Perhaps Scott can drop an answer to my question, and to Al’s mortgage question, on this comment section!

In your book “Spend ‘Till The End,” which I thoroughly enjoyed, you talk about how important it is to diversify your resources, not just your portfolio. This extends into considering only TIPS in the “money” part of a person’s overall life portfolio. This is a concept I find incredibly enlightening and flying in the face of the conventional wisdom provided by financial planners who all seem to want to sell equities which, as you know (I say sarcastically) always return 12 percent a year. Please expand on ways to diversify one’s resources to live life to its fullest.

Thank you.

In 1999, you wrote a column saying paying off your mortgage could produce almost the same returns as the stock market with far less risk. Here’s the link:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/scottburns/columns/archives/1999/990525TU.htm

Now, almost 10 years later, do the combination of price appreciation and shelter services still give a risk-free alternative to stock market investing?

Thanks!