<prompt> Human: Im 38 and have a good potential to change careers. I have about 400,000 in 401 savings and about 160,000 in equity in my current home. Im strongly considering, despite the penalty for early withdrawal on the retirement, using those funds to pay cash for a new home and being mortgage free for the rest of my life. Ive thought about missing the mortgage interest deduction at the end of the year so my tax burden will be higher if I go this route, but it seems worth it to be debt free. Thoughts?  <response>: This is not a good idea.You can borrow money to buy a house. Heck you can even rent if you want to. You cant borrow money to retire.at 38 with 400K and assuming you never add to it will be worth over 2.1M 6.5 when you are 65.Accelerate your mortgage payoff by paying on the principal. You can even downsize if its that important to you. Dont touch your retirement. 