Julie, in response to the following:

"No, I don't think paying off a 6% loan is the best place to invest your money. If you invested in a fund that matched the S&P over the past 25 years (approximately 10% return), you should have over $125,000 rather than $48,500."

Shouldn't we also be considering the value of the payments after 24 years 7 months? Sure, you've saved 48500 in interest, but you also own the home outright and no longer have to spend 1200/mo on payments.

In the example unaccelerated scenario, you continue to pay 78000 over the course of the next 5 years 5 months. You have the 125k continuing to grow, of course.

Then again, we're assuming that the next 30 years is going to match the last. If you can count on the 10%, the investment scenario works out better, but if you factor in risk, the accelerated mortgage scenario doesn't seem like as bad an idea as it was presented.