re: Am I early retirement ready? Updated

Like i said, i'm conservative. People around here get too obsessed with capitlizing on every aspect instead of having financial freedom (debt free) for my comfort.

When I'm retired, I'm not going to be exposed to volatility. so 5% mortage interest would be a really big deal to my portfolio not to mention constraining my budget by a significant amount every month. Also, mortgage interest won't be a write off for most people these days given the change in standard deduction.

With no mortgage, I could retire sooner, on less savings and have less risk. The time for capitalizing on every dollar is "before" retirement for me.