All true Glen. The points I was trying to make are that too many people invest in "safe" things which don't offer growth that you need for the long term. Second, if you are investing in major companies on a regular monthly type basis you should not worry if the market goes down. Actually when the market goes down you are ahead of the game as your fixed dollar investment buys more shares. You should not care what the share price is on a daily or monthly basis, in the long-term good companies will go up. Thus, if you can buy shares at a lower price be happy. Last, those that are retired still need to be partial in equities to avoid the ravages of inflation.

Exactly. Dollar Cost Averaging at its finest. I'm a big believer in owning some individual dividend paying stocks and setting the diividends up to buy more shares and adding to solid holdings during market corrections / sales.

 

What many people fail to realize is that a large part of the total return of the stock market (S&P 500) is due to the compounding effect of reinvesting dividends.

Sorry, but I don't see the words "seize" or "force" there any where. Lets stay on the topic that the OP started.

 

Mabe you were thinking of this:

 

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/no-government-401k-takeover/

 

They were talking about removing any advantage of a 401k and letting you "voluntarily" move it over to a GRA.  That's as close to seizing as makes no difference and it is germane to the topic as it brought up a fear about the government and their goal to take everything they can scarf up.

Malsua, I don't think it is even close to "seizing" assets. The government proposed an automatic IRA /Retirement account for employees who's employer offered no retirement savings plans. They suggested one investment option among what would probably be several choices. The plans were to be sponsored by private enterprise (Fidelity, Vanguard, Merrill Lynch, etc) and not the goverment.

 

No where does it say ANYTHING about seizing assets. Yes, people would be forced to save a little bit of their income but it would be all theirs.

 

If you are referring to something else please post a link to a credible source and I would be happy to read it.

I know this conversation has now veered into conspiracy land, but I do wish people would apply some logic to this issue.

 

The US retirement plan market is around $23T as of roughly this year. Sure someone may greedily eye that pile but anyone proposing to touch it will be found dead in a ditch not because  of random US citizens but because the international banking and investment industry would make sure to put anyone suggesting such a thing into the ground. Not to mention they wouldn't pay for their elections in the first place.

 

Let me put it another way, no one wants the stock market to go down even a little bit because in their mind that is all that matters, but they are going to pull trillions out of it to sell more treasuries which they already sell to themselves without anyone batting an eye? That makes no sense what so ever. The national debt is never getting payed off, there is no sense in doing so or burning bridges to do so. 

If you are referring to something else please post a link to a credible source and I would be happy to read it.

http://www.gpn.org/bp204.html

 

Please digest it.   Understand what they are saying here.

 

 

The plan calls for all workers not enrolled in an equivalent or better defined-benefit pension to enroll in a GRA

 

I.e.  You are REQUIRED to be part of it unless you have a defined benefit pension, a.k.a. a cushy pension.

 

 

Tax breaks for 401(k)-style plans and IRAs will be converted into flat tax credits

 

I.E. That "tax break" you got for investing in your 401k will evaporate.

 

When you die?  It's an immediate 50% haircut.  That's a pretty big seize right there.

 

What part of this are you missing?   The government would suck out all of your 401k money and invest it in treasuries.  It's no longer YOUR MONEY, it's now their money and you now have an annuity from the government by which they can choose not to pay whenever it becomes inconvenient to pay.  Oh, they would pay but it'll just be Social Security part II.   "We don't have enough money, so you're only going to get 63% of your money".

 

I agree that it would have been political and probably literal suicide for them to do this, but thieving it was exactly what the plan was.  

 

Watch for bits and pieces of this to come to fruition as time goes by.  This is how these people think.  They can't get the entire thing at once so they chip away at it until the difference between where they wanted to go and where we end up is indistinguishable.  The MYRA plan is step 1 and it's already in place.

 

And for what it's worth, they'll simply wait until the market crashes and offer to give you the value of a GRA equivalent to your 401k at a period some time before the crash if you voluntarily move your money over and most people will do it "voluntarily".  Once enough people are in it, they'll eliminate 401k and IRA accounts.

 

Again, I'm not saying that this is politically possible, I am saying this is what they want to do. "They" meaning the kleptocrats in government.

 

What part of this are you missing?   The government would suck out all of your 401k money and invest it in treasuries.

 

This is the part that makes ZERO sense. Taking money out of the stock market at that scale is idiotic and scares the crap put of them. They don't need your money to invest in treasuries, that's what intragovermental holdings are for and monetizing it is what QE was about.

 

Forcing the US public to invest in treasuries is actually not something the US government needs to do, they already worry we are saving too much and not spending or "investing" enough.  Zero or negative interest rates are in place to basically push you away from treasuries anyway. If anything the "government will take you savings" red herring is used to scare people into spending their money instead of saving it to bumping up the quarter's GDP by a bit.

Exactly. Dollar Cost Averaging at its finest. I'm a big believer in owning some individual dividend paying stocks and setting the diividends up to buy more shares and adding to solid holdings during market corrections / sales.

 

What many people fail to realize is that a large part of the total return of the stock market (S&P 500) is due to the compounding effect of reinvesting dividends.

this exactly what I do. I pick soldid low risk stocks that pay good dividends. #1 rule is diversify your investments. Then I play around with some high risk stocks that keep me focused on the markets everyday. So I play both long term and short term. The best way to set up your investments is such that when one side of your portfolio loses the other side wins. Over long term its hard to loose out unless the market crashes, and you always make a return on dividends.

 

The bad part about all of this is you don't want to wait to start getting your money to work for you. But you need to be patient and understand the market. All the gurus who make a killing in the market will tell you its all about timing and patience. These guys buy when the market is down and everyone is selling..

Malsua, if nobody gives you any new tin foil for Christmas, let me know and I'll pick some up for you.  Your hat is getting a little thin......

Let me tell you a thing or two about financial advisers.

 

(Pre-apologies to anyone reading this who is, or whose favorite brother in law who has made them half a million dollars, is a financial adviser).

 

From 1997 through 2001 I worked for an internet company. I won't say which one but it was a high flier. I was employee # 72 or so and was given a very modest number of stock options. As the company rose from around $17 (offering price) to $35, eventually to god knows what ($1200 split-adjusted comes to mind), I could see what was happening. The company was poorly run and had no plan to justify its $11 billion valuation.

 

I couldn't do anything about this particular company but cash in the options as they came due. At the height I was able to buy a Camry with one quarterly check. I wasn't making much in salary, I'll admit.

 

At the same time I had some money in my children's college accounts. Again, not a tremendous amount but surely enough that anyone reading this would bend over to pick it up

 

My "adviser" at the time was with Dean Witter. Reputable firm, no? 

 

Knowing what I knew about my own company I told this adviser, right before the crash, to sell everything. He prevailed. "Angelo, what are you expecting a meltdown?" He won the argument but as the meltdown unraveled my kids lost $25,000. 

 

Meanwhile, when my company (from which I'd been laid off) was sold its split-adjusted price was 0.00017 cents. From $1200+ to 0.00017 cents.

 

Subsequently, in 2004 or so, I was talked into meeting with an adviser who advised me -- after wasting many hours of my time -- to buy houses and mortgage them to the hilt. I was smart enough to ask him to leave and never come back or call me again. Had I followed his advice I'd now be living in a cardboard box.

 

The truth: If you have fifty years the stock market is probably the best place to be. Maybe even real estate. But it is possible, as happened with me in 2001 and 2008, to lose an awful lot of money. When I get calls from financial advisers today I tell them "Thanks, but I'm perfectly capable of losing my own money."

 

As Burton Malkiel noted in his classic, "A Random Walk Down Wall St.," nobody can or has figured out the market. You might as well throw darts at Barron's. Statistically impossible. Are there lucky investors? Definitely, but just as many lose their shirts.

 

Unless you inherit $$$ or are lucky enough to participate in a market like 2008-present and are smart enough to sell at the top and buy back at the bottom the key to comfortable retirement is working hard and saving. There are no short cuts. The financial wizards don't know shit. If they did they'd already be rich instead of having to tout investments for a middle class wage.

 

As noted you have plenty of time before retirement. Cut unnecessary spending and save that money. Every other time you feel like eating out buy a cooked chicken at ShopRite and put $100 into your bank account, or just throw it into a jar. Don't buy expensive cars and don't lease!! Refinance your mortgage if you have one to 15 years. That will enable you, starting at age 61, to save your current mortgage payment in its entirety. Pay off all your debt, not just the high-interest stuff. Instead of sitting on your ass watching 3 hours of commercials that constitute NFL games get a second job, even if it's for $10/hr, and bank that money. $40/week is $2,000/yr. 

 

If you have the discipline to do those things you'll have a ton of dough in 20-something years. If you don't no financial adviser on earth can help you.

Newtonian is right about a few things, specially that advisers work for themselves, not you.  My suggestion in getting one is mostly to explain what is what and what options cost what and what the legal implications are. Ultimately you are never going to get anyone to care about your money more then you do, so you will need to make your own decisions.

Newtonian, the adviser is an adviser not a dictator, you need to be actively involved too.  You had "inside" information knowing their were issues with the company.  Further one should never have all or most of their eggs in one basket.  You have learned a difficult lesson in diversification.  But on the positive side you have learned.  The other thing to remember is that sometimes bulls make money, sometimes bears make money, but pigs always get slaughtered.

 

The other thing is it pays to be a contrarian.  When the masses are plowing into the market and taxi drivers are giving you tips its time to sell as the market is likely at a top.  Conversely when there is blood in the streets and everyone is telling you how things can only get worse it is time to buy buy buy.  That is the secret to making money in the market - buy lo sell hi.  You will never hit the exact highs nor lows, but doing what others are not is a good way to win in the long term.

 

The other way to do well is to put money into the market every paycheck - dollar cost averaging.

 

Keep in mind that none of us know where the market will be at any point in time, so you have to be careful not to be locked into the market at a time when you may need cash and it might be down.  One thing for sure, don't bet against the long-term value of the US economy.  The economy will go up and down, but you have to assume that at some point in the future it will be bigger and stronger, and it will if just simply due to population growth.

Newtonian, Vlad & Howard all make good points to keep in mind. My financial philosphy is to dollar cost average (constantly buying a fixed amount every month), reinvest dividends and nobody is going to know your finances or have your personal interest as their primary concern more than YOU.

 

Start setting aside a fixed amount into a handful of low fee mutual funds each and every month. Put it on auto pilot (for the most part) and FORGET ABOUT IT. To have a nice next egg 20 years from now the secret isn't timing the market but TIME IN THE MARKET.

 

Another good book to read is "The Millionaire Next Door" and Peter Lynch's 1st book....will find the name later.

 

Time in the markets, diversification, consistency of dollar costs averaging and patience are all the tools you need to start building a more secure financial future.

 

Don't wait. Start doing something now. It's not too late.

"Time in the markets, diversification, consistency of dollar costs averaging and patience are all the tools you need to start building a more secure financial future."

 

Couldn't have said it any better...

Be smart with your money and make it work for you...

"Time in the markets, diversification, consistency of dollar costs averaging and patience are all the tools you need to start building a more secure financial future."

 

Couldn't have said it any better...

Be smart with your money and make it work for you...

 

Thanks, I should have added low cost mutual funds.  It's sickening/frightful how much even half a percentage point in fees can eat away at your money/portfolio over a few decades.

 

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/investingtruths/investing-truth-about-cost

You guys all make very good points.

 

Contrary to one comment, though, I have always been diversified. But diversity didn't help in 2000-2002 or 2008-2010. I should also note that Peter Lynch's first book was written when the market was quite a bit more honest than it is now. 

 

My experience with XYZ company proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the stock market is -- I wouldn't say crooked or fixed, but it is certainly not honest. The three XYZ founders and a guy who they brought in as CEO made around $400 million between them. You've heard of one of these guys through his connection with the democratic party. Hell, the several tens of thousands I made were not earned in any sense of the word but skimmed off the investment account losses of you, your parents, your uncles and cousins. 

 

OP has approximately a 20-25 year window of opportunity. You can cherry-pick 20-25 year windows where stocks did poorly. You can also pick great two-decade performances but at current valuations, and with the honest-to-goodness economy doing as poorly as it is, I would not bet on Apple or Google or anything else to double in that time (a 3-3.3% annual return, by the way). 

 

And again, OP's investment funds have to come from somewhere. If he can save $5k/yr for the next 25 years he'll have $125,000. If he stays debt-free and pays off his house he'll have a lot more. If he hands that money over to a financial adviser hoping for a miracle he may have $300,000, or $30,000, or nothing.

 

Just my two crotchety conservative cents. 

Your assuming OP already owns a house. Even if he does, you can't eat equity in your house and it's not a liquid asset. You're also putting all your eggs in one basket by having your house being your biggest asset.

 

I'm not saying home ownership is bad. It's not.

 

Plus your experience with "XYX" company is another example of what could happen if you don't diversify. What would have been your returns if you hadn't purchased shares in your company & instead had dollar cost averaged into a handful of mutual funds back in 1990 whatever year it was, not sold and continued dollar cost averaging to now? Prob pretty darn good. Even if someone had started dollar cost averaging at the market peak during the Dotcom Craze and dollar cost averagd over the next 15 to 20 years to today you would have a tidey sum stashed away.

 

Yes there are risks in investing in the financial markets. Especially when you don't start early. But the likelyhood of "losing it all" if you diversify, educate yourself, stay in the markets & don't try to time the markets or react emotionally is rather slim.

 

And if all the major indexes do fall to zero, we'll have much bigger things to worry about. And that's why we have guns and a stash of ammo.

OP,

Based upon the parameters laid forth in your original post, in your place I'd go with Vanguard Target Retirement Fund 2035, symbol VTTHX, in a traditional, not Roth, IRA. It's highly rated by Morningstar and it's a simple, one stop shopping solution. Do it before you complete and file your 2014 return. You've gotten a lot of other opinions and you will get more. This is just mine.

Your assuming OP already owns a house. Even if he does, you can't eat equity in your house and it's not a liquid asset. You're also putting all your eggs in one basket by having your house being your biggest asset.

 

Plus your experience with "XYX" company is another example of what could happen if you don't diversify. 

You can't eat the equity but you can eat quite a bit from not having to pay a mortgage. I'll gladly take out a home equity loan if you can tell me where I can get GUARANTEED 7% or 8% or whatever they charge in interest. Even 5%. You cannot. By not having a mortgage I'm saving close to $1200 per month. Where am I going to make that from the loan proceeds of a house that's barely worth 1.5x what I paid for it 25 years ago? That's the reality of real estate in God's country. Whatever I am saving by not paying a mortgage is guaranteed. GUARANTEED. I have calculated the return at 6.5%. Please tell me where I can get that return these days without worry, and I'll go to the nearest mortgage broker tomorrow. Well, Monday.

 

You didn't read my previous post, or I did not communicate correctly. I made a ton of money (by my standards) on my non-diversified stock option account in XYZ. Even if the price went down, I didn't pay for the goddamned shares. What I lost a ton of money on was my diversified account with Dean Witter, and a few years later in an account I was managing myself. As you may recall the entire stock market crashed about 13-14 years ago. Ditto in 2008. Many of those companies never came back. 

 

Unlike most investors I am not ashamed to admit I got hosed overall. I'm not a stupid guy, but aside from the freebie I got through pure luck, and despite all my research I almost certainly lost money over the years. I doubt that with few exceptions many people reading this have done any better. 

 

Work hard. Cut expenses. Save. 

 

Once you hit a certain age, if the stock Joey Nine-Fingers Mozzarella, your financial adviser, touted to you goes down you still have your dough. 

Your assuming OP already owns a house. Even if he does, you can't eat equity in your house and it's not a liquid asset. You're also putting all your eggs in one basket by having your house being your biggest asset.

 

I'm not saying home ownership is bad. It's not.

 

Plus your experience with "XYX" company is another example of what could happen if you don't diversify. What would have been your returns if you hadn't purchased shares in your company & instead had dollar cost averaged into a handful of mutual funds back in 1990 whatever year it was, not sold and continued dollar cost averaging to now? Prob pretty darn good. Even if someone had started dollar cost averaging at the market peak during the Dotcom Craze and dollar cost averagd over the next 15 to 20 years to today you would have a tidey sum stashed away.

 

Yes there are risks in investing in the financial markets. Especially when you don't start early. But the likelyhood of "losing it all" if you diversify, educate yourself, stay in the markets & don't try to time the markets or react emotionally is rather slim.

 

And if all the major indexes do fall to zero, we'll have much bigger things to worry about. And that's why we have guns and a stash of ammo.

Jesus. I didn't ever buy a single share in my company. I was given them. I knew all the C-level execs. I would never have bought shares in a company so mismanaged, by such a mishappen band of fukcen idiots. Yikes.

.... What I lost a ton of money on was my diversified account with Dean Witter, and a few years later in an account I was managing myself. As you may recall the entire stock market crashed about 13-14 years ago. Ditto in 2008. Many of those companies never came back. 

 

Not sure how you lost a ton of money in a diversified account, unless you panicked and sold at a loss.  Just about any solid company your bought even before the the internet boom and bust of before 2007 is most likely worth a lot more today than when you bought it.  Now I am talking about solid Fortune 500 companies, not speculative stocks.  Sure if you were in such companies as MCI, Citigroup, AIG and a few others you could have lost a ton, but they should have never made up more than a few percentage points of your total investment.  Further, when everyone is saying the end of the world is coming that is the time to be plowing money into the market.  When the world was ending in 2008-2009 I was picking up lots of stock in companies like Ford, JP Morgan-Chase, Bank of America and many others.  Take a look at a chart of the Dow over time and you will see that if you dollar cost average into the market it is very hard to lose money.

 

As you can see below, even if you put every cent you had into the Dow at its peak of roughly 14,000 in Oct 2007, it would be worth 18,000 today 7 years later.  That is a 29% return without including the value of dividends or the growth of reinvesting those dividends.  Further, if you had continued your dollar cost average investing during each and every month in that time you would have made a killing.

 

Newtonian - "GUARANTEED" means no risks. No risks equals no rewards. The only thing you are GUARANTEED with no risk/safety is that inflation will eat away at your "savings".

 

While such guranteed / safe investments are not the best place for one's long term money it still beats having having nothing set aside for the future.

hey...i'm gonna do a slight hijak of this thread.

 

 i keep getting these "pre-approved" letters in the mail to refinance my home. both for a lower interest than what i'm paying now, and obviously a lower payment.....as in nearly sliced in half. i keep getting calls from my mortgage company for the same thing. the calls are to my cell phone, as that's what they have on file for me.....all say that it's through HARP.

 

 my question.........they seem to be trying awefully hard to get me to refinance.....and i know they ain't tryin' to do me any favors. so....what's the catch to stuff like this? are they for real?

There is only one thing that is will lead to success.

 

Only one thing.

 

Only one rule.

 

You must have automatic savings deducted from your income. Forever. Nothing else will do.

 

Stocks? Bonds? Mutual funds? Fee based advisers? All great options and decisions that can make the most of your investment. Could double your outcome if chosen wisely.

 

But if you pump gas for the next 40 years at $9 per hour and put 10% of your income under your mattress you will be filthy rich when it comes time to retire. That is the only rule.

 

Obviously it would help to do better than keeping under your mattress, but that is secondary. Einstein said that compounding interest was one of the greatest miracles of mathematics. That doesn't mean a damn thing without automatic savings.

 

BTW, if you are strapped and can't save 10% of your income, do 4%. Increase it 1% every year until you hit 10%. It won't impact your lifestyle that way, and a simple spreadsheet analysis will show it's not that bad in the long haul. And it's a heck of a lot better than not doing it.

hey...i'm gonna do a slight hijak of this thread.

 

i keep getting these "pre-approved" letters in the mail to refinance my home. both for a lower interest than what i'm paying now, and obviously a lower payment.....as in nearly sliced in half. i keep getting calls from my mortgage company for the same thing. the calls are to my cell phone, as that's what they have on file for me.....all say that it's through HARP.

 

my question.........they seem to be trying awefully hard to get me to refinance.....and i know they ain't tryin' to do me any favors. so....what's the catch to stuff like this? are they for real?

If you are close to paying off your home ignore them. Just pay it off as fast as you can.

 

The catch is that the payments are lower but you are back to 15,20,30yrs of payments to clear the mortgage.

 

 my question.........they seem to be trying awefully hard to get me to refinance.....and i know they ain't tryin' to do me any favors. so....what's the catch to stuff like this? are they for real?

 

The guys selling mortgages make money when they sell one, not when you make your monthly payments. Thus they are really driven to sell you a new one, even if the bank loses money over time. The other part that many banks actually want to reduce the amount of money they are owed in mortgages, I know it sounds crazy  but there are balance sheet reasons.

 

Depending of how many years you have left, do it, specially if you can shave some years. Lets say you have 25 years left, refinance to a 20 year you might have the same payment and shave 5 years, or whatever math. Don't just look for a lower payment, look to reduce your debt. if you are at 28 years, then screw it, a 30 year won't sent you that far back and saves you some money.

hey...i'm gonna do a slight hijak of this thread.

 

 i keep getting these "pre-approved" letters in the mail to refinance my home. both for a lower interest than what i'm paying now, and obviously a lower payment.....as in nearly sliced in half. i keep getting calls from my mortgage company for the same thing. the calls are to my cell phone, as that's what they have on file for me.....all say that it's through HARP.

 

 my question.........they seem to be trying awefully hard to get me to refinance.....and i know they ain't tryin' to do me any favors. so....what's the catch to stuff like this? are they for real?

As others have said it all depends, especially on how long you have left to pay, how much lower the new rate is and how much it will cost to refinance.  If, after all costs are considered the return on investment, i.e. the cost to refinance is captures in a few years (1 -3 at most) it is probably worth it.  I usually plug the numbers into a spreadsheet and see what it costs vs. what I save. 

hey...i'm gonna do a slight hijak of this thread.

 

 i keep getting these "pre-approved" letters in the mail to refinance my home. both for a lower interest than what i'm paying now, and obviously a lower payment.....as in nearly sliced in half. i keep getting calls from my mortgage company for the same thing. the calls are to my cell phone, as that's what they have on file for me.....all say that it's through HARP.

 

 my question.........they seem to be trying awefully hard to get me to refinance.....and i know they ain't tryin' to do me any favors. so....what's the catch to stuff like this? are they for real?

Refinance at a fixed rate? Do they have adjustable-rate refis? Because if they're trying to sell you an adjustable they know that interest rates are rising. Well, I think we all realize that.

 

Tell me: What would you refinance for? To buy a boat or to get a lower interest rate? To blow $10k in AC or to shorten the term of your mortgage?

There is only one thing that is will lead to success.

 

Only one thing.

 

Only one rule.

 

You must have automatic savings deducted from your income. Forever. Nothing else will do.

 

Stocks? Bonds? Mutual funds? Fee based advisers? All great options and decisions that can make the most of your investment. Could double your outcome if chosen wisely.

 

But if you pump gas for the next 40 years at $9 per hour and put 10% of your income under your mattress you will be filthy rich when it comes time to retire. That is the only rule.

 

Obviously it would help to do better than keeping under your mattress, but that is secondary. Einstein said that compounding interest was one of the greatest miracles of mathematics. That doesn't mean a damn thing without automatic savings.

 

BTW, if you are strapped and can't save 10% of your income, do 4%. Increase it 1% every year until you hit 10%. It won't impact your lifestyle that way, and a simple spreadsheet analysis will show it's not that bad in the long haul. And it's a heck of a lot better than not doing it.

The f-ing voice of f-ing reason.

Newtonian - "GUARANTEED" means no risks. No risks equals no rewards. The only thing you are GUARANTEED with no risk/safety is that inflation will eat away at your "savings".

 

While such guranteed / safe investments are not the best place for one's long term money it still beats having having nothing set aside for the future.

Bullshit. As the poster formerly known as Phosgene has pointed out no risk does not equal no rewards; at age 46 it equals safety.

 

I have been making $1176 a month, guaranteed, socking it away, since I paid off my mortgage 2007. I know that money will be there this January 15, on February 15, March 15 (we used to pay our mortgage on the 15th if you haven't figured that out) come hell or high water, until I croak and beyond. It would not have been there if I'd stuck with my 30-year mortgage, or god forbid had refinanced like that asshole urged me to do 10 years ago so I could buy houses that would now be under water. 

 

Which one of you guys has made $1176 a month, $14,112 a year, after taxes, since 2007, from your portfolios? In other words more like $20,000 per year. Please post here. I will give you my first born son in return for the number of the genius who figured it out for you.

 

Yes inflation is a terrible thing, but you don't have to literally stick your money into a mattress (although the idea intrigues me). But don't you think that stock prices reflect inflation? 

Refinance at a fixed rate? Do they have adjustable-rate refis? Because if they're trying to sell you an adjustable they know that interest rates are rising. Well, I think we all realize that.

 

Tell me: What would you refinance for? To buy a boat or to get a lower interest rate? To blow $10k in AC or to shorten the term of your mortgage?

seeing as they're pretty much guaranteeing me a payment of about half of what i'm paying now....and the interest is significantly lower, as i mortgaged the house in 08........i was thinking for the lower payment....but then keep making the same payments i am now, with the balance going to the principle to pay it off faster. i hafta look again to see if it's fixed rate or not, as i don't recall......