Mortgage at retirement
What the engine does with any remaining home loan when you stop working.
Partially live. Some option values for this strategy are captured by ProjectFi but not yet consumed by the engine. The Intent-only chip in the dashboard reflects the same gap.
What it models
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Pay minimum: the engine continues making the scheduled mortgage payments from retirement cashflow. No extra principal.
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Pay it off at FIRE: the engine treats this as 'prepay with surplus'. Each retirement year, any cashflow surplus above the planned drawdown goes to extra mortgage principal until the loan is cleared. Not a lump-sum payoff at the retirement date.
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Use super lump sum at preservation age: leave the mortgage in place through the gap years, then clear it from super when preservation age unlocks access. Currently captured as intent only. Engine reads 'pay minimum' until this branch is wired.
When someone might apply it
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Some users pay it off at FIRE because they want to enter retirement debt-free for psychological comfort.
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Some users continue the minimum because the mortgage rate is below their expected investment return, so the spread compounds in their favour.
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Some users wait for preservation age because they want non-super to fund the bridge years and use super for the lump sum payoff.
Trade-offs
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Pay-off-at-FIRE (prepay with surplus) absorbs cashflow that would otherwise compound in non-super. On marginal-bridge profiles this can flip the projection from sustainable to not.
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Continuing minimum payments means retirement cashflow needs to cover the mortgage, which raises the projected drawdown each year.
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Use-super-lump-sum at preservation age is operationally simple but locks you into the mortgage rate during the bridge years even if rates fall.
Note: The 'use super lump sum at preservation age' option captures intent but is not wired to the engine yet. The engine treats it as 'pay minimum' for now. The Intent-only chip on the dashboard reflects this gap.
ProjectFi is a planning tool, not financial advice. Projections are estimates only. Please consult a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.