<prompt> Human: As the title implies, Im trying to see which makes more sense; buying a house outright or mortgaging it.A lot of people Ive talked to none of which are CPAs have said its always better to mortgage so you can write off the interest paid each year. But that compared to the savings youll get by buying the house outright seems like an absolute no-brainer. Why pay double or more for the price of a home if you can buy it outright? This website shows that a 300k house using all typical settings 4.5 interest would result in over 636k paid after 30 years. Even if you remove PMI completely its still 627k paid after 30 years. So is this something most people dont do because they dont have the money or is there an actual benefit to getting a mortgage?I understand the theory that you use your money and invest it and hopefully get a higher return than your mortgage interest but thats not working for me. I have some money in 401k but its actually losing money right now, my rate of return for 2015 is -7.6. I dont really trust the stock market. I wish i could just drop it into a low interest savings account but thats not possible. So what does Reddit think I should do?  <response>: most people cant afford to buy a house outright so they must get a loan.if you can afford to pay for it outright and dont plan on needing that money anytime soon ie 30 years, then the decision on cash or loan is more difficult.1. getting a loan allows you to have cash available for unforseen expenses or other interests. but if you are so rich, it doesnt matter, this point is moot.2. getting a loan allows you to invest your cash in other vechicles that could possibly increase your net gain accounting for interest payments and tax deductions. this is situational, as you would need a pretty good ROI to make this worthwhile. assuming 4.5 interest and you pay say 15k a year of interest. that is tax deductible so may net payments is only 10k of interest. if you can use the money and gain more than 10k of investment gain after tax, then its worthwhile to get the loan. but of course, you need the gain year after year for as long as you have the loan.3. paying cash allows you to avoid paying interest. if you were considering a 4.5 loan for 30 years and planned to pay it off in 30 years. this equates to a 4.5 yearly ROI year after year for 30 years of interest you never paid.4. get a loan, but make higher payments than required. this offers the flexibilty of having cash on hand, or paying it down to save on interest and thus gaining 4.5 YOY. again, if you are so rich, you wont possibly need the money, this point is moot.TLDR: if you can afford to pay cash and would never ever miss the money, do it. if you think you are such a good investor and can beat the cost of interest payments, then get a loan. if you are unsure whether or not youll need the money, get a loan and make extra payments as you can. 