay off the house versus save and invest, but I’ll ask anyways.
Currently my 30 year mortgage is $1200 and ends in 2053. Three months ago, I started paying an extra 800 per month. At this rate, I would pay off my house by 2036 (12 years, not bad).
My wife and I both put 20% of our paycheck into a 401k. We also max out our IRA each year.
If we kept our 401k contributions, but held off both of our IRA contributions for 5 years and put that money towards our house each month ($2,000 towards principal), we could pay off our house by 2030.
So what are the Pros and Cons to pause our IRA contributions just for 5 years to pay off our house? We are both in our mid-thirties.
Edit #1: We purchased our home this summer with a 5.65% interest rate. Paid $415, put down a bunch, now owe $180ish.
Thank you for all the great responses. By the sounds of everyone’s responses, it seems like I will stick with our Roth IRA contributions and aim for the 12 year pay off.