Discover the tips and strategies that will help you achieve your retirement goals.

I'm your host, James Canole, and this is the podcast dedicated to helping you retire well.

It all starts right here of Ready for Retirement. I'm your host,

James Cannell. And before we dive in today's episode, I wanted to give a quick shout out and a

thank you to everyone that has been leaving reviews on Apple. I know that Google and Spotify don't really allow you to leave reviews, but for those of you

listening on Apple Podcasts, thank you for doing so. If you have not already done so, I always appreciate

it. And just wanted to highlight one of the recent reviews that came in that says, I listen to

every major retirement podcast, roughly 15 or so weekly, and this one is among the very best. Simple, easy advice

for the entire gamut of investors, novice to expert, great show. That is from USAF Perio. Thank you very

much for that feedback. So just wanted to say thank you before diving in to everyone who is

leaving reviews. If you've not already done so, please do that. If you're enjoying the show,

it means a lot to me. It allows more people to find the show, and I really appreciate that.

So with that being said, we want to jump into today's episode. And for today, we actually have

a listener question that we're going to be going through. And here is the question from the listener.

It says, good morning. Some background on us. We live in California, and we have a

portfolio valued at $3.25 million with another $600,000 on lump sum contributions coming in the next

two years. We are looking at a $10,000 per month income stream for retirement. Social Security will

be deferred for 66 for my wife and until 67, maybe 70 for me. Distributions are set to begin in August.

I have a question. We have a $163,000 mortgage, which we pay $900 per month on, and the interest rate is 3.35%.

I'm 59 years old and have been retired since 56, and my wife is 62 and will be retiring this July.

Would it be better to pay it off or let the $163,000 work in our portfolio over the next 21

years?

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