According to the best financial advisers:

“‘If you paid your mortgage off, it means you probably did not manage your
funds efficiently over the years,’ said David Lereah, chief economist of the
National Association of Realtors and author of ‘Are You Missing the Real
Estate Boom?’ ‘It’s as if you had 500,000 dollar bills stuffed in your
mattress.’ He called it ‘very unsophisticated.’ Anthony Hsieh, chief
executive of LendingTree Loans, an Internet-based mortgage company, used a
more disparaging term. ‘If you own your own home free and clear, people will
often refer to you as a fool. All that money sitting there, doing nothing.’”

Well, it’s not exactly doing nothing. It’s saving me from having to write a

big fat check to some mortgage banker every month — a thing I got really,

really tired of doing. But, hey, whaddo I know? I’m a fool.