I have to say, geoffw, I guess I have always been a little in the camp of "pay it off so you can leave it to your kids, and live off the rental income"
Steve, in one fell swoop, has come very close to convincing me that the spend the capital way is good. You leave the asset for your kids, and they, too, can follow the yellow-brick-road to Navra-heaven.
OR, gosh forbid, as Andrew saliently pointed out on our way home on Sunday when we were discussing this... Stuff them, let them go do the course and make their own little yellow bricks!!!
(the teach them to fish, not hand them the fish approach)
I have to say, I am in the interesting position at the moment of being a completely blank canvas, as in, I have no investments, no PPOR, and no debt (other than the business...). SO I will be having fun over the next 6-12 months!!!
asy