I’d appreciate the group’s perspective on a financial decision my wife and I are considering. Our remaining mortgage balance is approximately $300,000 at 3.5% APR. Fortunately, our business has performed very well, and based on our current projections, we expect to have enough available capital by the end of this year to pay off the mortgage in full. However, we’re questioning whether simply paying off a 3.5% mortgage is the best use of $300,000, particularly if that capital could potentially be deployed elsewhere to generate a higher return. For additional context, we expect to remain in our current home for approximately 10–12 more years, but this will not be our retirement home. We are currently considering three Courses of Action (COAs): COA 1 – Pay Off the Mortgage - Use the $300,000 to pay off our existing 3.5% mortgage. - Own the home free and clear, but have a significant amount of capital/equity tied up in the property. - Free up approximately $2,000 per month in cash flow that could then be invested or used elsewhere. COA 2 – Policy Loan + Invest the Capital - Borrow approximately $300,000 from our whole-life policy at ~6%. - Use the policy loan to pay off the existing mortgage. - Keep the original $300,000 in cash available for investment. - Target an asset or investment capable of producing approximately a 10% annual return ($30,000). - Pay the approximately $18,000 annual policy-loan interest from our existing cash flow. - Apply the approximately $30,000 of investment income/returns toward reducing the policy-loan balance. Conceptually, we would essentially be replacing our traditional mortgage with a policy loan while keeping our $300,000 working in another asset. COA 3 – Policy Loan + Invest for Cash Flow - Borrow approximately $300,000 from our whole-life policy at ~6%. - Use the policy loan to pay off the existing mortgage. - Invest the original $300,000 elsewhere, again targeting approximately a 10% annual return ($30,000). - Use approximately $18,000 of the annual investment return to cover the policy-loan interest. - Retain the remaining approximately $12,000 per year as additional cash flow. - Allow the $300,000 policy-loan principal to remain outstanding. - When we eventually sell the home in approximately 10–12 years, use the proceeds from the sale to pay off the policy loan.