To The Death

I am one of "those." I am one of "them."

I enjoy paying my mortgage every month. I enjoy it because that big pot of gold is inching ever closer the more I pay into it. Every month, if I have some extra cash lying about, I throw it to Ditech, my mortgage service provider.

Ditech must love me. Not once, not once, since I refinanced with them in 1999 have I called them, had a question, had a problem, tried some creative payment shit, nothing. I just paid on time every month. Was there any "service" they provided me? No! I paid my bills and that was that.

Never buy into this mendacious bullshit that company B provides superior mortgage servicing than company A. Just pay your fucking bills, slick...and it won't matter.

Remember I was hoping GMAC would fall apart as they are the financing arm of our now bankrupt GM (yes, that GM...the GM who profits more from financial vehicles than motor vehicles). I was hoping for a total collapse so I'd be resolved of ever having to pay back my mortgage. It never happened. I was hoping because I'm American -- I'm entitled to unearned riches and I should be allowed to just walk away from my obligations.

Nonetheless, I think I've decided to end my twelve year long mortgage payment parade once and for all -- I'm going to cash out 1/13th of my IRA and pay it off in September. My financial advisor, who I meet with next week, will likely try to talk me out of it and I know why -- I lose 10% in penalties and I'll have tax consequences of a withdrawal while still employed...I might lose 15-25% off the top to do this. But I'm only talking about $23,000 -- I am willing to risk this.

I'm willing because he has me invested heavily in equities, because he's a long term buy and hold Republican with faith in a market rebound. I, on the other hand, am a doomer who thinks that this last 6-month rally off the bottom is set to drop further...that we ain't anywhere near out of our recession; that earnings based on cost cutting rather than growth isn't going to keep our equity markets up; that jobless claims and mortgage delinquencies haven't slowed or stopped but will continue to arc downward.

I am going to bet a portion of my retirement that we're gonna see another market drop, and if that drop is as much as the penalties and taxes I'll be paying to pull cash out, then I'll be doing good. I am betting that deflation will continue with us for some time and the less debt I carry the better. I only pay $120 a month in mortgage interest so there's no big loss in losing that write off ($40 a month? Please.)

This will be a fascinating experiment! Will my personal desire for the wholesale destruction of our economy force my hand? While I own 19% in precious metals should I risk the remaining 81% to the whims of our stock markets even though I hope they're gonna collapse?

Fascinating!