[alextheparrot]

> There's certainly a psychological benefit (for some people) to have the mortgage paid off; it's one less bill to keep track of, but of course, over a long period of time such as a 30 year mortgage, it's quite possible that it'd appreciate more than your home (plus mortgage interest) will.

This is such a great point. I’ve been switching off between student loan payments, investing in index funds, and investing in individual stocks I’m interested in.

Objectively, an algorithm would tell me to invest in index funds only because they are considered to have the best risk vs return ratio - my student loans have a low interest rate (3-4%) and individual stocks are hugely variable for an uninformed investor. You could imagine adding a couple more things into this mix such as gold, crytocoins, and property as well.

I have started to rationalize this behavior as implicitly “buying the ability to choose”. Choosing where and how to allocate my money is surprisingly empowering and there is a hidden value associated with that which may be worth more than the difference between the marginal gains. Does anyone else see themselves rationalizig similar behavior that may be economically irrational through this route? I wonder how this could be exploited in some sense by a financial device that gives that same sense, but instead captures some of the value left on the table normally.