Dear MarketWatch, My wife and I are both retirees. As of now, we have an IRA worth $800,000-plus, which is untouched, and stocks worth $600,000. We are receiving pensions and Social Security, amounting to about $9,000 a month, but have two mortgages that aren’t paid off. Our primary mortgage has $42,000 left with a 2.5% interest rate, but the second mortgage is at $160,000 with 8% interest.
I want to know if I should pay my first and second mortgages by selling stock. One-third of our retirement funds goes toward the mortgages alone, and if I add up all our expenses, almost two-thirds are being spent. I am now 70 years old and was thinking of starting to withdraw from my IRA at 73. Should I wait or tap it now? Paying off both mortgages would bring us into the 22% tax bracket and eventually raise our Medicare premium. See: I’m 71 and can’t decide if I should pay off my mortgage or get a joint annuity that’s cheaper — what should I do? Have a question about your own retirement savings? Email us at [email protected] Dear Reader, You don’t have to pay off your mortgages by selling your stock. There are a few ways to go about this. One mortgage, let alone two, can be anxiety-inducing for retirees, since many are on fi …
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I want to know if I should pay my first and second mortgages by selling stock. One-third of our retirement funds goes toward the mortgages alone, and if I add up all our expenses, almost two-thirds are being spent. I am now 70 years old and was thinking of starting to withdraw from my IRA at 73. Should I wait or tap it now? Paying off both mortgages would bring us into the 22% tax bracket and eventually raise our Medicare premium. See: I’m 71 and can’t decide if I should pay off my mortgage or get a joint annuity that’s cheaper — what should I do? Have a question about your own retirement savings? Email us at [email protected] Dear Reader, You don’t have to pay off your mortgages by selling your stock. There are a few ways to go about this. One mortgage, let alone two, can be anxiety-inducing for retirees, since many are on fi …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]