Would you sign up for a 50-year mortgage?

[marylander1940]

Mortgage Calculator from Bank of America

I just sent this to a friend, the 50 year is not even included but at least they tell  you up front, it would be a fixed mortgage for the first years and adjustable after.

 

[+ PhileasFogg]

On 7/1/2026 at 7:03 AM, marylander1940 said:

Mortgage Calculator from Bank of America

I just sent this to a friend, the 50 year is not even included but at least they tell  you up front, it would be a fixed mortgage for the first years and adjustable after.

 

I wouldn’t do it.   Extending amortization of debt can be a crutch to prop up a lifestyle.   Look at all the people underwater on cars because they extended debt to 7 yrs or longer.   I wonder what happened to all those folks in Japan who signed up for 100yr  mortgages when that was hot 40 yrs ago??

Debt can also be a tool - especially on appreciating assets - acting as a hedge against inflation.   Variable rate debt loses the hedge characteristics and is hard to use in a long term plan.  Imagine signing up for a 50 yr. mortgage at age 40 and then having your rate increase materially at age 70! 

[BSR]

3 hours ago, PhileasFogg said:

I wouldn’t do it.   Extending amortization of debt can be a crutch to prop up a lifestyle.   Look at all the people underwater on cars because they extended debt to 7 yrs or longer.   I wonder what happened to all those folks in Japan who signed up for 100yr  mortgages when that was hot 40 yrs ago??

Debt can also be a tool - especially on appreciating assets - acting as a hedge against inflation.   Variable rate debt loses the hedge characteristics and is hard to use in a long term plan.  Imagine signing up for a 50 yr. mortgage at age 40 and then having your rate increase materially at age 70! 

50-year mortgages also have higher interest rates compared to standard 30- and 15-year mortgages.  If you add a percentage point or so and then stretch interest payments out over 50 years, you end up paying a helluva lot more in total interest on the loan.

[+ Charlie]

I wonder how many people with 50 year mortgages actually pay them off?

[+ PhileasFogg]

4 hours ago, Charlie said:

I wonder how many people with 50 year mortgages actually pay them off?

The average mortgage historically had a 7 yr duration.  Trade up, move, etc. But that was measured over decades of declining rates.  Now, who knows 

[+ sniper]

On 11/25/2025 at 9:47 PM, JamesB said:

 

Inheritance is a miscalculation.

The phrase comes from the economist Franco Modigliani, who argued that in a well planned life cycle, people intend to use their savings during their lifetime. According to his theory, individuals save money while working and then spend those savings once retired, aiming to end their lives with little left over. So when someone leaves an inheritance, Modigliani suggested it usually means they overestimated how much they needed to save, or did not spend as much as planned. In that sense, the inheritance is not the goal but rather the result of an error in predicting expenses, lifespan, or future needs.

Nobody can estimate perfectly what they will need because the future is unknowable. For the most part, you have little way of knowing if you will live perfectly independently and drop dead the minute your savings runs out, or if you will need one to ten years of skilled nursing care, or 30 years of paying people to do the things you can't etc. So in the absence of a truly robust social safety net, individuals need to save quite a lot if they want to be sure they'll be okay.