re: Convince me that paying extra on my mortgage is bad

My one cent...

It's not necessarily "bad", but as in the renting vs owning debate, the answer isn't always blatently obvious.

If you sleep better at night knowing your home is paid off, then that's something you need to quantify in the equation.

My personal bias is towards not paying it off early, as it's a long term debt paid off with money after inflation. However, for me personally I would need a substantial savings of liquid (cash essentially) assets (maybe 6-12 months worth of payments) to feel comfortable doing this...just in case of unexpected job loss, etc

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it just depends what the opportunity cost of that $5k is. If it would be making 10% and your mortgage is 6%, you're stupid to pay it off. If it would be making 0, then paying off the mortgage is equivalent to a guaranteed 6% investment.

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Agreed, but also consider the effect of taxes.
If you have emergency cash taken care of, I'd bet you're still better off putting the money in a 401(k) or Roth unless you're maxing that out already. Your break-even is lower with those because of the tax treatment. If you're worried about having cash on hand, stick it in the Roth since you can pull principal back out if you really have to.