We did this and it worked out well for us. Right after 9/11 we used a small inheritance to pay ours off. At the time it was a guaranteed 8% return. For the peace of mind alone this is worth doing. And we still dealt with college funding fairly easily. You just had to search out colleges that base their financial aid off of just income.
I paid mine off after six years and haven’t had another one in 47 years but I have had three more custom built homes since then. I do it by doing 90-100% of the labor. The labor and profit is about 65-70 percent of the house costs. Just have to put in those extra work hours.
I retired early, but because of a divorce 15 years ago, I was not able to pay off my mortgage. Working longer was not an option for me. I’ve been retired 7 years and paying a mortgage and I’m living comfortably. I live pretty frugally though…month long trips to Europe or the Islands won’t be possible for me, but I really have no desire to do that. People need to figure out what kind of retirement they plan to have and plan accordingly. If spending at the same, or higher, rate they you were when you were working - consider paying off the mortgage. But don’t think that you can’t retire if you have a mortgage - you can.
I still have my mortgage and I retired a couple years ago. Its a 3.125% 30 year fixed that represents less than 10% of my retirement income stream. I am going to keep it until I pay it off…