That was the "advice" of exactly one person. Did you read the other replies?

I agree with sushipup. There's a lot of nonsense from clueless people in that linked page.

The best reason to refinance a mortgage is if you can get a lower interest rate or more affordable monthly payments (if that's necessary). Increase the principal balance ONLY when it's used for a similar purpose, like buying a second house. Otherwise, leave your mortgage alone and get on with your life.

The "author" (if we're referring to the same one) is a huckster/salesman who sells personal financial products. A "Leverage Planner"? Give me a break.

Cash out refinance is never a good idea unless you are forced to even for health reasons. As far as having a "Mortgage Freedom Account" it is better to just pay additional each month unless you plan to move. The rebalance equity out of your house to a "safety reserves account growing in a principal protected/insured manner" is conning stupid people. I can not even say uneducated since most know that nothing is safe. Only thing that is safe and insured are Treasury Bills and Bonds which hopefully are safe. Any other product other than a bank account under the FDIC does not exist. I noticed all of the " " marks. To bad this sounds so much like what happened leading up to the 2008 crash.

Don't go too far thinking about the "safe" notion, maifleur. Many prudent and diversified investments (much but not all of available stocks, funds, bonds, etc) aren't safe in an absolute sense but they don't also need to be. Even the most conservative choices of these kinds have given returns many multiples of what a bank or Treasury obligation can provide. To me, the "risk" of inadequate return is more real and more frequently incurred. Principal losses in an absolute sense over time are rare for a diversified investor, no matter how modest the nest egg is.

Right. Sounds like a pitch. You don't need a mortgage freedom account. At your age you want to have money outside of your home equity, and outside of your 401k, so that you have choices when life throws you a curve ball.

If every dime goes to paying down your mortgage, how would you fare if you became unemployed?

We used to make 13 payments a year. It cut years off our mortgage. But we only did that after we had savings, and after 401k contributions.

Some people advocate using debt to buy other investments. I don't know about that.

Good luck!

Safe was a sarcastic comment aimed at the OP. Their post was probably to draw people into whatever they were selling. But more likely one of those work from home schemes where people purchase a list and leave info or phone random numbers to find a sucker.

He did use an interesting phrase. "He owns a mortgage" which is different from having a house or condo.

I think you're one of the regulars who's good at spotting the odd/thinly disguised conners. You may be right, that could be what's happening, I don't pay attention.

Rereading your comment, I don't see the sarcastic tone.

Before I retired I did research of all kinds but specialized in financial statements. I always try to look for the odd things.

"The simple, unwashed advice is to rebalance your equity OUT of your real estate... probably to at least 70-80% of the total value, and move the funds to safety reserves growing in a principal-protected/insured manner."

Sounds good, until market tanked, and you had already "rebalanced" your equity OUT of your real estate at market high.

Now you have to move, but the current real estate value is only a portion of the value during market high, even with the balance in "your mortgage freedom account" you could not repay the mortgage that you had refinanced. What would you do?

I remember the one person who provided the advice was banned from Gardenweb. I wonder how many people took his advice and later lost their homes.

At your age, the smartest thing to do with your money is to increase your earning potential by getting more education, training and experience at your chosen career.

Thank you all for your comments. Azmom I should expand my knowledge and education. Good advise.