Why Do These Idiots Think A Mortgage Is Good For Your Taxes?

Today's rant....

Me: "So I've busted my ass and I'm gonna end up getting my house paid off next year. By my calculations I have saved about 90k on interest payments by making those extra mortgage payment."

Idiot I Am Talking To: "But wait, that's stupid, you are going to lose the tax deduction!!!"

     Nothing pisses me off more in finance than this conversation, which I have regularly, I'd say about weekly. Now don't get me wrong, there are reasons not to pay off you house early, the number one being, you can't. But others being your interest rate vs your investment portfolio, if it's a rental vs primary residence, and even these are disputable. But what is not disputable is this foul stinking pig shit that a normal guy or gal in a normal house with a normal job needs a mortgage for tax purposes.

     I bought my house, rather stole since it was during the real estate collapse with a mortgage of 180k. Minimum down with a 3.75 interest rate plus bull shit PMI. Running this through interest and PMI calculator the 180k mortgage would have cost me, the 180k principle, 120k in interest, and close to 20 fucking thousand in PMI payments!!! Total: $320,000.

     Now for the idiot I was talking/will talk to this week. The initial payments on the front end helped me reduced the bitch of a mortgage early to the point where I refinanced to a 15 but thanks to the extra payments when I refinanced my monthly was the same, on PMI alone I saved about 13k. I continued making extra payments and by the time I pay it off my total paid will be about $220,000 vs. $320,000. 100k saved. Now let's see why these idiots want me to not pay if off for tax purposes...

     Running my info through this site: https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/loan-tax-deduction-calculator.aspx which is stupid in itself as it propagates this is a good idea rather than simply telling the person the tax savings is a myth vs early payoff, it tells me my first year tax savings would be $2,633. Wow..... I would get $2,633 back! Whoohooo.... What's the problem then??? Hmmm.... let's see idiot, YOU PAID ALMOST $7,000 IN INTEREST. You are paying $7,000 to earn back $2,600 and you think this is a good idea???

      Let me tell you about a better idea, it's called the Mortgage Lottery, you've played lotto before right? My game the Mortgage Lottery is similar. You just bought a new house with a 30 year mortgage, but got an extra $3,000 somehow you weren't expecting. You put an extra $3,000 in the mortgage it's like a lottery ticket, only difference is that it is 100% guaranteed you win back at least $3,000. You save that money on mortgage interest and you pay down the principle. Why on Earth if you can would you not do that rather than pay double to get back a third???

      If you don't believe me by all means, run your own numbers, and stop listening to these idiots!!!!!