> Why get a 30 year mortgage at 40, to only pay it off at 70 and then die in two decades?

1) Inflation hedge. 2) At some point in the next 30 years, you will be able to sell your home at / above what you paid for it, just due to the cyclical nature of things.

I'm not saying real estate always goes up... but for example, I bought at age 41. $515k. Current estimated value, $900k. When the kids are all graduated and out of the house (when I'm 53-54ish) I can sell this, buy something outright in cash, and increase my saving rate from ~35% to about 60% without any change in my current standard of living.