<prompt> Human: Hi all,Im preparing to buy a home, and am lucky enough to be able to cover the entire purchase cost in cash without throwing my other finances out of whack. This is my assumed route forward; it will make the purchase itself more straightforward, and presumably reduce the amount of things I need to concern myself with in the future.My question is this - while the obvious thinking is that if one doesnt need to pay interest on a mortgage, why pay it, Im wondering if there are those who choose to take the hit on a mortgage and instead reinvest that principal, hoping that the ROI outweighs the interest on the mortgage.Seems risky, either way, as anything with a higher rate of return is certainly not guaranteed, but just wanted to do a gut check here before pulling the trigger as planned.  <response>: There are benefits to both and its largely personal preference.Pay cash: Lower closing costs since you dont even need to talk to a lender No outstanding debt no interest payments instant 100 equityMortgage: You dont tie up the money giving you greater flexibility You pay interest but you get tax breaks on that interest interest rates are low enough that expected market returns likely outweigh the interest you would be payingSo its a question of which you prefer. If you have a million sitting there and are buying a 200k home with no plans for the remainder, you may lean more towards paying cash. If you have 500k and are buying a house for 475k a mortgage is probably more appealing so you dont drain your savings. Historical market returns for any 20 year span are 7-9 so its very likely your returns will be better over a 30 year span if you borrow at 3.5 and then invest the remaining cash aggressively, but that also comes with a certain amount of risk. 